On Location Photographing Venice | Part One

In July, I spent a few nights in Venice and wow, what a city. It really is something else. The architecture, the history, the romance. I had a great time wandering around the city capturing the views on my camera (Fuji X-T10), so in this two-part blog post, I'm going to share some of the pictures I took accompanied by some information about the location and maybe a bit of history thrown in for good measure.

Traveling from Venice from the UK was so quick. It took just 1h 45m. Once landed, I took a boat from the airport to the city, dumped my bags at the hotel (more on the hotel later) and went to explore this beautiful city.

Bridge of Sighs

The first image below is a slightly different view of the Bridge of Sighs. This is a really popular bridge in Venice and as you can see below, the bridge in the distance is packed with tourists trying to grab a view of the beautifully sculptured walkway.

This ornate, limestone walkway was a solution to a problem way back, when authorities needed to transport prisoners from Doge's Palace to the new prisons across the Palazzo river. Thought to be named because of the sighs that could be heard from the prisoners, the bridge, or more specifically the holes in the side would have provided prisoners a last glimpse of the outside world before heading to their cells.

The image below was taken from Memoria Ponte. Link on Google Maps. Although still busy, it is a much quieter location than the one opposite.

One thing to note is that although I took multiple lenses to Venice. I would tend to only go out with the lens attached to the camera. Having the restriction of one lens is actually quite liberating. There is less to carry and it removes the fuss around changing the lens or not being sure which lens to use for each shot. I see the shot, pick the best composition, move if I have to (or can) and snap away. The first three images below are taken with the XF18-55mm.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF18-55mm | 55mm | 1/420th Sec | f/6.4 | ISO200

I would be lying if I said I could remember where the next shot was taken. It was just one of the hundreds of bridges over the miles of canal somewhere in Venice. All I do know is that based on the time stamps on the images, it is only 7 minutes walk from the next image below. It was the red and black mooring poles here that caught my attention. They were quite striking and a typically Venetian.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF18-55mm | 55mm | 1/120th Sec | f/5.6 | ISO200

One of the more surprising observations I had when wandering around Venice is that there are very little in the way of paths running along the canals, particularly the Grand Canal. It was something I didn't really consider before which does actually seems obvious to me now. This means getting pictures of buildings along the Grand Canal is more difficult than you might imagine. You will tend to cross the canals rather than walk along them in this city.

Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute

The next few images focus on the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute. I took the image below from a jetty along the Grand Canal, just opposite (Link to Google Maps).I think it is such a beautiful and recognisable structure along the canal. Maybe it's because the dome has a little St Paul's Cathedral about it which as you may know, pushes the right "London" buttons for me. Officially a minor Basilica, this structure is one of the largest churches in Venice.

The church was built on the back of a promise the locals made to the Virgin Maria in exchange for salvation from the Plague and when the plague was finally defeated in 1631, the church was erected.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF18-55mm | 28mm | 1/350th Sec | f/13 | ISO200

The hotel I stayed in was fantastic. It was right where you would want to be while staying in Venice, a few minutes from the Piazza San Marco with riverside views of the San Marco Basin and the mouth of the Grand Canal. The hotel we stayed in is called the Hotel Locanda Vivaldi. I booked the hotel because the location was great and it had a traditional Venetian look and feel and during my visit I really wanted to soak up as much of Venice as I could and this hotel really delivered.

The shot below was actually taken from my hotel room window. I purposely booked a superior room as they all have waterfront views and as you can see, it did not leave us wanting.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF55-200mm | 128mm | 1/850th Sec | f/5.6 | ISO200

For the shot above and the two below, I used my XF55-200mm lens. I've not had this lens too long and yet to see its full potential.

On the image below you will see the start of what turned out to be quite an epic storm coming in from the mountains to the north of the city. It turns out this is quite a regular occurrence in the late afternoon during the summer months. Thankfully it only happened the once during our visit and only lasted an hour or so but when it hit, it was epic.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF55-200mm | 55mm | 1/200th Sec | f/5.6 | ISO200

To give the lens a run for its money I grabbed a close up of the church's domes from across the San Marco Basin. I loved the way the storm clouds gave the dome a moody backdrop and even at 200mm, the image was nice and sharp and no tripod in sight. The storm clouds really help the statue at the top of the bell tower stand out and I really like how the windows reflected the warm, yellow evening light too.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF55-200mm | 200mm | 1/75th Sec | f/5.6 | ISO200

San Giorgio dei Greci

Traditionally Venetian on the outside and Greek Orthodox on the inside, the leaning tower of Chiesa di (church) San Giorgio dei Greci in the picture below is one of the tallest bell towers in Venice. Located beside the canal running alongside my hotel, I took this picture of the tower with the 35mm F2 lens attached. There is no distortion in this image despite how it appears, the tower actually does have an obvious lean which, so I read, started pretty much as soon as the tower was completed.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF35mm F2 | 35mm | 1/120th Sec | f/4 | ISO200

Piazza San Marco

At the end of my first day in Venice, I ended up in the Piazza San Marco (St Mark's Square). When wandering around the city, this square seems to have some kind of strange magnetic force as no matter how far I walked and how lost I got throughout my stay, I always seemed to end up at St Mark's Square.

The ambience of the square late at night is very different than during the day. In the day there are literally thousands of people around the square trying to capture the views around the square or standing in a very long line waiting to get into the St Mark's Basilica. At night, it is surprising how fast the square quietened down. With a lot fewer people, the bands playing romantic music around the square, it was a nice time to walk around and soak in the romance of the city.

Still, with the 35mm attached, I thought that the architecture in the background creating deep shadows and the sculpture of the traditional, ornate lamp post casting the light across the ground captured the feeling of this location beautifully. The detail rendered by this great lens made it a great choice for the job too. Link to Google Map of the location this image was shot from.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF35mm F2 | 35mm | 1/25th Sec | f/2 | ISO1600

Accademia Bridge

I continued with the X-T10/35mm F2, camera/lens combo the next day as I ventured to one of the famous bridges across the Grand Canal, the Accademia Bridge (Ponte dell'Accademia). Most famous for two reasons. The first is obvious and that's the classic composition it provides of the city. Arguably the most recognisable view in Venice. Secondly, the bridge's history. The bridge was supposed to be temporary and was built after the previous iron structure was removed in 1932. The bridge was actually replaced in 1986 with a bridge made from the same plans as the original.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF35mm F2 | 35mm | 1/16000th Sec | f/2 | ISO200

So after crossing the bridge, I had a wander around to the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute and on the way back, found a cute little area with a bridge across a small canal right next to a cafe that served the best ice cream in the city and trust me, we tried a few.

Time for ice cream

The cafe was called Luganegher (google street view link) and with the temperature up near the 30s, it went down a treat!

Back at the Bridge of Sighs, I found a great little spot to have rest and dip my feet in the water while watching the gondolas float past. I since found out that putting your feet in the water is probably a bad idea as the city does not have a sewer so you can imagine where it all goes ;-) but with the temperature as it was it felt so good at the time.

I grabbed the shot below of the gondolas starting their circuits around the canals with a new batch of paying customers. In this picture, the river leads the viewer nicely into the shot and the canal is also nicely framed by the bridge above.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF35mm F2 | 35mm | 1/200th Sec | f/10 | ISO200

I mentioned earlier in the post about the hotel I was staying at but one thing I left out was its roof terrace. A cute little area to have some food and drink with some great views of Venice. It also provides a nice view straight down the adjacent canal so I grabbed my 55-200mm lens again and zoomed in down the canal which gave a lens compression effect which works quite well for this shot.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF55-200mm | 135mm | 1/125th Sec | f/9 | ISO200

The Grand Canal

I decided to venture out into the city just before sunrise. I often do this in London to capture the sunrise and there is no better time to experience any city in the world. While everyone else is asleep, the calm and tranquillity a city has to offer without the hustle and bustle is quite something to experience and I recommend to photographers and non-photographers alike to experience this when visiting a new city.

Using the 18-55m lens again, I started off capturing the view I've always wanted to get in Venice namely the Grand Canal and the Basilica. I had already checked the sunrise location out on suncalc.net so I knew that all being well with the weather, the sun would rise in the general direction I was shooting. The sky was pretty clear on this particular morning but not wanting a too cluttered composition, I was fine with this.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF18-55mm | 18mm | 0.6 Secs | f/10 | ISO200

During the day, the Grand Canal is full of water taxis, gondolas and all manner of boats so experiencing this view without all of that was a bit special. I'm pretty sure this morning's photoshoot was the one and only time I used a tripod during my stay in Venice and with the camera firmly mounted, I captured another composition of this classic view below. Link to Google Maps of this location.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF18-55mm | 37mm | 0.5 Secs | f/11 | ISO200

While on the Accademia Bridge, I checked the view facing up the canal and I spotted the scene below with the morning sun lighting up the few clouds drifting past and I could not let that escape without capturing it. I love the way the different shapes and sizes of the buildings that line the canal provide the character of the city. I am sure each and every one will have a story to tell especially as some date back around 1000 years.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF18-55mm | 37mm | 0.6 Secs | f/11 | ISO200

That's it for part one of my trip to Venice. click on the link below to see the next instalment.

Photographing Venice - Part Two

Always Expect the Unexpected: On Location Photographing East London

I had a couple of hours to kill a few evenings ago so I decided to have a wander around the Isle of Dogs in East London, home to Canary Wharf, one of the two major financial districts of London. See my previous blog to read about a previous outing which ended with some cool pictures of Canary Wharf from the Blackwall Basin.

I wanted to try out my recent purchase of the XF55-200mm Fuji lens. It has been a long time since I had a longer lens and I brought it for a couple of reasons. First is I plan to try more isolated or even abstract shots of London. I also wanted to try some more distance shooting, taking advantage of lens compression which is essentially the phenomenon of background elements appearing larger than they actually are at longer focal lengths (when zoomed in). This technique, when used correctly, it can help create some fantastic images.

One view I wanted to check out was of the skyscrapers in the other major, more central financial district in the City of London. It was a particularly overcast day and with this in mind, I thought it might end up being a scouting trip so at least I would know the best spot to return to in better conditions.

So, from Canary Wharf tube station, off I went to find the best view. I walked north-west along the river and found the spot with the best view of the City of London. I wanted to find a view that would have the financial district on the north of the river and The Shard on the south.

After a 20-minute walk, I found the spot. I remember thinking to myself that the view on this particular evening was a bit "meh" as the sky was dull, without any real drama and the moisture in the air meant the buildings from this far back (2.3 miles) lacked a bit of clarity but I knew this would be a great spot for another day with the air clearer and more drama in the sky. With the sunrise location behind me, the scene would also look great all lit up by the rising sun. Mental note taken.

I hung around, with the camera, trying out a few compositions on the iPhone and after a few minutes, I noticed the clouds breaking a little near the horizon and a little colour sneaking through. Within 5 minutes, the sky lit up with a beautiful orange glow. It really was quite something.

As the colour appeared I quickly set up my tripod and took a few shots on my Fuji X-T10 while the colour blasted across the sky. The dynamic range was pretty high so I popped on a Formatt-Hitech 3 stop ND soft graduated filter to tone down the light in the sky just a bit which enabled me to pull a little more detail out of the buildings.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF55-200mm | 164mm | 1/6th Sec | f/6.4 | ISO200

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF55-200mm | 105mm | 1.4 Secs | f/18 | ISO200

Before I packed up and as the light was fading, I took a panoramic image of the view to show the entire scene in one frame. The image below is made of 10 separate images taken in a portrait orientation stitched together in photoshop. The resulting image is pretty huge I can tell you.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF55-200mm | 164mm | 1/5th Sec | f/6.4 | ISO200

So, what did I learn on this particular evening? Well, I really didn't predict that the dull, dreary scene would produce such great light for the few minutes it did as the sunset. So, the lesson here is to never quite before it is really over and always expect the unexpected. If I had arrived at the location an hour earlier, I may have left before the sun had set and I would have missed it all together. Sometimes you just get lucky.

On Location in Southwark from Dawn to Dark

A long day along the Thames with my Fuji X-T10 camera started with capturing the sunrise at the Millennium Bridge and ended with a few night shots along Bankside.

On a cold February morning, I started my day on the north bank at around 7am. The sun was starting to appear providing the warmer colours to the east of the city and I spotted this composition as I approached the Millennium Bridge so I grabbed my 10-24mm wide angle lens and set up. Apart from the obvious lead-in line the bridge provides and the famous Tate Modern power station, there were two other reasons why I chose to take this shot. First, as I approached the bridge, the Shard started to be unveiled underneath leaving it and the rising sun nicely framed. Secondly, as the sun was only just rising, the shot appears to be in two halves. Dawn on the left and night on the right which I thought added another dimension to the final image.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF10-24mm | 10mm | 0.9 Secs | f/13 | ISO200

I then walked west along the Thames towards Blackfriars. Looking over my shoulder I noticed how the clouds were pulling the eye back towards the sunrise creating an interesting composition, so with a quick set up framing the image with the lamp to add a bit of foreground interest, I grabbed this shot. Not a portfolio shot but interesting all the same.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF10-24mm | 10mm | 1/3rd Sec | f/13 | ISO200

I then arrived at the location I had originally intended that morning. From the newly built Blackfriars Pier, I had seen this composition before while scouting the area. As you study the image your eye will likely be lead to the Shard but down in the right-hand side of the image is the understated but arguably equal star of the show. Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.

Although a reconstruction of the Elizabethan playhouse, the Globe Theatre is considered a close interpretation of the original. I love the idea that over 400 years ago that pretty little theatre would have held some 3000 theatregoers (yes, 3000 in that modestly sized building!) entertained by one of the most famous playwrights in history.

As with many of my London cityscapes, I used the 10 stop ND filter allowing the longer exposure to smooth out the clouds and water to allow the area of contrast and main focus to be the architecture along the Bankside. I particularly like the way the rising sun is reflecting off the building's glass facades creating other areas of light within the image.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF10-24mm | 20mm | 28 Secs | f/8 | ISO200

Now fast forward 10 or so hours (with a bit of the day job in between) it is now after dark and I am back at the Millennium Bridge but this time looking back the other way towards St Paul's Cathedral and boy does the city look different at night. With the wide angle lens back on the camera, the dark triangle on the bridge and the lights along the edge lead the eye towards St Paul's Dome perfectly. Additionally, the long exposure allows the moving clouds to compliment this symmetrical composition nicely.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF10-24mm | 10mm | 20 Secs | f/14 | ISO200

While I was heading to my final location of the night I grabbed this classic composition of the bridge and cathedral across the river. Well it's popular for a reason, right? Again, not a portfolio shot but certainly blog-worthy.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF10-24mm | 18mm | 15 Secs | f/11 | ISO200

With a general lack of interest in the sky and city lights sometimes causing too much clutter in the scene I do tend to get closer to the subjects on cloudy night time shoots.

So, this is where I finished the night. The OXO Tower. When I purchased my wide angle lens, I already had this shot in mind to try so with only a short walk from the Millennium Bridge I wandered over. Another central composition, I am stood at the end of a jetty over the River Thames with the wooden walkway and side railings leading the eye into the image.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF10-24mm | 10mm | 10 Secs | f/7.1 | ISO200

So, after a long day of both work and photography, I captured a few good shots of London's Southwark area along the Thames and had a good play with the new 10-24mm wide angle lens along the way.

On Location from One Wharf To Another

When I set out to a location, I normally have one of two approaches in mind. More often than not I will have a particular place I want to shoot and will focus all planning to give that shot the best chances of success, ensuring I am ready in the right place at the right time equipment at the ready. On the odd occasion, I set out on a photo walk with a start and/or finish in mind but the rest is a bit more of a "go with the flow" approach.

On this particular day, I had the endgame in mind which we will cover off a little later in the post. I started out on the train into London checking the weather and conditions on my favourite apps MeteoEarth and Suncalc. The first gives me information such as wind direction/strength and cloud cover and the second allows me to see where and when the sun will set based on my location. I plan to write about how I research a location and prepare for a shoot in more detail in a later post.

On this day, while the light was particularly harsh (not the best conditions) and I was just leaving the station, I decided to start my day with a shot of St George Wharf which I have been meaning to try for some time. Located in Vauxhall, this modern structure housing both residential and commercial properties is a popular subject for London cityscape photographers. Knowing the light wouldn't flatter a colour image, I set up with a black and white image in mind looking for the contrast as the sun (coming in from the right) hit the building. As with a lot of my shots taken by the Thames, I went straight for the natural density filter to give me a longer exposure and smooth out the water allowing the detailed architecture to contrast nicely against the reflective, uncluttered water in the foreground. I had to crop quite tightly to avoid some cranes and other buildings. I would have liked more wind to also smooth out the clouds a bit more but you rarely get all the boxes ticked in photography. After some processing in Adobe Lightroom this was the result and my favourite shot for the day.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF18-55mm | 18mm | 3 Secs | f/8 | ISO200

Knowing I still had plenty of time to get to the final location I crossed the Vauxhall Bridge and decided to walk the south bank to Westminster and scout for future shots. I finished at Westminster Bridge and grabbed a quick shot just as the sun was getting lower in the sky and casting a slightly warmer light across the scene.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF18-55mm | 20mm | 10 Secs | f/18 | ISO200

I jumped on the underground and headed to Canary Wharf which is where I intended to capture a few shots with the newly acquired Fuji XF10-24mm wide angle lens and also capture a time-lapse of the skyscrapers at sunset with the second camera (My trusty Fuji X70). I had visited this location once before but without the wide angle, I had to use photo stitching to capture the entire scene.

You can read more about my time-lapse on my blog post here: Behind the Lens: My First Time-lapse. Here I wrote about how I took the shot, what I learned and the finished video.

Ok, back to the shot. For a long time as the sun was lowering behind the buildings there was very little wind and the sky was clear and lacked drama which for the landscape photographer is rarely what we want. As the time-lapse was underway on the second camera, the sun dipped behind the horizon lighting up some small clouds that had slowly crept into the scene. Not all was lost thankfully so off I went snapping away with the 10-24mm lens attached at it's widest. The water in the foreground is called the Blackwall Basin and being so still provides some nice foreground reflections in the water.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF10-24mm | 10mm | 7 Secs | f/9 | ISO200

Once the sun had disappeared, the light faded fast so before I wrapped it up for the day I captured the buildings as the lights were being turned on which gave the scene a totally different look as you can see below.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF10-24mm | 10mm | 0.5 Secs | f/14 | ISO200

It is quite a leap of faith to head out without the shoot totally planned out so I am pleased to come away with a couple of keepers although it could have been very different. A time-lapse in the bag, my new lens tested and some new locations scouted for another time. Overall, a successful day.

On Location Photographing Westminster

There is nothing quite like London in the early morning. Yes, the light during sunset is more dramatic but the fresh morning air, the warm more subtle light and pre-rush hour tranquillity is quite something to experience. They say London is a city that never sleeps but I know that before everyone gets up to start their day as the sun is rising on a clear Tuesday morning in February, it most certainly does.

I decided to have an early morning stroll around Westminster Bridge and try to capture some of the icons of London in this area. I seem to gravitate towards the River Thames when taking sunrise and sunset images. I think about this sometimes and might elaborate more in another post as to why I enjoy being by the river but with regards my photography, London can be a difficult place to take the kind of uncluttered cityscape images I like to capture and with the space the river provides I get to include the water and sky in my images and really focus on the subject and image I am trying to create.

On this particular morning, the sky was clear and the air was fresh and although a clear sky is not one of the usual recipes for capturing dramatic landscape photos, the sun played its part to ensure there was a nice amount of colour in the final images.

So after exiting Westminster Underground Station, I headed to the bridge to find a composition. The sun had yet to make an appearance but the pre-sunrise magenta was in the sky. I composed a more abstract image of the London Eye with one of the ornate bridge lamp posts in the foreground. This was probably my favourite image of the morning.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF18-55mm | 55mm | 1/8th Sec | f/8 | ISO200

Directly opposite the Palace of Westminster on the opposite side of the river is St. Thomas' Hospital. In the gardens, there is metallic fountain sculpted in 1973 by Russian artist Naum Gabo called Revolving Torsion. To declutter the image a little, I took a long exposure to get the silky smooth water as it enters the pool.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF18-55mm | 25mm | 30 Secs | f/8 | ISO200

I popped down underneath the bridge to the underpass where I wanted to recapture a classic composition of Elizabeth Tower (one of many names given to the tower). What makes this shot so popular is the brickwork framing the archway provides.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF18-55mm | 20mm | 1/80th Sec | f/8 | ISO200

Although with a more dramatic, cloudy sky, these images would be quite different although on reflection the simplicity and uncluttered look of these shots makes them fit nicely with the feeling I get wondering around London while it is resting before the start of another busy day.