Experiencing Venice Through the Five(+) Senses: A Wandering Photographer's Guide
Welcome back, fellow wanderers and photography enthusiasts!
In this blog post, let’s both take a dive into the vibrant and enchanting world of Venice, a stunning city that offers a sensational opportunity for travellers and photographers. Whilst a photograph can capture a moment of “light”, I feel that it can be fun to look at things differently and so I’ve been reading about how we can use a wider sense awareness, beyond solely light and vision, in order to enrich our travelling experience and deepen our connection to the "captured" moment.
Oh, by the way, I know I had said that this was to be an iPhone photography post, but please excuse me, I thought Venice was more interesting. For what it's worth though, all the pictures in this article were taken with my iPhone….
San Giorgio Maggiore across the lagoon from the Doge's Palace at sunrise
So let me suggest ways in which we can use our five basic senses of sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch to explore and enhance our journeying and inspire.
Sense 1 - Sight: The Visual Symphony of Venice
Let’s start with the obvious sense of sight. After all, Venice is a city that is truly unique and engages the eyes at every canal turn.
- Architecture: What a melting pot…! East has met West for almost 2000 years now (The 5th century CE seems to be the time the city was founded.) It’s fascinating to think that this place was the interface between East and West with all of the styles / foods / spices / materiel that was exchanged between different cultures and challenged societal norms!
Detail from The Doge's Palace - the ultimate in architectural fusion
Architecturally, there’s so many influences here from
- Byzantine… to…
- Islamic… to…
- Venetian Renaissance… to…
- Baroque… to…
- Gothic…
The Columns of San Marco ....See postscript for further historical detail*
2. Canals - they meander and constantly surprise - one never looks quite the same as the other. Added to this, each canal needs a multitude of bridges (all 435 of them) each of which are similarly unique.
3. Clarity of light - The light here is different. Perhaps it’s the lack of car and industrial pollution that we now sadly take for granted, but the air clarity is stunning. To believe this, you need to experience the view!
4. Colour - to me Venice is a palette of pastel, with the high saturation and luminance of buildings on the island of Burano pushing the scale!
See what I mean about the pastel....?
Sense 2 - Sound: The Melodic Echos of Venice
The auditory landscape of Venice is rich and varied, creating an atmosphere that photographers can hope to suggest within their story.
- Shouting - Whilst the gondolieri don’t sing - they do shout sonorously as they approach canal corners!
A gondola ride is expensive but well worth it - more about gondola tradition next post
2. The gondoliers’ oars create a very distinctive auditory swish in the water.
3. The sirens of emergency boats (not vehicles) - and yup - the Casualty loading bay is on the water’s edge!
4. The constant lapping of water on stone
Sense 3 - Smell: The Aromatic Essence of Venice
Venice's scent palette is a mix of fresh maritime air and the earthy aroma of old stone and wood. There’s some smell of decay, but it’s limited (and for me, on a more recent visit it was enormously better than decades ago when I visited as a teenager and there was a horribly frequent smell of sewage!)
- It’s what you don’t smell - no car fumes - it’s great!
The light is awesome
2. Coffee - The aroma of coffee coming from the bars and tabacchi as you walk along the streets. So with this in mind let me digress to say a little about Venice and coffee…..
a. In 1591 there is mention of the beneficial effects of coffee by a doctor working for the Venetian consul in Cairo. The Eastern trade via the Ottomans made coffee available for trade and Venice was the filter (if you’ll excuse the pun) for European coffee trading.
b. Venice was the first western city to sell coffee in bars. There is record that this required an edict from the Pope (Clement VIII to be exact) to allow for the “foreign” concoction of coffee to be drinkable by the masses as it was considered sinful (as were most things that were new) by the uneducated.
c. In 1638 the first bar / coffee house opened in Piazza San Marco (that’s where we get the term barista by the way!) and a hundred years later, there was a law passed limiting the number of bars selling coffee. By 1758 there were 206 coffee houses and 34 in Piazza San Marco alone.
d. In 1720, Florian’s Coffee House in San Marco was opened and it is still as busy (and expensive) as it was 300 years ago. Have a coffee there and you’ll be drinking in Casanova’s 1720’s favourite coffee place!
3. Seafood - Venice is part of the Italy formed in the 19th century, but it’s not what may be considered archetypal Italian food as it’s more seafood than pasta and pizza. So if you’re a seafood afficionado, this is the place for you, it's the mainstay in the small tabacchi / bars with their cicchetti. (Snacks served as lunch / aperitif / snacks - so very liberally and enormously tastefully!)
4. What better than a restaurant aroma - food is done so well in this city that the mixtures of fragrances and aromas in the restaurants is just wonderful.
Sense 4 - Taste: The Food of Venice
Venice offers a true culinary adventure that can elevate your experience as a travelling photographer. It will engage your taste buds and inspire your storytelling.
I've got to recommend this place, Birraria La Corte, Campo San Polo, the food is awesome & everybody is heading towards - a good sign
It's a mild evening, there's chatter from those outside, the food aroma gets stronger the closer you get - what a way to anticipate a meal!
- Cicchetti - the variations are endless. This is finger food that is exquisite. Seafood / meat / vegetarian variations that change by the day.
- Beer - take with above!
- April / Campari Spritzes - they’re all over Italy but the Venice options seem special….
- The quality of all the food even snacks at the railway station, puts many other countries to shame.
Sense 5 - Touch: The Textural Tapestry of Venice
Venice is a city that invites touch—whether it's the smooth marble and glass mosaic of the basilica or the wood of a gondola. However, for my beautiful wife and I, - touch was…
1. Wet feet in the Aqua Alta:
The Aqua Alta is the name given to autumnal / winter high tides that flood some of the city (Piazza San Marco is the lowest lying part of the city so if Aqua Alta’s going to be anywhere, it’ll be here.
The start of an Aqua Alta in San Marco
My beautiful wife and I came out of the Basilica and were going to Museo Correr in the far corner for lunch (the sandwiches are fab and the view of the Piazza and Campanile is stunning!
There was a very mild aqua alta and the crowds were going very slowly around the edge of the square, so slowly in fact, that we just “went for it” and ploughed through the water to the stunned amazement of all the dry footed people at the edges. We laughed and had so much fun - OK perhaps not the cleanest of water - but do you remember jumping in puddles, just for the hell of it when you were a kid….!
2. The condensation and coolness of a beer glass sitting in the bar at the Rialto Bridge,
Seeing Venice is a walking game. So you get hot. Beers are earned and Venetian bars excel with the coldness of their pours, which means that the touch of the condensation on the outside of that first glass of beer after a busy morning getting lost Is second to none! (Trust me, if you haven’t got lost in Venice - you haven’t explored Venice!)
3. The touch of using some bread to soak up the olive oil and herbs from your plate at the restaurant.
4. The feel of sea spray being thrown onto your face by passing boats as you travel in a vaporetto to the city from the airport is one of the most bracing preparations for entering any city!
Other Senses Peculiar to Venice
There’s a lot more senses that I could comment upon, but I’ll just make a few suggestions…..
Unique - a vierw of San Giorgio and the lagoon from the Doge's Palace Ballroom - I challenge you to get this with no people in sight!
1. A sense of absolute personal safety (pretty unique!).
2. A sense of complete uniqueness and individuality. (It seems the people are Venetians first then Italians…)
3. A sense of relaxed style. (Go beyond the “cruise ship area” and you’ll see what I mean.)
4. A sense of artistry. (Whether it’s Murano glass or architecture or the Venice Carnival every February - this place has great style!)
Conclusion: A Sensory Symphony
By engaging our senses, we can transform our photography into a richer, more immersive experience. My experiences will be different to yours even when we visit the same places, but that’s the fun of it!
There’s no right or wrong here, so I invite you to share your own 5 senses+ experiences and photographs of Venice (and anywhere else for that matter), in the comments below.
All too often, we limit ourselves to the obvious. I’m hoping that this article may provoke a different viewpoint or two. Let’s inspire each other to use our senses to see beyond the obvious and capture the heart of the places we explore.
Until next time, happy shooting!
Warm regards,
Colin
All the gondoliers know each other - they have chats as they float by....
P.S. Just for the record, the classic “five senses” is now pretty much outdated. Thousands of years ago, Aristotle started us with five, but there’s definitely more …(perhaps we have another topic for us to explore).
P.P.S. as promised - here's some more info about the Columns of San Marco
*We see two columns - but there should have been three - one was dropped in the water! Somebody was employed for many years to try to locate and recover but their lack of success is evident...
Napoleon stole the lion on top of the right hand column - it was returned in 1815 and was promptly dropped and broken into 20 pieces, replaced in 1816 and then removed again during WW2 and not replaced until 25 April 1991.
The left hand column originally held up a statue of St Theodore, the original Saint of Venice - until Mark usurped him. His legend as a martyred Roman soldier grew as a dragon slayer - so the dragon was symbolised by the crocodile that we now see.
Prisoners were tied between the two columns before their execution - facing the clock on the other sign of the square to remind them of their limited time left in the world. (Venetians are said to refuse to walk between the columns for this very reason.)
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