Truman Capote once wrote:

“Some cities, like wrapped boxes under Christmas trees, conceal unexpected gifts, secret delights. Some cities will always remain wrapped boxes, containers of riddles never to be solved, nor even to be seen by vacationing visitors, or, for that matter, the most inquisitive, persistent travelers.”

Venice is one such city. With every intentional wrong turn, you can stumble upon unexpected gifts and secret delights. That is what I did when we stayed there for eight days — if my Google map said to go left, I went right, and vice versa. After wandering like this for a couple of hours, I would head back to the starting point, always taking a different route. What fun! I highly recommend doing that. But this means that you will need adequate time and flexibility in your schedule. I discussed this in a previous post Equation for Higher Keeper Rate.

One day as I was pursuing such strategy – of intentionally getting lost in Venice – I came upon a small compound. As I stepped into the open space, the climbing Santa caught my eye. The clothes on the clothesline, the textures in the buildings and the foreground, and the color of the two main buildings appeared quite attractive. I took a spot meter reading from the arched entrance to the campo and placed it at zone 6–7. Suddenly an elderly couple walked out and into the scene and made this image! The light came from the upper left-hand side and added a soft shadow next to the man while arch framed the couple. I made two images with a Canon 17mm Tilt-Shift lens and later merged them for a panoramic photo.

Key question, I must ask myself is this: what is it that I am trying to communicate with this image?

Can you spot the Santa?

With this image, I wanted to communicate the scale of the scene. Including the couple in the picture adds a familiar and recognizable object for the viewers to assess how tall the buildings are. The age of this elderly couple aligns harmoniously with the aged backdrop. These buildings, too, have lived their lives together and are going strong. The masks worn by the couple placed the image in the time of the pandemic. Overall scene was warm. The soft yet directional morning light caressed the face of the yellow- and red-ochre-colored buildings. I included one building for its contrasting tones and the other for the laundry on the clothesline. These clothes indicate that people lived in these buildings, and the scene though otherwise deserted, had life in it.

The intent behind the image then determined the use of a panoramic approach. I used a tilt-shift lens to ensure that the verticals would not converge. I selected the square aspect ratio so that the viewer can read the image vertically or horizontally. Since I wanted to highlight the elderly couple, I placed the lighter values of the light-grey wall in the arch at zone 6-7. This choice of exposure caused the window frames to become brighter as well. Canon R5 metering wanted to open up the shadows too much and washed the highlights in the sky. This zone-system-based exposure calculation is why carrying a light meter is essential and beneficial. I have a Sekonic L-758 meter with me (link for information only; no financial relationships with Sekonic).

I prefer complex images and trust that discerning viewers will spot and appreciate the layered meanings. However, my job as a photographer is to ease the cognitive burden of the viewers by providing compositional elements – lines, light/dark contrast, and appropriate framing – to guide the viewer to the intended subject/s.

I could have cropped the image as follows:

This would have been a panorama in my preferred aspect ratio of 6x17 (Linhof Technorama). The Santa and laundry would no longer compete with the couple. However, it will lack layers and dimensional elements.

Venice is a magical city, where streets are made of water, and traffic jams involve boats, gondolas, and other watercraft. The buildings defy the logic, and population density exponentially increased by the hordes of tourists. During my morning walk, I spotted this bright yellow boat and a gondola coming towards me. It had a golden emblem that shone in the soft morning light. The Gondolier stood tall while the riders lounged bundled up to brave the colder weather. Buildings framed the canals. The textures created by the weathered exterior, their arches and verticals of windows, and their façade, the textures created by the weathered surface, added a sense of place and longevity. The turquoise of the canal water reflected the azure blue sky with its white fluffy clouds that hung over the distant buildings in the background. The foreground, the middle ground, and the background elements all added to the ambiance. I calculated the exposure carefully to avoid blowing the highlights. I waited for the gondola to be in the middle ground where there was more light. The white boats next to and behind the gondola reflected light to open the shadows. Lets look at the image that I visualized. To achieve that, I made two images with a Leica Q2 and merged them to panorama in post.

As i reviewed the image, I wondered about alternative aspect ratio.

It still retains the sense of blue sky, but instead of showing it, the image alludes to its qualities by showing the sky’s reflection in the water. The focus is more on the gondola and less on the gestalt of what I visualized. The weathered surfaces and textures are still retained. The yellow boat is still in the foreground, but the gondola is now more in the foreground, and the smaller boat makes up the middle ground that is now less prominent. The pinkish building now is central in the background .

I invite you to consider three layers when composing your photographs: foreground, middle-ground, and background. What have you decided to include and equally importantly exclude in each? The choice of lens, exposure, composition, and aspect ratio all serve that vision.