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Analogue April

This year April is analogue month. This means shooting on film wherever possible, but also using vintage, manual Pentax-M lenses with the Fujifim XT5 in order to slow things down and focus on creativity.


Hopefully I can post some results at the end of the month, but in the meantime here are a couple of shots from a ‘lost’ roll of film, taken in Venice last year. All taken on an Olympus mju: II with Ilford HP5 plus film.


Sotoportego de la Malvasia Vechia, Venice, Italy. Feb 2024
Sotoportego de la Malvasia Vechia, Venice, Italy. Feb 2024

Remember to follow @monochrome.venice on instagram to see more work and fine art prints taken from my personal archive spanning 2009 - present day. Also buy prints from:

Or email andy@monochromevenice.com for more info!



 
 
 

Venetian Wanderings from February and March 2025

News, views and musings


As another month closes, presented here are a selection of monochrome shots during the transition from winter to spring across Venice. Whilst busy in the gallery for my recent Venice Street Geometry exhibition, I didn't get around to posting much from February, so here's a little catch up of things that caught my eye, and my lens over recent weeks. Lots of familiar themes looking at light, shadow and reflections, but also a new focus on street geometry as well as a project highlighting the vandalistic grafitti that is appearing across the city.


Despite shooting digital, more recent work has seen a return to using analogue, vintage lenses (Pentax-M) mounted on the Fujifilm XT5. This slowed down approach is seen as positive and allows for more considered composition, as well as providing a more film-like aesthetic. Moving forward I am tempted to experiment more with film and film scans, as a way to return to basics. I feel, for the sake of creativity, I need to step away from digital, and especially social media, so April will start as a film only month, so let's see what that entails. Hopefully I can post some results in a few weeks!


Some of these recent shots above will be made into fine art prints, so if you are interested in purchasing any, please let me know!


As a new addition to this blog, I also want to share recent inspiration. Earlier in the year this came from reading Matt Stuart's (@mattu1) very insightful 'Think Like a Street Photographer' which turned out to be a little gem. Although a different style to street photography from what I create, the book was extremely readable and I would consider useful for any photographer or any genre.


Another new discovery is a new photography podcast by Tim Bingham called Talking Frames which has opened my eyes to several new photographers. Most notably Betty Goh (@betty_goh_photography) and her street abstracts and Stephen Leslie (@step_hen_les_lie) and his use of humour. Stephen Leslie also has his own YouTube channel featuring his 'Show and Tell' documentaries about many famous and contemporary photographers which are well worth a look.


More recently, there have been some new documentary films appearing on the Darkroom Rumour website, which have been highly inspirational. Personal highlights include Elliott Erwitt: Silence Sounds Good, Sabine Weiss: One Century of Photography and also the incredible story of Gerda Taro in Searching for Gerda Taro. Another recent film, and one not to be missed for anyone interested in photography, is the amazing story of Lee Miller in the recent film 'Lee' starring Kate Winslet and based on the biography 'The Lives of Lee Miller' by Antony Penrose, Lee Miller's son. Highly recommended.



AP

To buy any fine art prints from the Monochrome Venice archive, please email andy@monochromevenice.com or check out the prints page: www.monochromevenice.com/prints

 
 
 

Fish Market

Today's tour takes us around the famous Pescheria (Fish Market) located at Rialto.  Set in a Neo-Gothic open-sided building that is adjacent to the Grand Canal, the Rialto Fish Market is undeniably a tourist hotspot, and photographed incessantly. Nevertheless it still makes an interesting subject, especially in monochrome, given the light, textures and characters one can find.  Photographically it also provides opportunities for creating sequences and stories and to adopt a documentary or reportage approach.


As the market it's inevitably busy and difficult to stay in one place for very long, it's usually best to work fast with the camera in autofocus and aperture priority mode. To isolate individual elements, many of these following shots were taken wide open with the Fujifilm XT2 mirrorless with a 60mm f2.8 portrait lens which allows shooting fast in low light conditions for candid portraiture.


Rialto Fish Market (March 2022). Fujifilm XT2 60mm f2.8


Rialto Fish Market (March 2022). Fujifilm XT2 60mm f2.8

Rialto Fish Market (March 2022). Fujifilm XT2 60mm f2.8



A previous visit used a wide angle lens (Fujifilm 18mm f2) to capture an environmental portrait, including the impressive foreground swordfish and as much of the market as possible.

Rialto Fish Market (March 2013). Fujifilm XT1 18mm f2


The Fujifilm XT2 mirrorless 60mm f2.8 portrait lens also offers a macro function, to hone in on some of the textures.

Rialto Fish Market (March 2022). Fujifilm XT2 60mm f2.8


And then, after its all packed away, the clean up begins which offers a visual contrast to the hustle and bustle of the previous few hours. AP.

After the Fish (March 2014). Canon Powershot G15.


 
 
 

Contact: andy@monochromevenice.com

All rights reserved (c) Andy Parker 2025

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Monochrome Venice.  Black and white photography in and around Venice, Italy, by Andy Parker

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