Venice

Definitely one of my favourite cities, Venice is on the bucket list of many thousands of photographers worldwide. I was inspired to write this article by the wonderful conversation Juliette and Søren had about Venice in her Lens 2 Lens section.

The debate was about Venice, but it could just as well be applied to many cities or neighborhoods worldwide. Photographing a place that has been captured millions of times is always a challenge. It’s a challenge I love, especially if that place means something to me, if I feel a personal connection. That’s when we often go beyond the ordinary and put ourselves into the images we take or make.

The only time I went to Venice to photograph was for three full days in December 2017. I wasn’t prepared for how cold it was at that time. The rain was present for quite a while, adding to the overall winter mood. However, the small bursts of sunlight were also a blessing I couldn’t miss.

As with any place I go, my aim is to build a body of work that not only conveys a sense of location but also offers perspectives I haven’t seen much before.

Venice feels very much like a tree, with old and small branches connecting to a main trunk. By exploring those branches, narrow, often dead-end streets, at different times of the day, it’s not that hard to bring home images that differ from those we often see on social media or photography platforms.

We’ve all heard in the news, for quite some time now, about Venice’s struggles: the rising waters, the risk of history being lost forever, mass tourism, gentrification. As photographers, we have the responsibility to record the present that won’t be around anymore in the future. We also have the responsibility of showing what is real at a certain moment in time and contributing to the debate about our community’s future. And by doing so with our own perspective, we add an extra touch to the global story.

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