06.06.2014

Travel Out of Season

06.06.2014

Travel Out of Season

Discover Venice in winter.

Venice

With summer holidays still several weeks away, to give you an urge to take more pictures during your travels, we’ll talk about travel photography this month of June. Thanks to the Manfrotto team for the invitation!
To get off to the right start, let’s travel out of season, which is a way to bring together a number of advantages.
First and foremost is the budget: the price of transportation is lower and for accommodations, you can negotiate an upgrade…it’s always wonderful to stay in a sublime suite instead of a standard guest room!
Next, if you’re like me and you love to wander around and take photos, when the tourists are all gone, you find yourself in a photographer’s paradise! All sorts of space and time to have fun!

Venice

An off-season adventure was the reason behind my decision to take off for three days to Venice last December. Venice is the classic example of a destination that has been photographed over and over again. By the 18th century, the city was already declared Capital of the vedutista painters. Veduta painting by masters like Canaletto or Guardi was something like the precursor to postcards or souvenir photos. I really admire this style and at the same time, I wanted to show something different or show Venice in another way. By going in December, I thought the colors and the landscapes would be different from those you normally see on blogs or in magazines.
I immediately felt that the humidity and the fog were best suited to this city of waters. Point of no return: Venice in winter! Basta!
There was a serenity to the scene: the water seeping, the noise of drops falling everywhere in the winding streets, San Marco was at peace, the Dogana quays felt lonesome, and the Grand Canal was like an abandoned river. So I tried to capture this breathless ambiance in a picture, especially by strolling near the lagoon early in the morning in the fog or by getting lost in the Fondamente Nuove neighborhood when it was lost in a cloud of mist.

Venice

2 tips for taking more personal photos

– Go ahead and get going early in the morning. Not just for the gentle light, but also for city scenes that are different, at a time of day when you can photograph the serenity of the city.

– Lose yourself… I often take off without a map, and I walk, taking shots as soon as I see something interesting, and Venice is just about the perfect place to get lost in. A labyrinth with beautiful surprises around every corner.

Venice

What to do in Venice: here are 2 sites worth a visit

– A sidewalk café in Venice

Venice

A chilly Sunday morning, I went past Punta della Dogana, strolling down the quays and I stopped at this terrace squeezed between the Vaporetto Zattere stop and the San Gesuati church. The bar was animated, the espresso machine was going at full blast, the cups clanking, and as people left the church, there was a hustle and bustle about, but I was alone on the terrace. I was the tourist who said whatever the weather, you’ve got to take in the view of the lagoon! Philippe Sollers often came here, the waiter muttered to me when, upon hearing my accent, he guessed I was French. He told me that he just loved this neighborhood. Novelists love Venice so much. Tourists too.

– A museum: The Guggenheim Venice

I found a beautiful room with paintings by Peggyn Vail, the daughter of Mrs. Peggy Guggenheim, an artist somewhat abandoned by her mother and who in the end preferred Venice! I go out on the front steps like Peggy must have done in front of the mysterious Vénier Palace. So proud of her ground floor palace, with its singular reflection among all the renaissance and gothic architecture along the canal. Near the bronze cavalier, I await Somerset Maugham, but in the end Asian tourists in the vaporetto take my picture standing in front of the palazzo under the mist. I understand the fascination for this city and its hypnotizing sites. I even went so far as take my first and only selfie, and I immediately sent it to my husband!

Venice

“Day after day, you feel like you have to leave terra firma to admire the sunrise or the reflection of the palace on the canal. These reflections are like paintings, but more beautiful by far than any painting by one of the masters.” P Guggenheim

Catherine Abhervé 

Since 2009, Vagabondes.fr has been showcasing European destinations. Catherine is enamored with the short getaway: 3 days is the time she needs to find out if
she wants to come back, extend the story, in a sort of speed dating with a city or with a region. It’s the time to capture an atmosphere, colors, just enough time to awaken the senses, a moment of curiosity.
That is what she tries to write when she gets home…her travel impressions, with a focus on art and beautiful architecture.

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