Traveling Back In Time To Venice

Venice is one of those cities that is always busy and bustling, but nowadays, mostly with travelers that lug around large suitcases and carry spare selfie sticks. It’s a place that pulses with so many different languages that the local Italian is even drowned out. The cuisine of the people is renowned, but most piazza restaurants will be content to dish out the same three-course tourist menus that’s almost an insult to its culinary history.

And despite all this, it is still one of my favorite cities in the world. Turn left down a narrow street when the crowd turns right, and you might find yourself transported to a Venice of a different era. Because, despite what the ‘floating city’ has become today from mass tourism, it holds within it, still, a beauty that is timeless – a charm that I’ve glimpsed from time to time.

As a photographer, I wanted to capture this “feeling,” and inspiration came while visiting the Wilmotte Foundation. An exhibition called ‘La Dolce Venezia’  showcased a series of black and white photographs capturing a Venice of a bygone era.

Venice In Black And White

There was so much beauty in the simplicity of the images – the stark contrast between the blacks and the whites. Leaving the museum energized with motivation, I sought to see Venice in that same tone of black and white. In the process, I wanted to shoot as if I was using 35mm film camera – deliberate and with a sense of stinginess.

For two days, Venice was shrouded in mist. It naturally highlighted elements that just popped out in any scene. Like the gondolier’s uniform.. Though the 300 or so of these men now just ferry tourists around, I still sense a line of pride that has been passed down across the centuries from the gondoliers that numbered in the tens of thousands before them.

On a gondola, you are much closer to the water. I believe it’s from this perspective that you’re meant to see Venice. The buildings do not change, but they look different than when you view them straight on from land or from above standing on a bridge. Down here, you feel Venice.

The first image on the left was taken from the Pont dell’Accademia. I found myself returning here time and time again. One morning, I rushed here from Giudecca when I saw the thick morning mist shrouding the tops of buildings. I had a feeling that I needed to see the view from here at the point. It only dawned on me later when I converted the image to black and white that I was drawn to this view because it was timeless.

Almost nothing in this scene betrays when it was taken. This could have been taken 20 years ago, 54 years ago or if cameras had existed 200 years ago, perhaps then. I returned later and closed my eyes to let the scene reappear from the blackness as though I had travelled back in time.

On my travels, I always look at people with their luggage and, for a few split seconds, wonder, ‘are they arriving or are they leaving?’ Are they filled with the excitement of what’s to unfold or the memories of what they’ve already seen? In the second image, Venice is to my back, like looking through a rear view mirror. My time here is done for now.

Late in 2019, the city experienced the highest tide in over 50 years. Venice flooded for weeks and people walked around at times with the waters up to thighs. With climate change and the acqua alta rising higher each year, I wonder if this city that has managed to stay timeless for so long will still remain as it has.

I want to return another time and stay longer. I want to wander the labyrinth of each sestiere and explore the city, not with the rush of a tourist, but the urgency of a city that might disappear.

Looking for more travel inspirations? Scroll through some of the 450+ experiences on my bucket list. Maybe you’ll find your next adventure on there.

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Updated on May 29, 2024