Venice is a sanctuary for religious shrines. They are in the open, in closed spaces, large, small, stone, wood, enamel, metal, and what-have-you. Today, I present to you several shrines that I’ve come across in Venice.

I have grouped the shrines below into five categories:

Mary as the star;
Mary with a baby Jesus;
Mary with Jesus as a man;
A grown Jesus by himself; and,
Shrines with what appear to be saints of some note — some identified and some not.

Several of the shrines have an added adoring, worshiping crowd around the central figure.

“If only our own society prized such monumental reminders”

I am captivated by the effort that went into many of these works of adoration. Some are grandiose works sponsored by a patron or the Church, and they are large and ornate. Others are more obviously created by lay individuals, and these are more meaningful to me personally.

Many of the shrines are accompanied by flowers — mostly artificial. I’m not too much into artificial flowers, and I don’t see as much adoration in the one-time placement of artificial flowers as I do where fresh flowers have been periodically left by the faithful. In one shrine, flowers are part of the art work itself, painted on the substrate, along with Mary and a baby Jesus.

One shrine has a memorial (placed on a field of blue) that celebrates a family member for whom they are ‘Riconoscenti’, or Grateful, and which recognizes that he was in the war dated 1940-1945. I assume that Armando died in the war.

The oldest dated shrine has the date of 1702.

One of my favorite shrines is dedicated to Saint Antonio. This shrine is appreciated by me not only because the town of San Antonio is my birthplace, but because of the convenient slot for alms, which is labeled ‘Pani per I Poveri’ or “Bread for the Poor” (several other shrines have a less obvious slot, or place for a former slot, for donations). Saint Antonio (or Saint Anthony) is known for his devotion to the poor and the sick, and he was one of the most quickly canonized saints in church history. More importantly for those of us who can’t ever seem to find the car keys, he is the patron saint of lost things…and I’m not sure whether that means that he has found and has these things, or that he can help us find them.

For each shrine, I provide two photos — first will be the ‘snapshot’ as captured in my camera (often from quite a distance), and second will the the snapshot transformed into what I hope you would consider to be more of a work of art. So, this article has both historic content and photo transformation…a duet, of sorts.

Mary as the Star

Mary with a Baby Jesus

In a couple of these shrines, the baby Jesus is a bit obscure, in that He is shown as a medallion at Mary’s breast.

Mary with a Grown Jesus

Mary is a bit more obvious, but grown Jesus is there in the background.

Jesus as a Man

Only one in this category. A well-placed light which illuminates Jesus has been removed in the transformed version.

Shrines with What Appear to be Saints of Some Note

Here are three bonus shrines — not found in Venice, but along the Amalfi Coast and in Tuscany.

I find these shrines to be a gentle reminder: a reminder of my faith; a reminder to stop and reflect when I see them; a reminder to treat others as I want to be treated; and to love and pray for one another - especially our enemies. If only our own society prized such monumental reminders.

Ciao for now,

Steve

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Before and After

Scott Kelby - Founder of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals

As you read this, I am in Las Vegas at the 2015 Photoshop World Conference & Expo. This is a come-together of photographers from all over the world who use Photoshop in their photo processing. The Conference provides three days of intensive training in all aspects of Photoshop.

“The word ‘Photoshop’, like the word ‘darkroom’, it’s not a four-letter word.”

Photoshop has taken the place of the old-fashioned darkroom of yesteryear -- and it is oh, so much better than working in a darkroom with all of those temperature-critical chemicals, and for color, the total confusion of total darkness -- I've been there and it wasn't particularly fun. As I've mentioned before, the processing of the photo in Photoshop and Lightroom (Photoshop's snazzy cousin) is where pure joy enters the picture for me.

So today, I've decided to give you a before and after of a photo that I took in Venice a couple of years ago...a photo that was modified using Photoshop.

Photoshop has taken a rap for the many faked photos that people have created (some obviously for humorous spoofing, but many to pull the wool over our eyes). But I say, count the letters in 'Photoshop' -- the word 'Photoshop', like the word 'darkroom', it's not a four-letter word. Photoshop puts much power in the photographers hands, and like any other power, it must be used judiciously.

In my past blog titled The Venice That Isn’t There I showed you how I have transformed several doors to bring those doors back to the time that they were created by the Italian craftsmen.

This week I want to continue in that vein, but I'll use one of the many religious shrines to demonstrate. These shrines can be found throughout Italy, and in particular Venice.

Just below you see one of the many ancient, charming, religious shrines. Each shrine is dedicated to a particular saint and when created, it was adorned with paintings, statues, and/or relics related to that saint. Who is this particular shrine dedicated to? I’m not really sure -- some shrines have obvious evidence of the honoree and some do not.

If you look hard, you can see a painting of the saint (dark robe) holding the young Christ (yellow top). You can also see that shrines receive continuing adornment from those who respect that particular saint. Though the flowers in the photo are artificial, I've seen many shrines with fresh flowers left by their fans.

Some shrines also act as a collection station for alms for the poor. In a future blog, I will show a shrine dedicated to Saint Antonio which has such an offerings box.

So, what does this particular shrine look like today as you walk through Venice?

Here is the before photo, just below. This photo shows a shrine that must have looked impressive in the days in which it was created, but now finds drab surroundings. So, this is where Photoshop comes in.

Note that I’ve eliminated the electrical conduit that courses down the wall and then into the shrine.

In addition, the unsightly concrete recess below the shrine has been removed...most likely a niche for the former alms box.

I found the crumbling plaster remnant to the right of the shrine to be distracting, so it was eliminated. At one point, plaster covered this whole wall, but time and weather have taken their toll.

As I looked further after eliminating distractions, the ancient, crumbling, underlying brickwork seemed a bit too bright, and it competed with the shrine for attention, so I gave it a richer and darker appearance.

Lastly, I made a significant crop to the photo to eliminate many of the distracting elements, to fill the frame with the shrine itself, and to put it into a vertical format. Now the shrine is taking center stage.

In the final analysis, the finished photo is more in line with how it would have looked 600 years ago without the modern, distracting elements. I hope you appreciate the transformation. And I hope you can appreciate the power of Photoshop.

If you haven't taken a look at the doors of The Venice That Isn’t There, give it a look to see more on my use of Photoshop to de-modernize Italy.

I'll have more Before and Afters in the future, so stay tuned.