20th in Venice – Day 2

I have taken quite the hiatus from learning photography and have recently felt ready to get back into it. I have no desire to be a professional or to take family photos, I just want to capture the beauty around me. I worked for several months on getting the photos from the past 3+ years organized and backed up. I reset my DSLR settings (I had done something wonky by accident) and by the time we left for our trip, I was ready with two blank storage cards and an eagerness to learn a new skill.

On the second day of our trip I let Matt sleep as late as he wanted and I went down to a coffee shop in the square just outside our apartment.

Our first activity that day was to walk around as tourists. The following pictures were just fun spots we saw around the city.

Then we went to Murano to check out the glass. I wanted a specific glass necklace that I had seen in several shops but wanted to buy in Murano. If I was a going to own a piece of Murano glass jewelry I at least wanted to buy in in Murano!

In one of the photos in the slideshow below you’ll see Matt filling up our water bottle. In Europe you run across running fountains with drinking water all over the place. Quite handy!

We then rode out to Burano. If we were to plan this day again, we’d skip this. Burano was cute, but we aren’t into lace and it was at least a 45-minute ride one way. We ate a delicious calzone lunch and then headed back, as I had my photography session at 3:00.

My photo-tutoring session was amazing. Guilia was able to teach me some tricks that I used the rest of my trip. She was patient and kind, and a good teacher.

The skill was taking long exposure photos in full sun, using a filter I’d never even seen before. Here are my favorite photos from the tour with Guilia. Note that in each picture something is blurry (it was in motion) while something else stayed still and is crisp. What is really cool is that when a vaporetto would go past, it wouldn’t even show up in the picture! The shutter was open for 30 seconds at a time!

That night we had dinner at Hard Rock. Good food. Loud music. It was the one thing Matt wanted to do on the trip and while it’s not my favorite, it was pretty good… I collect Starbucks mugs… he likes to eat at Hard Rock cafes!

While he shopped, I tried a few tricks that I had learned that day. They’re not stellar but for my first attempts on my own, I’m pleased.