Day 7: Tuesday, January 21

Winding Down

It was the last official day of the Light & Land Venice tour.

There was no dawn shoot due to rain and heavy fog, so we were able to have a slight lie-in. At 8:00AM we all met in the hotel’s Breakfast Room for our last breakfast together as a group.

With breakfast finished, we returned to our rooms. Some of our group (Jennifer, Daphne) were leaving Venice that morning, so time was allotted for those folks to finish packing and prep for departure.

At 9:45 we all met in the hotel’s Reception area to see Jennifer and Daphne off. They had a pre-booked speedboat (courtesy of Phil), which whisked them back across the lagoon to Marco Polo Airport for their return flight to London. Their water taxi arrived at 10:00 and we said farewell to our departing teammates. Phil accompanied them on the water taxi to Marco Polo Airport, then returned later on the Alilaguna (the public transportation boat which runs between Venice and the Marco Polo Airport).

The Official End of the Tour

At this point the Light & Land tour was officially over, so those of us who remained were free to do our own thing, whatever that was. James gathered his gear and went out in the city to shoot, while Kate, Alex and I traced the pedestrian route from the hotel to the Santa Maria del Giglio Vaporetto stop.

That little jaunt was for my benefit so that when I left Venice the following day I would know the route from the hotel to the Alilaguna airport boat (a practice run, if you will). Earlier in the tour I had asked Kate (who was very familiar with Venice) to help me with my navigation from the hotel to the Giglio Vaporetto stop. She gave me a conditional agreement: she would gladly accompany me but I had to lead the way to the Vaporetto stop. After Kate corrected my only false turn, I successfully found our way to the airport boat.

When we arrived at the Giglio stop Alex went on his way to shoot, and Kate waited for her Vaporetto to arrive (she was also on her way to shoot another part of the city). Kate’s Vaporetto appeared so we said our goodbyes and she boarded, while I remained behind.

Venice, On My Own

From the Vaporetto stop I slowly returned to the hotel using a scenic route. Since the group tour was no more, I had time to move at a slower pace, shooting interesting details of the surrounding streets, shops and people:

Haute Couture on Calle Larga XXII Marzo

On my way back to the hotel I suddenly had an inspiration for a photo montage. Our host hotel was on the street Calle Larga XXII Marzo. Further along this street it was hard not to notice the myriad of upscale fashion shops, so I thought a compilation of these shops would make a great photo mini-project:

Recharging…

I returned to the hotel at about 11:00 to recharge for a while. The room had already been made up, so that was a bonus. For posterity’s sake I took a few interior shots of the hotel’s public areas:

After that I needed some down-time and solo-time to recharge (having been in and around non-stop activity for the last few days), so I rested in my room, continuing on with my book for another couple of hours.

Wandering Venice

By about 1:30 I felt totally refreshed and had my groove back, so I set out to wander central Venice with my camera and no other photo accessories in my knapsack. Having carried several pounds of gear every day for the last few days, I wanted to shoot the rest of the day with as little gear (and weight) on me as possible. To that end, I simply wandered around Venice being a shameless tourist, rather than a photographer, during my last full day in the city.

A Voice on the Canal

At one point in my wanderings I started hearing a marvellous baritone voice booming off the surrounding buildings and echoing down the canals; it seemed to be coming from everywhere and I could not pinpoint the source. The voice was not a recording; it was definitely someone singing live – someone very talented at that. The singing was getting louder and was approaching, so I waited atop the bridge I was standing on. A gondola then passed underneath me and I could see where this marvellous singing was coming from. Here is what transpired (TIP: ignoring the annoying clapping tourist in the gondola will enhance the enjoyment of this video):

All down the canal people were being drawn out to find the source of this amazing voice. I kept the clip rolling until the singer was well out of sight, but even as I walked away from the canal I still heard his voice bouncing off the canal’s water and bridges for another 2-3 minutes. Impressive.

Lunch With Kate

I was making my way across Giardini Ex Reali (one of the main “waterfront” streets), when I ran into Kate, who was also wandering and shooting Venice. It was almost 2:30 at this point and neither of us had had our lunch, so we elected to go for some sustenance at the nearby illy Caffè, located on the Giardini Ex Reali. Kate said she had heard many good things about it, so in we went:

We both had a sandwich and a sweet, and chatted about many things, including our various Light & Land experiences and our current Venice trip. Kate was a wonderful, interesting and talented person, and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting her on this tour.

San Marco Basilica

After lunch, Kate and I parted company – she went off to resume her shooting, and I headed over to the Basilica San Marco, in Piazza San Marco, to shoot the interior of this marvellous structure:

Evening Falls

I had been in the Basilica for a couple of hours, emerging at about 4:45. It was just getting dark outside – nightfall seems to come very early in Venice at this time of year. I started exploring some of the side streets and shops behind the Basilica – they were wonderful, so full of charm:

At this point it was almost totally dark so I slowly made my way back to the hotel, enjoying the Venetian scenery along the way. I reached my room at 5:30, where I rested and read my book for a couple of hours. I didn’t feel hungry at all so I wasn’t having food/dinner thoughts at the time.

One Last Photo Session: La Salute

At about 7:30PM I layered up in my coats and warm clothes, and left the hotel with my camera and tripod to do a solo night shoot. I made my way to a lonely, quiet dock opposite La Salute which Phil had told me about earlier in the tour, and did a few long exposures of the church and the pier on which I had set up (and, not to worry, it was very safe there):

It wasn’t late but there was not a soul around, and it felt kind of odd – it was so quiet, with the abandoned gondolas bobbing up and down in the current and the fog rolling in:

After about an hour an extremely heavy fog rolled in and the buildings became totally lost to it. The fog was so thick I couldn’t get the camera to focus, so that was my queue to take my leave.

Goodnight, Venice

At about 9:00 I returned to my room at the hotel and packed my cases in preparation for the next day’s departure. I read a little bit more, then was off to bed at 10:00PM on my last night in Venice – the next day was going to be a big travel day!