Venezia and the surrounding islands

The island of Venice offers a unique playground for the budding travel photographer with its bright colours, flakey painted walls and stunning architecture. As soon as you step out of Venice' central station you are immediately faced with the Venice you see in books as the Grand Canal passes right by the front of the station. It is hard to turn anywhere in this floating city without seeing an interesting texture or an interesting angle to capture. One of the greatest challenges of capturing the beauty of Venice has to be avoiding the thousands of tourists that fill the streets on a daily basis. The key I think to photographing Venice is to hit the streets as the sun comes up or soon after and while the tourists are happily aslepp in their hotel beds. I love the way the streets of Venice take on a completely different atmosphere in the golden hour as local Venetians prepare for themselves for working day.

Aside from the classic shots of Venice I enjoyed capturing the colourful beauty of the islands off Venice. In particular the island of Burano was a kaleidoscope of colourful houses. Again I made sure i caught the first ferry just before sunrise and arrived on the island early.