Empty Chairs in St Mark Square in Venice
Our family spent more than a week in Venice during Christmas and New Year’s. Lockdowns had lifted, and the number of people visiting Venice increased. It was shocking to see usually bustling and crowded piazzas, shops, sights, and restaurants mostly empty. With few brief periods when the sun broke loose and shone brightly, fog and mist were constant companions, especially during the mornings. I loved that when the sunlight diffused by the mist imbued all objects with a glow. The soft but directional light turned the corridors and piazzas into an outdoor studio lit by an Octa light.
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We stayed a couple of minutes’ walk from St Mark’s Square. Most mornings, I would walk there just after dawn to make photos. Primarily, I was looking for scenes where fog and light were creating layers of visibility in images. Hundreds of thousands have taken millions of pictures of these landmarks. Making an original image is challenging to say the least. Interesting lighting can increase the odds of making a somewhat original image with a unique POV. This unique image/s is what I was after.
St Theodore and the Slayed Dragon in the St Mark’s Square (Piazza San Marco). The diffuse sun lit the cityscape beautifully.
I was intrigued by vacant spaces – spaces that I certainly had not seen without hordes of people. The strongest presence in these images was what was absent from them.
The statue is missing an arm
The cloud is missing a sky
The wave is missing a sea
The bird is missing a feather
The window is missing a light
The body is missing a warmth
and the whisper is missing a shout
Amak Mahmoodian
In this vein, we can also say:
The restaurant is missing a living
I was intrigued by all the empty chairs around this restaurant that is located at a prime location.
I walked around it and made images from few other angles.
However, I felt that these images missed the point. If a place is expecting customers, someone must be waiting, and these images do not show that. Who has set the tables, cleaned everything up, and is waiting for people to show up? One day, I finally got the chance to include that person. A restaurant owner/waiter stood outside, smoked, and stared towards the Venetian Basin –– wholly deserted.
This was my favorite image of this restaurant.
Equipment Note: Leica Q2, Leica Q2 Monochrom, Canon R5, Canon EF 17mm TSE Tilt Shift Lens, Sekonic L858