Venice & The Veneto (The Venetian Arc) 2010-2014
The Veneto
I normally don’t like to comment on my images. However, my work in the Veneto would benefit from a little background. If a present day photographic student would announce a plan to photograph in Venice, I suspect that they would be roundly discouraged. Rightly so. Venice and the surrounding areas have been photographed to death since the invention of photography in 1849.
Nevertheless, after decades photography under our belts, my wife Lucia Gillard, and I accepted the challenge. To our minds, no area has ever been “photographed to death”. A trained eye can find uniqueness and mystery in anything that fills the ground glass or viewfinder, no matter how shopworn.
In my case, first working with circa 1900 cameras in the 1990’s with which to make negatives for Pt/Pd prints, I found myself drifting to the past century, the time when processes, such as platinum were supreme. Moving into the 21st century, and adapting to digital photography, I was able to express my continued homage to the 19th century with the use of a unique lens for much of the imagery. It not only provides the soft focus of historic lenses, but also exhibits a degree of flare characteristic of an uncoated lens. To the modern viewer, they are not “razor sharp” as with much of contemporary imagery. At first the images may be a bit disturbing. But allow yourself to be immersed and transported to times past when technical virtuosity was not the primary concern in the making of photographs.
All images are available as Palladium prints, measuring approximately 8 x 10.5 inches, printed on 11×14 and 12 x 16 inches printed on 16 x 22 inch Hahnemuhle Rag Platinum Paper.
The Veneto
