Steemit Travel Vlog Update - I Made It to Venice, Italy - Night Photos*

What a long flight, the America Airlines flight smelled light ass and burgers I'm not kidding- Dallas-Philly-Ferry to Venice 14 hours travel time. LOL. But I made it to Venice. It's 1:07am in Italy and I'm posting this just to give Steemians an update.
American Airlines had the plane so hot I was sweating and never did sleep. I was a total crypto zombie arriving into Venice. But when I saw the ancient city I was stoked!

I knew this trip was going to be amazing when I saw the island and the architecture

I took a water taxi from the airport into Venice and then found out there aren't any cars in Venice! So I had to navigate through the narrow medival streets with all my stuff to the AirBnb. When I got all the bags up the 4 flights of stairs I just laid down on the bed and crashed for 5 hours. I got up, took a shower, and zoomed off to meet Chiara for tonights shoot. We met at Cafe F30 on the Grand Canal but it was raining what she called, "Dogs and Pigs!" so the shoot is re-scheduled until when I come back through Venice on my way home, July 9th.

I found a 3 pronged adaptor from 110 to 220 in the palace I'm staying in (Venitians call their ancient homes a palace for some reason) and it's weird as fuck (the adaptor not the city!) I thought I was going to electrocute myself plugging this damn thing in but it seems to be working fine. So here goes the new Steem post.

Note: while taking the ferry to the cafe to meet Chiara I shot some artsty video in the rain; I have to say this place is magical in the rain so I'm glad I got to witness that. A girl on the ferry said it never rains in Venice in the summer. The Canon 5D held up just fine completely soaked, she seems to love the rain. So I'll edit the video tomorrow. But in the meantime check out these night shots of Venice. I walked around for a couple of hours with the tripod and did some sight seeing in the drizzly weather. Not too many people out tonight which was perfect since I still a little out of my element.

I decided to just get lost and let the city guide me. There seems to be no rhyme or reason as to the flow of the streets. Every corner I hear Italians chatting it up on the bridges, alley ways and small piazzas. I was like a cat in the night, dressed in black quietly setting up my tripod in the back alleys along the canals. You see a lot when you do long exposures, you have a sixth sense.

The vintage looking Italian boats zoom through the dark canals. It's dark, but with the long exposure ambient light slowly lights up the shadows. Notice the green, red and white lights...but you can't see the vintage wooden boat

I stand in a piazza with a giant church behind me, two men a woman drink wine on their balcony which can be seen camera left. You can only hear my breathing and their voices echo in the night. The water lightly shimmers but the long shutter turns the water silky smooth.

I'm come across what appears to be the Grand Canal that runs through the middle of the city. It's littered with people and boats zooming tourists around. I take a long exposure next to two Asian dudes that had vintage 35mm's. They "aaaaahhhh" over my shoulder as the 30second exposure appears on my LCD; I am bored by all the people taking selfies and obnoxious activity. I bolt back towards the back streets.

I see darkness down a canal and wonder if there is enough ambient light to capture an image. I jack up the ISO and lower the aperture for this one. Presto! Mama Mia!

Two hours have passed already but it seems like I've only been walking for five minutes. It's midnight and I hear a boat zooming through a canal in the distance. I wait until I see lights and press the shutter, green and red lights burn into the sensor. The boat isn't even a ghost in the images, it doesn't exist. I love night photography.

See the airplane zooming the sky? I never get tired of long exposures; it's always a mystery because your naked eye can't see what the camera is capable of seeing.
I check my GPS and see where I am. I've gone deep and make my way down the infinite twists and turns, somehow navigating in the right direction. I cross over a bridge that seem familiar and set up the tripod and camera for this shot.

I know I should get some sleep but I can't stop thinking I need to post on Steemit. I've become somewhat addicted to posting here. I love it. Life has been good the pass three weeks. There's a new groove setting in. I continue walking, the streets at this point are completely empty, a dog runs by me and scars the crap out of me.

I find my small plaza called Campiello Widmann and I see the restaurant below my apartment. I finally made it home for the night. The fellas at the restaurant are closing up and chatting away in Italian. I speak Spanish but so far has done me absolutely no good on this trip. LOL.

Ciao for the tonight. More tomorrow.

Mikey

Please comment and tell me what you'd like to know about Venice. I have the entire day to explore, make video and take photographs

iPhone shots of the setup

more gear in action