Destruction in his Wake

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It may not seem like much,  but this photo was something of a life-changer for me and there is a story behind it which I will tell you here.

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The story behind the photo

Actually the full story behind this photo and the sequence of events that followed are part of the introduction to Reflections of Venice – Art and Beauty in the Water. If you have read it in the book, I apologize for the repetition. I might as well quote the book since I put some care into writing it.

“Before my first visit to Venice in 2012, I set myself the challenge of portraying the city in a new and original way, reflecting the beauty and capturing the atmosphere while avoiding the cliché or even the familiar.

….

“How, then, to portray La Serenissima in a fresh, unique way – to contribute something different and worthwhile to this Venetian pictorial cornucopia? After spending many days searching for the different angle, the unusual light, the more decisive moment, I chanced one early morning to look down into the surface of one of the canals just as a motorboat was coming under a bridge, heading my way. Suddenly I saw through the surface of the water and beheld a whole world reflected there. As I looked “deeper” I saw more and more. There was a beautiful scene – an impressionist painting of the bridge and buildings reflected in the water. The perspective was extraordinary. I heard the put-put of the outboard motor getting closer and it dawned on me that in a few seconds the entire, beautiful scene would vanish in the turbulent and destructive wash of the little boat, helmed by a man who was heedless of the havoc he was about to wreak. I acted quickly and the scene was preserved, at least in pixel form. One could say that this book was born at that moment. I had passed by many such scenes with only a vague awareness of reflections in the canals, but now I began to focus and concentrate on this entirely different world – a world which largely goes unnoticed. It takes an adjusted perception to really see it. I was determined to capture this world and share it with others.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row content_placement=”top”][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_single_image image=”35466″ onclick=”img_link_large”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”35465″ onclick=”img_link_large”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Above are the photos of the scene I was photographing. I had seen the reflections and they were interesting enough.

But then I looked further and further down (it’s a little hard to describe but if you try it you will see what I mean, and the photos below will give you an idea). You don’t notice the full reflection until you really look. Then this whole scene appears which seems to become more real than the above water world that is being reflected. I can guarantee you won’t see until you look.

The photos below carry the rest of the story through. I had just noticed how far down the reflections of the buildings went and was marveling at the beautiful picture…when I heard the sound of the motorboat and saw it poking its (to me) wicked little snout under the bridge. The reflections suddenly seemed very valuable and I wanted to preserve them.

Then the motorboat appeared in full with its captain calmly steering forward, completely oblivious to the scene as I saw it. Actually he was moving quite slowly and the wake was mild. He was behaving very well and his manners were exemplary. BUT, you can see what is about to happen. That beautiful scene is about to be churned into a green mess. That’s how I felt at the time as I kept shooting, a little desperately. I didn’t realize the man and the boat sitting on the reflections would make the best photo of them all. I saw that later. The second photo below is the last one I took of that particular scenario. I turned my head and camera away, refusing to face the destruction of my image.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”35467″ onclick=”img_link_large”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”35468″ onclick=”img_link_large”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]There is a postscript to this incident. While this was going on I felt a sort of panic inside and an urgency to capture the scene before it vanished from sight. As if there would never be another chance! I silently cursed the boat and its skipper and wished he and it would just disappear completely and leave me to get on with capturing the art and beauty I was seeing in the water.

It wasn’t until after I had gone through several such incidents, being in the process of capturing some lovely reflection and hearing the dreaded sounds of an approaching motor – or rowboat (even gondolas were unwelcome intruders) – that something occurred to change my attitude and restore my general feeling of benevolence towards the boats and boaters that populate the canals of Venice.

It was an occasion where I went through my usual mental anguish and sure enough the boat came by and destroyed by image completely, but I decided to stay and watch what happened during and after. A short video will show you perhaps why after that I would welcome the sounds of the approaching boat and would keep shooting… This is in fact a short clip from the introductory video at the beginning of Reflections of Venice.[/vc_column_text][vc_raw_html]JTNDaWZyYW1lJTIwc3JjJTNEJTIyaHR0cHMlM0ElMkYlMkZwbGF5ZXIudmltZW8uY29tJTJGdmlkZW8lMkYzMjc1MTYyOTclMjIlMjB3aWR0aCUzRCUyMjY0MCUyMiUyMGhlaWdodCUzRCUyMjMzOCUyMiUyMGZyYW1lYm9yZGVyJTNEJTIyMCUyMiUyMHdlYmtpdGFsbG93ZnVsbHNjcmVlbiUyMG1vemFsbG93ZnVsbHNjcmVlbiUyMGFsbG93ZnVsbHNjcmVlbiUzRSUzQyUyRmlmcmFtZSUzRQ==[/vc_raw_html][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Some of the best abstract reflections in Reflections of Venice were captured after some passing boat had destroyed the tranquility of the canal and things were just settling down again (the whole last chapter is devoted entirely to abstract reflections which fascinated me more and more as I progressed with my photography and video for the book).

Well, there you have it. The story behind a photo and behind a whole book of photos and videos. And a glimpse into the mind of this photographer.

Thank you for reading my blog post. Please leave a comment, and share this post if you like it.

I am always keen to hear from you. You can contact me any time with questions or feedback.

If you would like a copy of the print, it is for sale in my shop here (archival paper, canvas or metal). It’s also in my book Reflections of Venice – Art and Beauty in the Water which you can get here if you don’t already have it or on iBooks if you have an iPad or a Mac. There is also a Kindle version available for purchase on Amazon here. The iBooks version is the best. But if you don’t have a Mac or an iPad, then the multimedia PDF version is second best, followed by the EPUB version and finally the Kindle version. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]