Without doubt the Eiffel Tower is the most recognized and photographed icon in Paris, having towered 1063′ above the Parisienne skyline since 1889 when it was erected to serve as the entrance way to the 1889 World’s Fair. The tower is the tallest structure in the city of Paris and was in fact the tallest man-made structure in the world from its completion (surpassing the Washington Monument) for forty one years until it was dwarfed by the Chrysler Building in New York City in 1930.
The Eiffel Tower was the winning submission in a contest to design the grand entrance way to the 1889 World’s Fair and the contest rules included that the structure would be easily constructed and easily dismantled. For this reason the tower metalwork was designed to be fastened only with rivets and bolts. The temporary nature of the tower is shown in that Gustave Eiffel was only awarded a twenty year permit for the tower (until 1909) at which time the ownership of the tower was slated to be returned to the city of Paris for demolition. The tower however proved invaluable not only for tourism, but also for radio and television broadcasting, so fortunately the tower remains today, and has become the world’s most visited paid tourist attraction with about seven million paying visitors every year. Deb & I were glad to pay about 18€ each to visit the top of the tower.
While preparing for our trip to Paris, we found that there are many, if not hundreds, of replicas of the Statue of Liberty around the world. The most famous Lady Liberty who overlooks New York City from Liberty Island was a gift to the United States from France. The original statue is in Luxembourg Gardens in Paris and a second replica was erected at the tip of a small man made island in the River Seine in 1889 for the World’s Fair. Knowing it was there we set out to take a picture of the Statue of Liberty with the Eiffel Tower as a back drop. It turned out to be a seven kilometre excursion but was worth the effort to get this rather unique image.
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Being one of the most recognizable and photographed land marks in the world means that it is virtually impossible to take a novel picture of the tower, however Deb and I tried to find some unique perspectives and we hope you enjoy them.
It is good practice to change the secondary compositional elements in an image if possible as a very different result can be achieved even if the perspective of the primary subject is virtually the same. The image above uses trees in the foreground to provide some visual interest and frame the tower while the image below provides an uncluttered view of the tower from the same perspective, however includes a river ferry as a secondary object of interest. Two very different images of the same primary subject from the same perspective. Some may prefer one over the other, which is merely subjective, however good practice is to take both and give people the choice!
Although the tower is most often photographed to include the Seine River, it also looks good from the Champ de Mars which is the extensive parkland to the east of the tower. Thankfully there were great clouds which add to the pictures. Brian Peterson, in his classic book “Understanding Exposure” says that the best time to take a vertically orientated image is after you’ve already taken one in a horizontal orientation! While generally good advice, the Eiffel Tower lends itself to portrait orientation. It is interesting how the two camera orientations (portrait & landscape) create very different results as shown below.
When photographing the tower with a wide angle lens (16-35/2.8 in this case) in landscape orientation you are pretty much forced to put the tower in the centre of the frame to avoid the distortion that is created when the tower is located near the edges of the frame. Distortion can be minimized by making sure the camera is level, however the height of the tower requires some upwards tilting of the camera which exacerbates the distortion.
The above two images show us that its always a good idea to take images using both camera orientations as a general practice. One may be decidedly better than the other but you amy never know which one is the best if you don’t practice taking both!
Breaking the rules of composition is easy to do when photographing the tower and even images missing the ground (a cardinal no no) sometimes turns out no too badly as shown below.
Getting to the top of the Eiffel Tower requires two elevator rides, a very unique two story elevator that angles up two of the four tower bases to the first level of the tower and then a second, much smaller traditional elevator that rises straight up to the second level. Even when arriving to the top of the second elevator you are required to climb a couple of flights of stairs to arrive at the outside upper observatory, but the view that awaits is spectacular. Below is the second elevator.
The views of Paris from the Eiffel Tower are grand as you can easily see the historic landmarks of the city. Looking west from the lower observation deck across the River Seine is the Place du Trocadéro and the expansive Palais de Chaillot which houses a number of museums. In the back ground is the skyline of ‘modern’ Paris.
From the upper observation deck the perspective is completely different and allowed me the opportunity to use the 100 mm f/2.8 macro lens as a short telephoto lens (If you’ve been following this blog you will require that my beloved 24-105 broke in Venice). Below is the Arc du Triomphe as seen from the top of the Eiffel Tower.
Photographing the Eiffel Tower at night is something that every photographer wants to do at some point in time, capturing that iconic shot. We spent two evenings shooting the tower at night and a light rain made one of those evenings a bit challenging.
For me the classic Eiffel Tower at night shot is taken from across the Seine River, one view highlighting the arches of the bridge and the other the string of streetlights leading towards the tower. So we took those two shots first!
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A view from about half a kilometre away.
Images taken from near the tower pose a problem as wide angle lenses are required and tilting them upwards to include the tower also creates optical distortions that can be problematic. That said, you should always play around with different angles and compositions until you find something that works. Using a tripod, which is essential for night photography, forces you to constantly think about composition simply because of the discipline involved with setting up the tripod and choosing where to place it. Simply by using a tripod all the time, day or night, will quickly improve your skills. Its been said the biggest difference between a professional and amateur photographer is the tripod!
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Another commonly seen image of the tower is with the Eiffel Tower Carousel in the foreground. Once the tripod was set up, there were only two shots to be taken, one with a slow shutter speed to blur the moving carousel and one with the carousel stationary.
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The remaining images in this post were taken the second night which is evident by the very different sky. The next two images use the impressive fountains of the Place du Trocadéro to provide some fore ground interest for the tower.
Every night, on the hour, the Eiffel Tower twinkles for about five minutes with a spectacular light show created by 20,000 individual lights. They blink randomly and make the tower appear to be shimmering, however when photographed with a long exposure all the lights are recorded which demonstrates the lattice pattern of the lights on the iron tower structure.
The moon was a bonus for us on this evening.
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The next two images are identical except for the exposure, however different exposures make for very different results. The first is a low ISO, long exposure, small aperture shot that blurs the tower beacon.
The next image was taken with a high ISO and larger aperture to allow for a fast shutter speed which ‘freezes’ the beacon atop the tower creating a rather dramatic effect. I took a number of these shots with the beam in many different orientations but this one seemed the most aesthetically pleasing.
The last two images in this post were taken just after sunset when it was starting to get dark. They are not really Eiffel Tower pictures but rather of the lone busker, who presumably after many hours of singing and after it was starting to get dark, stayed and kept whole-heartedly singing, even though there was no one left on the large patio to hear his voice or toss some coins into his guitar case. It was a huge testament to his character and perseverance.
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After leaving Paris we headed south towards the French Riviera, with a one night stop over in Lyon. On the way to Lyon we took a small detour and spent half a day at one of the most impressive houses in all of the world, the Palace of Versailles, home to Louis XIV. The Palace of Versailles will the subject of our next European post.
I trust you enjoyed the Eiffel Tower and thanks for taking the time to work through this post. It is much appreciated.
After leaving The Louvre we moseyed along the north bank of the Seine until we arrived at a bridge that took us part way across the river to one of only two natural islands in the Seine River within Paris known as Île de la Cité. As we crossed the bridge in was impossible not to notice the thousands of locks, of every size, shape and style imaginable that were locked to the railings alongside the bridge.
Upon closer inspection each lock was emblazoned with the initial’s or names of the couples who attached the lock to the railing and no doubt pledged their love to each other while they tossed the keys into the river below. I couldn’t help but take a few pics of these locks.
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Île de la Cité is a small island that marks the geographic centre of the city and is where Paris was founded. The most famous building on the island is without doubt the cathedral Notre Dame de Paris (Our Lady of Paris) or simply Notre Dame. The cathedral is located in the geographic centre of Paris and there is a brass plaque in front of Note Dame that marks the spot from which all distances around the city are measured.
The western facade of Notre Dame provides the typical view of the building, however the day we were there large portable grandstands were set up in front of the cathedral which precluded a good vantage point for a picture.
The cornerstone of the building was laid in 1163 and the western facade pictured above was finished in 1225 although the total structure was not completed until 1345. Although famous for the flying buttresses that support the library of the cathedral the western facade is what you visualize when you think about Notre Dame. The facade is large and impressive with its towers, rose window, balustrade, statues and three portals of entry. It measures 135′ wide and is 207′ high. The rose window in the centre of the facade is 31.5′ in diameter and forms a halo around the heads of a statue of Mary and Jesus which sits on the railing of the balustrade when viewed from the ground in front of the cathedral. Below the balustrade is a frieze that extends across the entire width of the facade, known as the Gallery of Kings containing twenty eight statues depicting the generations of Kings of Judah.
Below the Gallery of Kings are three large double sets of doors that form the main entrances, or portals, into the cathedral. The left (north) is the Portal of the Virgin (1210), the central Portal of the Last Judgement (1220) and the right Portal of Saint Anne (Mary’s mother) (1200). Each portal is framed by an ornate archway supported by columns or jambs that contain statues of Kings & Monarchs from Biblical times. Below are four at the Portal of Saint Anne.
Flashes and tripods are not allowed in Notre Dame so very high ISO’s are required to generate exposure times fast enough to hand hold the camera in the deliberately dark interior (to prevent light degradation of the artefacts within). All of the interior images that follow were taken at ISO 4000 or more and I trust you enjoy these views from within Notre Dame.
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Notre Dame has two permanent and one portable organs. The great organ is said to be the most famous pipe organ in the world, having five keyboards, 190 stops and 8,000 pipes. The ‘smaller’ choir organ has two keyboards, thirty stops and 2,000 pipes.
One can not walk through the cathedral and avoid thinking about Victor Hugo’s classic “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” and wondering where Quasimodo was. We could find no mention of him anywhere, however this next picture reminded me of him, probably because of the chandelier and the connection with the swinging chandelier in “Phantom of the Opera”….I know, same city, different building and completely different story 🙂
When shooting the interior of a large building like Notre Dame it is important to consider focal lengths as the photographic results are vastly different, and equally as impressive, at 16mm and 100mm. Its become our practice to make two passes through buildings like Notre Dame for a couple of reasons, first of all it takes a couple of trips through just to take in the magnificence of the structure and commit as much as possible to memory so it can be enjoyed over and over again. Looking at the building differently with each pass helps heighten your appreciation of the building as a whole as well. I take the first trip through ‘thinking wide’ and taking in the big picture and recording it with a 16-35 f2.8 zoom lens. The results of which are shown in the first three interior images above. The second trip through the building I think ‘detail’ and record it with a 100mm f2.8 macro lens which allows the recording of small details up close and big details from farther away. The last three images above were taken with the 100mm lens. The beauty of the 100mm macro is that it is a very small and therefore discreet lens that does not attract attention. It is also very light so carrying it around all day is not a hardship and thus it has found a permanent home in my travel camera bag. The only down side is that as a prime lens you must zoom and compose with your feet 🙂 If you don’t have this little stealth telephoto/macro in your bag I would highly recommend it to you.
Happy New Year to all of you who have followed this blog over the past year and I trust each and every one of you will enjoy a wonderful New Year in 2014, full of God’s blessings.
This will be a short post today and something completely different from the norm in that it will be a bit of a tutorial, so your feed back would be appreciated.
Christmas of 2013 in our area will forever be remembered for the ice storm that blanketed southern Ontario and caused power outages on a huge scale, affecting millions of people and leaving thousands of homes in the Greater Toronto Area without power for over a week. Our home in Oshawa was relatively unscathed, being without power for about half a day and an Ash tree in our front lawn suffering major damage (and perhaps may have to come down). Although the ice storm caused major destruction, it also allowed for some great photographs opportunities which actually lasted for three or four days before the sun came out and temperatures rose sufficiently to melt the ice. All of the images in today’s post are of a Flowering Crabapple tree located in the front yard of our home. Each image was taken using the Canon 5D MkIII and EF 100mm f/2.8L macro IS USM lens mounted on a tripod.
This first image is the final result after much experimentation to achieve the desired outcome; bright red Crabapples encased in ice with a snowy frosting and winter back ground.
Its important to consider the back ground (BG) of every image taken and if possible develop a BG that adds to the effectiveness of the image by isolating the object of the photograph from the BG. Classically, look for uncluttered BG’s that are out of focus, factors that help create separation between the object and its surroundings and therefore draws one’s attention to the object of the photograph. Technically this can be accomplished by two methods; when possible increasing the distance between the object and and BG, and increasing the aperture on your lens (lower f-stop) which reduces the depth of field (DOF; the distance range perpendicular to the lens that remains in focus).
The next three images are all taken with the same camera position as the image above, however the BG is the brick siding of our next door neighbour’s house. They show the relationship between aperture and depth of field and that even when a BG is separated from the object and out of focus, colour has a huge impact on the final result!
f/32 ISO 100 1/2 sec (smallest lens aperture, maximum depth of field, bricks recognizable but out of focus due to distance from object).
f/10 ISO 100 1/20 sec (less depth of field, bricks almost unrecognizable and crabapples in reasonable focus throughout)
f/2.8 ISO 100 1/125 sec (minimum depth of field, bricks unrecognizable however crabapples not in focus due to extremely shallow depth of field)
Some may prefer the f/2.8 image while others may prefer the f/10 version as more of the object remains in good focus. A little bit of photoshop on the f/10 version improves the image about as much as can be accomplished given the colour of the brick BG.
Not being happy with the colour of the BG I decided to use a 48″ white/silver reflector (which is typically used to reflect light onto a person during portrait photography) to create the appearance of a snowy BG. Intuitively I selected the white reflecting surface which produced the following result.
Although this is an improvement, all the detail in the ice covering the branches is lost and the structure within the icicles is greatly reduced using the white reflector. This led me to try something that was quite counter intuitive which was to use the highly reflective silver reflector and take the shot one more time which produced the results shown in the first image which has lots of detail in the ice, snow flakes and icicles that was absent using the white reflector. Here it is again with a little text in keeping with the date today.
The above image was relatively simple to take in that separating the subject from the BG was easy, the back ground was uncluttered and there was even room to place our own BG into the image. It may have taken some time and experimentation but the process was not a difficult one…..you just have to do it 🙂 But what about situations where you are faced with a cluttered BG that can not be separated from the object? In that case all we have to play around with is the depth of field which we do by changing the aperture of the lens. Remember: larger aperture (lower f-stop) has a shallow DOF while a smaller aperture (higher f-stop) has a deeper DOF. As an aside, focal length of the lens also affects DOF. A wide angle lens (shorter focal length) has a greater DOF than a telephoto lens (longer focal length) at the same aperture.
Here is a different branch of our Crabapple tree with a very cluttered and close BG in which I’ve purposely positioned the object branch at an angle to the lens which makes DOF considerations all the more challenging.
The first image f/32 ISO 100 1/2 sec. Things are in focus but there is no obvious object to be found. An all around poor image which even includes the windows and bricks on our house.
At f/2.8 ISO 100 1/320 sec things start to improve, an object is clearly identified but compositionally it is in the middle of the frame….a big mistake.
Focusing on the Crabapple cluster in the left of the frame at f/2.8 to improve the composition doesn’t work well as the DOF is so shallow you can not visually lock onto the object and therefore the image does not hold any interest.
So what can you do? Probably the best thing to do at this point is to agree that the ‘perfect shot’ is not coming from this set up and move on, however with todays digital files and photoshop we can quite easily blend multiple images into one final image. The most complicated form of this process is know as focus stacking where one will take tens (or even hundreds) of images of the same subject slowly moving the focus point from the front to the back of the object and then put all these images together to create an image where the entire object appears in perfect focus even though each individual image in the stack had a very shallow DOF. The simplest form of this process (and the least desirable in terms of results) is to put two images together. This last image is a blending of the f/32 and f/2.8 images above. If you look closely you will see the downside of the two image process but I trust this example shows the possibilities exist so that with patience and thinking things through you can often achieve results that will turn your snapshots into photographs!
I trust this was a helpful post and now its back to working on posts of our European trip.
After one last Vaporetto ride along the Grand Canal, we arrived back at the Venice Car Park where we loaded up our luggage and headed North for the 400 km drive to Innsbruck, Austria. The sun was descending below the mountains when we arrived at our hotel in the Old Town section of Innsbruck. We walked to the Town Square where we enjoyed some fine Austrian cuisine after which we wandered around recording some memories of this city that hosted the 1964 and 1976 Winter Olympics.
The remnants of the Olympic flame monument in the park where the Olympic medals were awarded almost fifty years ago.
The Goldenes Dachl, or Golden Roof is Innsbruck’s most famous landmark and is a three-story balcony built in the fifteenth century as a palace for Emperor Maximilian I. The balcony was their private perch for watching the festivals that took place in the town square below. The golden roof is made from 2,738 gold-plated copper tiles and they really do serve as the focal point of the square.
The Goldenes Dachl at dusk.
…and after dark.
The town square in Old Town is a wonderful area that has remained relatively unchanged for the last 500 years. There are many cafe’s around the perimeter of the square that are designed for warmth in the colder weather, right down to the sheep skin throw blankets on every chair.
The Innsbruck Cathedral or Cathedral of St. James, a Baroque Cathedral built between 1717-1724.
Helblinghaus dates back to the fifteenth century and was constructed as a town house. The ornate detail of the facade is in keeping with its neighbour with the golden roof!
This last image from Innsbruck is the City Tower, another focal point of the Old Town district of Innsbruck.
Following our very brief one night stay in Innsbruck we headed west, through Austria and Switzerland to our next stop which was Geneva, nestled on the edge of Lake Geneva on the Swiss/French border, some 580 km from Innsbruck. This day was designed for us to enjoy driving through the Alps and seeing one of the most picturesque mountain ranges in the world. We did enjoy the day however did not see a single mountain thanks to a very low cloud ceiling that day that extended the entire distance between Innsbruck and Geneva. Hopefully we will fare better the next time we make the trek!
Geneva is a fabulous city and it would have been nice to spend more time there, however we arrived late in the day and were on the road early the next morning heading towards Paris. The metropolitan Geneva area has a population of over one million people and has the third highest quality of life of any city in the world (after Vienna and Zürich). It boasts more international organization headquarters than any other city in the world and not surprisingly is rated as the third most expensive place in the world in which to live. We instinctively knew this because the burgers and fries at the restaurant where we had diner were thirty eight Euros!
For our evening in Geneva we headed down town to the old centre of Geneva where the University of Geneva is located. Adjacent to the university are some of the city’s cultural landmarks. Below is the Geneva Theatre.
And a little different perspective. Unfortunately it was impossible to include the fountain and not the light standard.
Next to the theatre was the museum , again with an annoying light standard. If you look closely you will note the streetlight is behind the statue of the horse & rider, which would typically result in the statue being underexposed as it was completely back lit. To solve this problem, during the thirty second exposure I grabbed the flash and ran up to the statue base and fired the flash at the horse & rider about six times while I made sure to never stop moving (so I didn’t show up in the picture). This technique is know as light painting and is a common practice in night photography. It takes a bit of practice but is not really that difficult….just don’t stop moving!
The University of Geneva is a sprawling campus in the heart of the old city. On its park like setting there are many academic buildings, lecture halls, dormitories and libraries however my favourite was this little cafe with bigger than life checker and chess boards out front for anyone to play.
The reason we visited the university was to see Reformation Wall which is a 100 metre long monument built into the side of the old wall of the city of Geneva. Reformers Wall was constructed in 1909 to commemorate the 350th anniversary of the founding of the University of Geneva by John Calvin on June 5, 1559. The wall features ten prominent theologians of the Reformation period in the mid fourteenth century. Although John Calvin is noted as the founder of the university, he is best know for his role in the Protestant Reformation initiated by Martin Luther who nailed his Ninety Five Theses on the door of his church on October 31, 1517, a document that ‘protested’ (hense Protestant) the theology, doctrine and structure of the Roman Catholic Church. In 1536 John Calvin published his opus “Institutes of the Christian Religion”.
In the centre of Reformation Wall are statues of (from left to right) William Farel, John Calvin, Theodore Beza and John Knox that stand 16.5′ high.
Although the above image may look like it was taken on a dull day, it was really taken in the virtual dark and is a 25 second time exposure.
I trust you have enjoyed these few images from Innsbruck and Geneva. It was unfortunate that we couldn’t spend more time exploring these two cities but it is impossible to fit everything into one trip! After one night in Geneva we headed to Paris where we spent almost three days and took enough photographs to supply the material for more than one blog post.
Deb and I got up early on Friday morning of the Thanksgiving Weekend and headed to Mizzy Lake in Algonquin Park to watch the sunrise and hopefully see a bull Moose. We didn’t see any Moose however enjoyed a wonderful morning and were able to take a few pictures along the way.
The Pileated Woodpecker is the largest woodpecker in North America and is about the size of a crow. Woody Woodpecker is perhaps the most famous Pileated Woodpecker! They are fairly common in Ontario however we don’t often get to see them up close. Deb spotted this one who was working on a fairly isolated Spruce tree, so it was just a matter of waiting for him to fly to another location allowing the opportunity to get some in flight images with a nice clear back ground, which is quite unusual as they are most often seen in the deep forest.
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The Gray Jay is a common bird in Algonquin park and is a very friendly bird that readily comes to your hand for a peanut. In fact they often follow you along the trails, especially if you have food for them as shown in this short video clip taken with my iPhone.
Most of the Gray Jays in Algonquin Park are banded, usually with two coloured bands on one or both legs. The bands normally indicate the year and location the birds were banded which allows researchers to monitor the life spans and migration patterns of the birds. It was nice to find a few non-banded birds which make photographers happy as the bands create visual distractions in photographs.
The Mizzy Lake Trail is one of our favourite trails in Algonquin Park and it is accessed from Highway 60 at the Arowhon Road. The trail, like much of Algonquin is characterized by Spruce Bogs. Below are some sunrise and early morning images.
Just before sunrise.
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To conclude this post, let’s start a bit of a discussion on depth of field especially as it relates to landscape photography. Typically we want everything in a landscape image to be in focus which requires a small aperture in the range of f/18 to f/22. Also, the shorter the focal length of the lens the greater the depth of field is at the same aperture (compared to a longer lens). The small aperture and the desire to use low ISO’s for better image quality results in longer exposure times which is why it is mandatory for a landscape photographer to carry a tripod at all times. Also using a tripod makes you consider the composition and take more time to set up the best possible shot that achieves the goal you have in mind for the finished product. The next three images share the same composition and differ functionally only my the aperture at which they were taken.
f/22, 1/25, ISO100 ,29mm. Everything in the image is in focus. The whole scene is the object and your eyes wander throughout the image.
f/8, 1/160 sec, ISO100, 29mm. The shallower depth of field starts to make the red leaves become the object of the image.
f/2.8, 1/1250, ISO100, 29mm. The entire middle and back ground are out of focus and the red leaves become the only object receiving all of the observer’s attention.
So the question becomes, of the three images, which is your favourite? That is a very subjective question and there is obviously no right or wrong answer, it is simply a matter of preference. As a photographer it is good practice to take the same image at different apertures as well as focusing on different objects within the frame in order to use fluctuating depths of field to your advantage and achieving very different results. It is surprising how this practice will improve your landscape skills and help you develop a better eye for that perfect landscape image.
The bird images in this post were taken with a Canon 1D Mk III and a 500mm f/4 L lens with attached 1.4x TC for an effective focal length of 700mm, using a Jobu monopod and Jobu Jr. gimbal head. The landscape images were taken with a Canon 5D Mk III and 16-35 f/2.8 lens on a Gitzo travellers tripod with Markins ball head.
The conclusion of my last post stated that the next blog entry would be from Venice, however in sorting through the pics from Venice it became obvious that the number of interesting images will require multiple blog entries. So while I’m working the Venice posts, here are a few shots from the tiny island of Burano….close to Venice but a charm all its own.
Burano is a 52 acre island that was first settled by the Romans in the sixth century. It is about 7 km from Venice and you arrive on the island via a 45 minute Vaporetto ride. The population of Burano is about 2,800. The main export of Burano is lace and although that is mostly for the tourist trade, historically the island is known for the best quality of lace in the world. Leonardo Di Vinci visited the island in 1481 purchasing a lace that was used for the altar in a European church and soon all the churches around the globe wanted Burano lace.
As you approach the island, long before you arrive you notice the leaning campanile of the Church of San Martino which dominates Buranos’s skyline.
For a photographer, although lace and leaning towers are interesting, what Burano is really known for is its colourfully painted houses and reflective canals which in the late afternoon light provides photo opportunities like non other.
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The colourful houses of Burano also provided countless windows and doorways that in and of themselves were fascinating objects to photograph. I trust you enjoy this sampling.
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This last image is probably my favourite; not sure why but I guess that’s the subjective nature of photography!
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