Gondola

The first trip abroad my wife and I took together was a long November weekend in Venice while we were still dating.

We were astonishingly lucky with the weather: floods just before and after our visit, but dry for the three days of our stay.

I recently stumbled back across my photos from the trip in my Lightroom library and decided to re-process a few of the more interesting ones, including this nighttime shot that really stood out to me.

Taken with my old Canon 5D Mk II while walking around the city one evening, I’m really pleased with the framing and composition of the scene, while the lighting is what makes it stand out: the balance of night sky and shadows with the up-lit buildings in the background while the gondola stand and street lamps in the foreground have just that bit extra to stand out like a scene in a film.

One thing that would improve the scene is if the people were in the gondola to the right of the stand rather than off to the left edge of the frame where they’re a little awkward compositionally.

But, hey. Street photography.

For an observed, un-posed scene I’m pretty happy with this one.