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The time of the year you will visit will change the perception you had of the city and the fun you had while shooting there though: there are very few times throughout the year when you get to see the “true soul” of the city and not just a river of crowds continuously walking in every street.
Well, we’ve picked the best time so that you don’t have to: mid-January, right after the Christmas holidays and before the Carnival starts, is probably one of the quietest times of the year in Venice. That’s one of the few moments when you will be able to open your tripod without hitting someone, or when you might get some dramatic skies and not just hazy cyan sunset with faded colors.
The “cons” of visiting during winter? Well, the cold of course. Venice can be cold (somewhere around 0°C in the mornings) – so get dressed properly as it won’t be t-shirt weather. That’s it. If you are willing to face some cold – you will be rewarded hugely in Venice!
The overall rhythm is quite relaxed – also thanks to the shooting hours which in winter are more reasonable than at any other time of the year. This workshop will focus a lot on compositions, long exposures, high key and low key effects – overall helping you getting a bit deeper into your thought process every time you take a picture and not just point and shoot. It’s a slower way of doing photography – a more thoughtful one – where we prioritize getting it right rather than running around shooting every location just for the sake of it.
If you’d like to get more infos about the locations – you can also visit our Venice Shooting Guide, that should give you an even clearer idea of the places!
Truth is that we never run two identical workshops – due to the weather, due to the light, due to the length of the days at any given time of the year and a bazillion other variables that come into play when dealing with outdoor photography.
Take this general itinerary for what it is – and by any means don’t think that we’ll stick to it at all times!
Time to start our workshop together! On our first day, we will pick you up at the airport (or train station, depending how you prefer to arrive) around mid-morning; the airport is really close to the city – but it might take some time between ferries, traffic and bridges to actually reach our hotel. We will stay downtown really close to St. Mark Square – the prettiest part of Venice – where all the main photography locations are.
Lunch: 12:30PM
After dropping the luggages at the hotel we will take a first stroll around town, where you will be able to admire the amazing architecture together with gondoliers, canals and bridges: all the things that made Venice so famous all over the world!
We will end our morning walk with a delicious lunch somewhere downtown.
Hotel Check-in & Afternoon Break: approx. 2:30/4:00PM
After our tasty lunch together, we’ll return back to the hotel to check in and take a breath before hitting the road again.
Sunset & Twilight/Night Session: 4:00/7:00PM
Here we are: let’s start our first photography session together! During our first sunset we will visit the amazing Riva degli Schiavoni, one of the most iconic views of Venice just out of St. Mark Square: we will find endless different compositions along the shore – playing with several different subjects such as gondolas, churches and small wooden piers. An amazing location for long exposures too! See the images down here for reference.
Dinner: 7:30PM
It’s been a long day: finally we will have the chance to sit down and have a warm meal with some wine to end it in the best way!
Before the first lights appear in the sky – we’ll already be out headed to our sunrise location: the Accademia bridge, another impressive view of the Venice’ Gran Canal. The images down here should give you a better idea.
Breakfast & Morning Break: 9:00/11:00AM
By the time we’ll be back at the hotel, I’m sure that you will be very much looking forward to having a nice breakfast and a bit of a break to gain some energies back.
Walk-around in the City & Lunch: 11:00AM/2:00PM
After a long sunrise session – we’ll dedicate the day to just walk-around the city, discovering its alleys and canals and possibly shooting some typical street scenes! We will get some lunch along the way.
Afternoon Break: 2:00/3:30PM
After lunch we will get a bit of rest, before hitting the streets again for the longest session of the day.
Sunset Session: 3:30/7:00PM
Time to head out again – this time to the incredible Rialto Bridge, which we are going to shoot from a bunch of different angles! Your instructor then, depending on how’s the light and the crowds, will decide where to spend the “real” golden hour. As for any other day during the workshop , we won’t miss to shoot twilight too as it’s the most romantic time of the day around here in Venice!
Dinner: 7:30PM
After twilight is gone, we will walk to the restaurant and finally get a well deserved dinner before heading to bed!
Today we will spend most of the day shooting one of the most unique locations you can see in the entire Venice lagoon – the tiny island of Burano, famous for the incredibly colorful houses! We will leave early in the morning so that we can beat any sort of crowds that might go there later in the day. We will take as much time as we need to shoot every possible interesting view there is in the entire island!
We will get lunch either there on the island or on our way back to Venice.
Afternoon Break/Editing: 2:00/4:00PM
Depending on our energy levels, we will decide whether to work on some images we took on the previous days or get some rest before the sunset session.
Sunset Session: 4:00/7:00PM
For today’s sunset, we will visit a special place: the St. Mark Tower, and we’ll shot sunset from the top! The tower offers a 360° perspective all over the city, and seeing Venice from above is quite a unique experience!
Dinner: 8:30/9PM
After twilight is gone, we will walk to the restaurant and finally get a well deserved dinner before heading to bed!
Another day – another sunrise! Luckily for us, sunrise is quite late at this time of the year, which means we won’t have to wake up unreasonably early in the morning. We will dedicate this sunrise session to St. Mark Square, looking for all sorts of different perspectives to capture the absolute beauty of this location!
Breakfast & Morning Break: 9:00/11:00AM
By the time we’ll be back at the hotel, I’m sure that you will be very much looking forward to having a nice breakfast and a bit of a break to gain some energies back.
Visit to several attractions in the city & Lunch: 11:00AM/2:00PM
After a long sunrise session – we’ll dedicate the day to just walk-around the city, discovering its alleys and canals and possibly shooting some typical street scenes! We will get some lunch along the way.
Afternoon Break: 2:00/3:30PM
After lunch we will get a bit of rest, before hitting the streets again for the longest session of the day.
Sunset Session: 3:30/7:00PM
We will spend today exploring the area around Punta della Dogana, from where you’ll be able to frame the St. Mark Tower as well as the Gran Canal and the Giudecca Island on the opposite side. We will then shoot twilight around the city streets and small canals!
Dinner: 7:30PM
After twilight is gone, we will walk to the restaurant and finally get a well deserved dinner before heading to bed!
Both of today’s photography sessions will revolve around the Theatre area: close to the Teatro La Fenice, the most famous and historical theatre of Venice, there are a multitude of photography locations: we will spend both sunrise and sunset photo sessions shooting this whole beautiful area.
Breakfast & Morning Break: 9:00/11:00AM
By the time we’ll be back at the hotel, I’m sure that you will be very much looking forward to having a nice breakfast and a bit of a break to gain some energies back.
Visit to several attractions in the city & Lunch: 11:00AM/2:00PM
After a long sunrise session – we’ll dedicate the day to just walk-around the city, discovering its alleys and canals and possibly shooting some typical street scenes! We will get some lunch along the way.
Afternoon Break: 2:00/3:30PM
After lunch we will get a bit of rest, before hitting the streets again for the longest session of the day.
Sunset Session: 3:30/7:00PM
As mentioned a bit earlier up here – we’ll have another session around the Teatro la Fenice, shooting canals, gondolas and street lights – hidden here there are some of Venice best views!
Dinner: 7:30PM
After twilight is gone, we will walk to the restaurant and finally get a well deserved dinner before heading to bed!
While yesterday we dedicated some time to the Theatre area – today we’ll spend more time discovering the northern part of the Venice city centre – another area full of hidden corners and photogenic alleys!
Breakfast & Morning Break: 9:00/11:00AM
By the time we’ll be back at the hotel, I’m sure that you will be very much looking forward to having a nice breakfast and a bit of a break to gain some energies back.
Post-Production Sessions: 11:00AM/3:00PM
As we are headed towards the end of the workshop – by now you should have a good portfolio of Venice cityscapes: it’s time to review and edit some of them! Your instructor will work one-to-one with all of the participants and teach you how to properly edit this type of pictures through the use of Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop.
Afternoon Break: 3:00/4:00PM
After all the editing sessions, we will get a bit of rest before hitting the streets again for the last sunset of the workshop.
Sunset Session: 3:30/7:00PM
We will shoot the Santa Maria della Salute Church, one of the biggest cathedrals of Venice, from an unusual perspective on the Gran Canal – a fantastic way to wrap up the sunset sessions of our workshop!
Dinner: 7:30PM
After twilight is gone, we will walk (for one last time) to the restaurant and finally get a well deserved dinner before heading to bed!
We are mentioning one last sunrise in the itinerary, even in our very last day: since you’ll probably have to pack things up and get ready for your trip back home, you are 100% free to decide whether you’d like to go for it or maybe just sleep in and get ready a bit later. Our recommendation is to see how the weather looks like, depending also on what conditions we got the previous day and then decide.
Breakfast & Check-out: 8:00/9:30AM
Time to pack everything up, get some “juice” for the trip back home and start our journey (yes, everything in Venice is a “journey”) back towards the airport (or the train station)!
Drop-off: 10:00AM/10:30PM
After one last ferry ride and some walking, it’s unfortunately time to say goodbye: your instructor will help you take the luggages into the building and wish you a safe flight back home!
– Scroll down, find the “book now” button, fill in your details and follow the process to the check-out. You will be able to leave a refundable deposit (500€ x person most of the times) via credit/debit card, bank transfer or even Paypal.
– Scroll down to the very end of the page to find the contact form or visit the “Contact Us” page to, well.. Contact us! We will be more than happy to help you with any request you have and set up the ideal workshop you have in your mind – and ultimately give you all the details to complete the deposit and secure your spot on the tour.
In either case, we only ask for a 500€ deposit to confirm your spot – we will then reach out around 2 months before your workshop starts with a link to complete the remaining part of the payment. If you booked last minute and need to pay the entire quote right away – we will be in touch as soon as we receive your reservation with the aforementioned link!
Why? So that you to get your own room for yourself without having to share it with anyone else. The single supplement is something we add at cost price (if not less), and as annoying as it might be, that’s something that unfortunately we can’t avoid.
That’s also how we manage to guarantee every workshop departure, even if you are the only participant for that date.
Of course you can opt for the single supplement even if you are traveling with friends and you like to have your own personal space.
– Digital Camera (preferably a DSLR or mirrorless camera, APS-C, micro 4/3 and FF will be more than fine);
– An ultrawide lens (e.g. Nikon 14-24mm, Canon 16-35mm, Tamron 15-30mm, Tokina 16-28mm etc); we recommend a lens with a wide maximum aperture (like f/2.8) in case we might do some night photography.
– A standard zoom lens (e.g. Nikon/Canon/Sigma 24-70mm or 24-105mm);
– A telephoto zoom lens (e.g. various Nikon/Canon/Tamron/Sigma 70-200mm);
– A super telephoto zoom lens (e.g. Sigma/Tamron 150-600mm); this lens is not necessary but we recommend it anyway since it allows to capture the far away details of the landscapes;
– A sturdy tripod that permits to do some long exposure photos, specially at twilight;
– A set of ND filters; these are the only filters we feel to recommend, since they become useful when you need to stretch the exposure time a little bit during some difficult light conditions;
– A camera remote to avoid blurry shots.
To start a Whatsapp chat, simply click on Leo's name down here!
