A Venetian Comparison

iPhone Image

Holga Image

I spent 3 weeks in November 2011 wandering the streets of Venice. Late one evening on my way back to our apartment from dinner in San Polo, I walked passed the old entrance-way to Casa Goldoni. I had passed by this location many times over the years, but never payed much attention since the doorway had always been blocked with bars and a heavy door. That night in November was different ... the door was open. Upon peering inside I saw these ancient steps and what appeared to be a well-head. I thought the lighting was amazing. My camera was in our apartment and image-making was beckoning. What to do? Well, I whipped out my trusty iPhone, rested it on the iron bars that blocked the doorway and made a few exposures. Very cool, but typical of camera phones, was grainy and noisy due to the auto ISO that most camera phones utilize. ISO 1200 on an iPhone is not particularly smooth! By the time I ran back to our apartment and grabbed my Holga, the door was closed ... darn, missed opportunity ... oh well!

As it turned out, I returned to Venice in March 2012 ... just a few months later. On my agenda was to revisit Casa Goldoni with a "real camera." After dinner (3 slices of pizza), I headed back over to check out Casa Goldoni. Ah, the door was open and the lights were on. There was no way I could use a tripod due to the position of the iron bars on the doorway. Consequently, I placed my Holga on one of the cross-beams and held it snugly in place with my hand for several bracketed exposures. Got it!

Couldn't wait to see how much BETTER the film shot was in comparison to my iPhone photo. Boy, was I surprised ... same subject, same vantage point and basically the same lighting. Not the same aesthetics though. Check them out for yourself ... two totally different images.

Lesson learned ... sometimes the best camera for the job is the one you have with you!

    

The eBook Phenomena

There is a quiet revolution taking place in the book publishing world ... eBooks. All of us know that we can purchase electronic versions of just about any title and read them on your iPad, iPhone, Android and Kindle. Before I left for Venice in November, I purchased the Steve Jobs biography and read the entire 571 pages on my iPhone. It sounds like quite a feat, but not really ... it was quite enjoyable.

That brings me to my current eBook project with respect to my images of Venice. Having investigated the costs of printing a hard-copy fine art coffee table book,  I came to the conclusion that the benefit of eBook publishing far outweighed the expense of off-set printing a coffee table fine art book. Finding a publisher with distribution capabilities was daunting to say the least. With photography being a mainstream art form, publishers are inundated with proposals and my goal was to get something completed by the end of 2012.

Several weeks ago I learned of a 26 year old woman named Amanda Hocking. Apparently she had contacted EVERYONE in the book publishing business trying to get her young adult urban fantasy and paranormal romance novels published. No luck! So she gave self-publishing a try and voila ... success!

Amanda is already a millionaire author. She probably hasn’t written something you’ve seen at Barnes & Noble. She’s made her millions by self-publishing Kindle eBooks, which she claims have sold over 900,000 copies since April of last year; and with Amazon’s generous commission policies, she gets to keep 70% of the profit. Her selling strategy is that her eBooks cost anywhere from $0.99 to $2.99, prices low enough that many people probably wouldn’t hesitate making such an impulse purchase ... which obviously they have not! In fact, she is going to be featured in Elle Magazine's April issue.

While I am not looking to match Amanda's success, I am hoping to expose my work to more collectors and lovers of Venice. I not only plan on showing images, I also plan on writing about photographing in Venice ... from special locations to the technical aspect of my work.

I do not think the fine art coffee table book is going away any time soon, but I hope there are more photographers like myself willing to look at non traditional means of showing and distributing their art.

If you would like to be included in my eBook mailing list, click here to send me your email address. As soon as my eBook is completed, I will include you in my announcement. Stay tuned!

Back to La Serenissima ... Getting Excited!

I leave for my beloved Venice on March 19th with the hope of coming to closure on my Venetian body of work and begin the process of designing my eBook.

Out of all the places I have photographed, Venice has always had a special appeal. Venice is not for everyone.  Some people spend 2-3 days and are overwhelmed by the crowds or the hot weather if visiting in the summer months ... Venice can get pretty steamy ... and smelly. While I have visited Venice on numerous occasions, I have only journeyed there during the winter months ... November, December and January. Venice in winter is special. Warm days lead to chilly nights which culminate in early morning fog and mist. It is not unusual for a fog to roll in during the day turning Venice into a veiled renaissance movie set.

Every visit to Venice produces new images. Each time I try to go beyond the typical views we are all familiar with and try to show the romance, the light, the silence and a sense of being there. I try to show the familiar in unfamiliar ways.

Every well known artist and writer has experienced the extraordinary beauty of Venice. La Serenissima most always leaves an impression. Truman Capote wrote in The London Observer in 1961, "Venice is like eating an entire box of chocolate liqueurs at one go." The author, Fran Lebowitz wrote, "If you read a lot, nothing is as great as you've imagined. Venice is ... Venice is better." I could not agree more!

 So, wish me well on my journey and may the photo-gods be with me!!!!

My Favorite Place On Earth ... Venezia

It's been a while since my last post ... life has a way of getting in the way! I believe in quality rather than quantity, so here I am again. 

I am excited. I just returned from Venice, you know, that place in Italy with the canals, the gondolas, the mystery and the fog. I have been photographing in Venice since 1992. I'm addicted! I am not alone in my addiction. I have met numerous individuals who profess their adoration for La Serenissima...just like myself! 

I have been blessed to have accumulated a substantial body of images over almost 20 years. My Venetian images have been collected by both museums and private collectors ... consequently, I have to do something with them other than have them on the walls in my studio/gallery or hidden away in my flat files. The time has come to seriously consider a book ... an eBook! What better way is there to reach my fellow Venetaphiles and photographers. I hope to have something designed and on-line by the end of 2012 ... Stay tuned!