I recently received an order for a print of one of my favorite doors of Venice. Connie had just written a beautiful haiku poem about her longing for Venice…I join her in that daily. As I’ve said many times, ‘Quando sono solo, sogno Venezia”…maybe you do, too.
“‘What is Haiku?’, you ask. I’ll tell you.”
Anyway, her haiku envisioned peeling blue paint on a door of Venice, and her search for an accompanying image resulted in one my transformed doors on this website (see Ancient Venetian Doors here).
Want to read Connie’s beautiful haiku? You’ll see it at the end of this transformation article.
I decided to give Connie a peak behind the curtain…something that most of you have seen many times…to show her how her door came about. As usual, I envisioned something other than what was before me as I walked through the San Marco sestieri of Venice. And as usual, I don’t want to give you the Venice of today, but the Venice of yesteryear, before electrical and water conduits, street lights, mail slots, doorbell ringers, etc.
So, today we get a transformation from blah, to ahh. Here you go, Connie.
[As always, you may click on an image for a full-screen view]
Step 1
Here is my original snapshot. Yes, I know…ugh! What possessed me to even stop and snap this lackluster door? But alas, I always have a vision, and I love to capture images to transform when I return home. And Connie, I’m sorry you have to see this!
Yes, this is the starting point for the final photo. This photo needs a good bit of work to get it to the point of my vision for Venice.
So, what is my vision as it relates to my photography of Venice? It’s important to me that you see a Venice of years gone by. It just so happens that Venice is now celebrating its 1,600th birthday…I know, right?!..that’s a lot of years that have gone by. I would love to have seen it along the way to what it is today…a marvelous city, unlike any other in the world.
To better understand why and how I work toward my goal of a Venice of another time, you can read one of my first blog articles, “The Venice That Isn’t There”.
But back to the blue door…let’s get started.
Step 2
Now, what has to go? The hole above the doorway. All things new, not old. The stormwater drain in front of the door. The window to the right. The doorbells. The address…did they have addresses in Venice’s early centuries? Conduits for water and electricity definitely have to go.
So, here is the door with all of those elements removed.
However, I’m not happy at all with this composition. The angled wall on the left just doesn’t balance well with the wall on the right. But, I can fix that.
Step 3
Time to remove that wall and it's window on the left.
OK now, we’re getting close.
Step 4
With the composition the way I want, it’s time to work on the richness of the color.
Step 5
And next, to move back in time to an older Venice, let’s work on the old-world patina a bit.
Now, we are into the ancient-Venice territory.
Step 6
A blue door is what I had in mind. I’ll show you why in just a moment. But in the meantime, I’ll paint over the door to get that nice blue color for which I longed. And, while I’m at it, I think I’ll polish the door handle a bit.
Venetian Door #1
So, there you have it…Connie’s blue door.
Why the Door in Blue?
Now, about that idea to paint the door blue. As I was strolling the calle of San Marco, I ran across an image that I just had to capture. According to the time-stamp on my digital images, it happened to be exactly 46 seconds before I took a photo of today’s door.
Here was a man dressed in blue, white and red, reading the matching blue, white and red of a framed menu (the window beyond his head is the one that is to the left of the doorway…the wall and window that I removed in Step 3, above).
Serendipity at its best! I just had to match the door’s color to the gentleman’s sportscoat.
Connie’s Haiku
And now, to Connie’s Haiku. ‘What is Haiku?’, you ask. I’ll tell you.
Haiku was originally a form of Japanese poetry consisting of 17 syllables in three lines of 5 syllables, then 7 syllables, ending with another 5 syllables. I say originally, because the original subject matter had to do with evoking images of the natural world. But today, any subject matter that fits the Haiku cadence seems to work.
Finally, here is Connie’s beautiful Haiku:
For Venice, I long...
peeling blue paint—rusted locks
gondolas at dawn.
That’s it for today. Just a quick transformation to celebrate Connie’s Haiku. I hope that you enjoyed seeing behind the digital curtain to glimpse a photo going from zero, to hero. I’ll leave you with this…
For Connie, I print...
transforming pain to beauty,
I too miss Venice.
-or-
Old brown door so blah,
Photoshop transformation -
Now so pretty blue.
As always…
Ciao for now,
Steve
p.s. Please leave a comment below, but make the expression of your experience today into the 5-7-5 syllable format of a Haiku…go ahead, give it a try.
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