Impressions: Walls of Venice

Back in 2017, during the making of Veneto, I was at one point involved in the process of picking a cover for the book. The design team had worked on a few mock-ups, but I wasn’t sold on the colour they had chosen. I had something different in mind – something subtler and less saturated, just like the colours one would find reflected on the canals of Venice on a typical foggy day.

And so, in order to provide some alternatives, I flew from London to Venice with little more than my camera, and started to gather some evidence. Immediately it became clear that the walls of this city offered a coherent palette of pinks and oranges and yellows. I was sure that among them I would find the perfect hue – the one that would best represent Venice and the Veneto through the evocative power of colour. The one that would go on the cover.

In the end, that didn’t happen. The cover remained orange and in time I learnt to love it and look at it with the tenderness it deserved. What I took away from the process, however, turned out to be far more precious than any won battle: an archive, a study on colour and texture. A constant source of inspiration and guidance for future creative endeavours. Or, quite simply, some pretty photos to look at when put in sequence.

So I have started to do just that. Put them in sequence for all to see and appreciate this inner coherence. I have created an account called Walls Of Venice where I will be sharing all of these images, plus more as I will continue to snap my way through the city that I now call home.