Venice floods, a photo from Venice, Veneto

Photographer's Note

Venice, as most people know, is liable to flooding and when it floods, it floods. This was a particularly bad one when I was there as it was reported in the papers the next day showing canoeists in water over 1.5m deep, making there way through St Marks Sq the next day .
Aqua Alta ("high water") has long been disruptive to the city between October and March. Venice and it's lagoon are subject to the tides of the Adriatic Sea, but flood levels are caused by the coincidence of low atmospheric pressure, strong sirocco winds from the south and natural high tides due to moon phases. Add to this the tremendous downpour that happened 24 hours earlier that is making it's way down from the mountains surrounding Venice, and you have a recipe for disaster.

Because of the bad light the film was pushed to 1600 iso resulting in more grain.

Manamo, bantonbuju, delnaja, zips, cobbydale, belido has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

jinju (14265) 2006-11-24 8:55

Hi Mark,

just saw this before heading off to bed. The grain doesnt bother me much, I think grain "problems" are really overrated here on TE by people who have an unreal expectation thanks to their digital cameras. For me, grain in 98% of the cases isnt a problem even worth mentioning. Good shot, the b/w is well chose, you have the strong claustrophobic geometry of the street and the great situation, so Venetian, so tragic if you think what it means for that city.

Manamo (3710) 2006-11-24 9:00

Hello Mark,
this picture teaches me a lot on Venice wich is very cool! but at the same time, it is a beautiful piece of art. I like the graininess and the physionomy of the woman who is trying to avoid to have water in her shoes...Is the street going downhill? I like the walls on each side of the picture that make me fell like suffocating if I look at it too much...
Very good one!
Marc

bantonbuju (51815) 2006-11-25 1:29

grain, grain... why everybody talks about grain as if it was some sort of a desease, instead of "exploring" it as an artistic "instrument"?
mark, without this heave push up to iso1600 this image would loose on its beauty, my friend,
and this is a beautyful one, for sure, and this one element - this small thing - the legs of the person in front, this element makes this image like a one loud tune about venice;
love it!
best wishes, j.

Polonaise (5802) 2006-11-25 9:00

Quite unusual are your pictures of Venice Mark, and I found them quite intriguing, if not restless.
And...A way up better the most 'postcardish', sweetly glazed, "oh, so romantic" gondola's style common crap.
Rough stuff, good stuff, like the wet stones of Venice' streets - rough.
Sepia of great choice.
Immaculate technique.
Nothing but the praises

Have a great, wet weekend, pal

george

delnaja (2056) 2006-12-01 3:40

Hi Mark,
there is not so much grain, and I don't mind at all about grain. I love grainy b&w, or sepia : ))
It is a beautiful photo, reminds me a bit some of great french photographers...
The contrast is also perfect IMO...
A great one.
Fred

Steely (895) 2006-12-04 5:49

what is it about narrow alleys and cobbled streets, even better with hanging lamps and windows?
Dun unnerstand the fetish, I just like the shot alot :)

zips (1958) 2006-12-09 23:33

Good POV and depiction of the scene. I am not concerned too much about grain, especially in B/W photos beacuse for me, some subjects such as boxing and certain other things have a gritty feel to then anyway....so grain looks good.

I don't see much grain in this anyway....a good scan here.

Great Job.
Aloha, JB

cobbydale (1958) 2007-03-13 17:05