You are not really supposed to use your drone here, but I am also the kind of person that likes to break the rules if I don’t really feel like it’s that big of a deal. I know… that’s the mind of an artist. Also, what’s the downside? There is no prison in Cinque Terre! I think…
This place did something I had never seen before. They gave everyone a pretty big mirror you can carry around. You can kind of hold it at your waist and angle it up, so you can look down to see the ceiling instead of looking up. Genius!
See the four mirrors down there on the floor? I was gonna lay out like 50 of them, and I ran back to check my camera to see if they were centered before I added the others. Then, the security guard started yelling at me and rushing over! So I took this photo really fast. (You can see her black visage rapidly approaching on the left!)
I don’t do a lot of these abstract scenes, but I do quite like the way this one turned out… I didn’t know for sure if these long shutter techniques would work well on this subject. There’s a lot of experimentation if you want to try something like this yourself. Of course, a tripod is mandatory, but then just switch into manual and try different shutter speeds and adjusting the aperture until you get the lighting you like. This one was 3.2 seconds.
As a little study like project I love mixing together different levels of detail and smoothness in a photo. I think it’s important to have a series of transitions. This one has many transitions, jumping from smooth dull colors to riotous textured colors to bright smooth areas to dull-colored highly textured areas. It’s a fun way to process a photo because it comes out a little different every time, and I’m not ever sure I could re-create this.
Some nights the water comes up so high that St. Mark’s square starts to flood. While unfortunate, it’s actually mega awesome for photography! Rene and I would swing by this square every single night to see if there was a flood…
This is one of those situations where my shoes and socks are soaked while I am squatting down with my tripod. In order to get a good reflection shot in these situations, you have to get really low and close to the ground. I always watch people’s reactions to my strange positions. The muggles think I am crazy but I know when I may eye contact with another photographer because they give me a knowing nod.
Here’s another one of the images from my 1000 Stories from 1000 Places NFT drop. It sold out in minutes, but they are now available to trade on OpenSea and X2Y2, etc so be sure to check them out.
I was in Venice for about a month, out taking photos every morning at sunrise all the way through the sunset. Then there was always lots of heavy Italian food and bridge-wine on the way home with my friends. I’m not quite sure how I survived it or how I got up at every sunrise. I’m a trooper! But I guess we don’t want to miss any sunrises like this, do we?
I also made a video with this same scene in a meditative Alan Watts video that went viral and got over a million views. It’s one of my favorite videos I have ever made and I hope you enjoy it too. I actually made two Alan Watts videos and you can enjoy them if you jump on YouTube and search for “Trey Ratcliff Alan Watts.”
Venice has thousands of tiny alleys that twist this way and that, and before you know it, you end up in another square. This is the biggest square, San Marco, and there are about 7 exits to this square (as with most). Here’s my favorite of them all… as evening falls, this way is the most beautifully lit for another adventure in getting lost on purpose!
Hello intrepid explorer. You can ignore this little slideshow…
I probably stayed at least four weeks at the amazing Hotel O’lorogio in Venice. It’s a great place and the team there is amazing. Wow, what a fun time! Anyway, there was basically only one way back to the hotel, and it was over a small bridge that gave this view. One evening, I stopped to take my time and capture this scene.
Every two years there is the Venice Biennale for arts. If you haven’t heard of it, I’ll attempt to explain it here.
It’s sort of like the Olympics for art. Each country sends one artist to decorate a room or home or villa or warehouse however they wish. Some countries do just paintings. others sculptures, others video with music, it’s just all over the place. And you sort of walk from one venue to the next to see what each country has offered into the mix.
This is Japan. They had this lovely room with old ships connected by one super-long red piece of yarn that interconnected throughout the space and were strung through 1,000 keys. The idea was that the sea and boats interconnect the world and hold the keys to connection.
Venice, Italy
This shot was achieved during a rainstorm over a five minute period and after five glasses of wine. Manarola is one of a handful little towns that are nestled into the Italian coastline here in Cinque Terre.
Manarola, Italy
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