An Early (Enough) Start
One of my life’s big challenges is coping with early morning starts. This morning there was a 6:30AM meeting time for departure to our pre-dawn shoot. In preparation I had set my phone alarm – loudly – for 5:55AM to try and shake off the cobwebs as early as possible before meeting the group. The jet lag was still very much with me, plus I’d had a hard time dropping off to sleep the night before, so I slept through almost 10 minutes of my phone’s alarm screeching beside my head before I came to. I woke fully with a jolt at 6:06, jumped up, got dressed (all of this done incredibly quickly, not my usual morning style), and got downstairs to the hotel lobby to meet the others – of course I was the last one to arrive, but was still on time!
Dawn Shoot on the Dogana
Phil led us through the semi-darkness to the Santa Maria del Giglio Vaporetto (water bus) stop, where we validated our 3-day water transit passes we had purchased the day before. This card was essentially a bus pass, but in Venice the buses – called Vaporetto – are on the water.
We departed the Vaporetto at the Salute stop, which was right next to the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute on the Dogana, the area of our morning shoot. The “Dogana” is the triangular area of Venice where the Grand Canal meets the Giudecca Canal. The term also refers to the collection of buildings in the triangle: the church of Santa Maria della Salute (or simply, La Salute), the Patriarchal Seminary of Venice, and Dogana da Mar at the triangle’s tip.
In true Light & Land fashion a dawn shoot was on the agenda at this location, but it was FREEZING!! I was not prepared for, or layered-up for, the cold air blasts coming off the lagoon. It was all worth it, though, as we were blessed with a fairly nice sunrise that chilly morning:
Venice Sunrise
Next Up: Breakfast and Warmth!
With the sunrise quite done, we returned via Vaporetto to our hotel at about 8:30. We dumped our gear, thawed out, then had a hearty breakfast in the hotel’s Breakfast Room. Breakfast at the Saturnia was spectacular – they had an incredible variety of hot and cold items on offer, and everything so delicious. After breakfast we each returned to our room to shower and get ready for the day ahead.
Bacino Orselo
At 10:00 we met in the hotel’s Reception area, then departed for our day’s shooting. We walked to the Bacino Orselo, behind Piazza San Marco, to get some shots of the “Gondola nest”. This is where the gondoliers retire their gondolas for the evening. This place is like a massive “taxi stand” where gondolas begin and end their canal tours:
Piazza San Marco
Leaving Bacino Orselo, we had a bit of time to individually shoot Piazza San Marco before the group met there at 11:30:
San Giorgio Maggiore
When our group had rejoined, we took a Vaporetto to San Giorgio Maggiore, the massive church out on the island. San Giorgio was amazingly beautiful. Phil said that you could go up its tower to get a breath-taking view of Venice, but we thought the climb up the tower was by stairs only – only too late I learned that there was indeed a lift up the tower… oh well:
Here’s a short panoramic video I took of Venice, shot from the island of San Giorgio Maggiore:
Lunch on The Zattere
At about 1:15 we took a Vaporetto from San Giorgio Maggiore to the Zattere. The Zattere is a beautiful, sunny promenade along Venice’s southern waterfront in the Dorsoduro district. Known for its wide-open spaces, scenic views, and inviting cafes, the Zattere provided an escape from the more crowded areas of Venice. Here, we stopped for a very nice lunch at a café called Laguna Bar Gelaterie. I had a Toasted Ham & Cheese sandwich (actually, we all had the same) and a hot chocolate. Basic meal, but oh sooooo good.
Head’s Up!!
After lunch we got back on a Vaporetto, this time bound for the area near the Santa Maria Formosa church. While tapping in at the Vaporetto machine there was a small number of people appearing to be having trouble with making their card work on the machine. Speaking rapid Italian, they appeared flustered and turned to me for assistance and some “help” with their card. While trying to assist in the chaos and language barrier of the moment, I felt a hand creep into the left front pocket of my pants and start to extract my wallet. I yelled “HEY!!” and spun around, and the party scattered. As it turns out, there were a group of 2 men and 1 woman whose intent was to fluster and distract tourists while one of their group lifted the valuables of the unsuspecting victim. Luckily, I didn’t lose anything to their scheme but it could have been so much worse; it was not a great experience all the same.
Ponte de la Banda
Via the Vaporetto, we then visited the Ponte de la Banda, an absolutely charming and picturesque bridge nestled in the heart of Venice. I love this type of photo op. I took many shots here using a slow shutter speed with an ND 6-stop filter. This had the desired effect of turning the hordes of pedestrians and tourists into “ghosts”:
Evening Meal
We returned to the hotel at about 5:00PM, where we enjoyed some free time and a rest.
At 7:15 our group met downstairs in the hotel lobby for our walk to the restaurant for the evening’s meal.
We arrived at the restaurant Nuovo Valigia, settled in and ordered our meal. I had Spaghetti Bolognese, a Still water and a Coke Zero. Again, this group was not shy about desserts, so everyone ordered one. For my part I had a small 3-Tier Mousse Cake, which was quite delicious:
It was a great meal! So great, in fact, that we made a unanimous decision to return here for our last meal together on Monday night.
Day’s End
Finishing up at the restaurant at about 9:30, we walked back to our hotel. Some of our group went out again for a night shoot behind La Fenice (Venice’s impressive opera house), but I opted out along with Daphne and Jennifer; it had been a big day and I was just too tired. I did, however, quickly grab this night shot of San Marco Piazza with my phone as we walked back from the restaurant:
Off to bed at 10:00PM.
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