Few of us will have failed to read over the years the stories that Venice is sinking. This once grand trading city state, that dominated merchant trading for centuries, and yet has manged to retain much of its medieval and renaissance character today, is fighting a losing battle against rising tides, crumbling buildings and the forces of nature. The authorities extensive work to repair, to restore and to underpin the cities foundations will ensure that Venice does not become the next Atlantis, but it is a different type of erosion that I believe is undermining Venice’s future.

Inevitably the concentration of container shipping, the centralization of logistic hubs around major cities and the increasing adaption of every city skyline to account for service based business leaves most cities changed and not normally for the better. Venice has escaped this harsh treatment by its very situation and construction, but has paid an even heavier price: Tourism.

The eponymous presence of a MacDonald’s, A Hard Rock Café, a Disney Store or any other bland vanilla high street chain marks a city’s final submission to the relentless march of consumerism and seems particularly incongruous in a city like Venice. Yet the reality is that this city’ lifeblood is tourism. The city has become greedy and corpulent on the tourist dollar with prices seemingly indefensively high: A glass of wine in St Marks Square is about 14 euros, a 30 minute ride on a gondola about 80 euros and our simple hotel is double what we were paying for a better place in Cinque Terre. Unfortunately the city has bent so much to the will of the tourist visitor that much of the city reminds me of an extended theme park. I wonder whether I might not get a more “authentic” experience in Las Vegas.

Finding things to shoot in Venice is however not such a problem. There are alleyways, little artisan shops making masks, small courtyards or the joy of turning a corner and seeing a small cobbled bridge, with a boat tethered nearby and an old lady sitting outside the house she has lived in for years, quietly reflecting on her life.

I mentioned in my blog yesterday the need to find a theme to direct my shooting. I steered away from the idea of the people and the water as, although a complex and potentially rich theme I think this needs more than 2 days in Venice to do it justice. I was tempted to address head on the conflict between the majesty and timelessness of Venice with the assault of tourism and modernity but others in the group are doing something similar. So instead I chose something more abstract – Motion.

Slightly masochistically, I chose a theme that required me to focus on making my pictures more dynamic and that, with the brighter light of the daytime, will challenge me to be able to get the shutter slow enough to blur people or gondolas, to provide the aesthetic I need. Of course I will take some panning shots, but I don’t want motion to just be about panning! It is a challenging theme, but I need to push myself to find things that will encourage me to take more risks and to experiment.

For the first time this trip the weather has turned against us. The rain started in the afternoon, just as David was sharing his amazing images from his two weeks here, explaining what creative decision he had made, why he had chosen certain angles and how he had worked the image. I was encouraged that he and I had selected so many of the same subjects often from very similar viewpoints, but there the similarity ended. His angle or selective use of motion or depth of field made his images both simple and complex. They were images that drew the eye, that encouraged you to explore the colors, the textures, the motion or the subject. It was truly inspiring to see how things have been envisaged, but incredibly helpful to then have the “behind the scenes” explanation.

The rain unfortunately claimed one casualty. David and I had planned to hire a gondola between us, and shoot some images with motion, some off-camera flash and some unusual angles of the city from the gondola, focusing on the gondolier and the canals as dusk fell and the city “dressed” itself for the evening. Instead, we headed back into the area around St Marks Square to capture some more moody images of Venice in the rain.

Tomorrow is the last day of this wonderful adventure. It seems like the time has flown but it is difficult to express in either words or pictures how much I have learned, how much fun I have had and how much I would recommend taking a similar workshop. Jeffrey Chapman and David duChemin make the most wonderful combination of host, mentor, teacher, comic and companion. You cannot fail to learn, you cannot fail to eat well and you cannot fail to have fun.

Speak with you more tomorrow!