Venezia Monocromía
Sometimes when I'm shooting in an iconic place, I want to capture it almost uninhabited. But in a place like Venice that has over 80,000 tourists a day (with only 55,000 locals) how is it possible? Another big challenge I run into is making sure I'm capturing the best spots to tell the story of it's history and what makes it original. This project was especially challenging because I only had a couple hours to film and capture everything I wanted. So, below are a few tips from what I've learned that I'm constantly putting to use that I hope will help you as well when running into similar challenges.
Venezia Monocromía from Haugen Creative on Vimeo.
First, find the right time of day to film. Golden hour (the hour before sunset) and blue hour (the hour after sunset), are the most common times to see photographers out and about trying to get their shots. What most people don't see however is the blue hour before sunrise and the golden hour following sunrise. (I know this to be true because I'm typically the only one out during that time!) Yes, it is more of a sacrifice to get out early and wake up before the sun does, but once you're out and shooting, you're in for a treat. Here are the main reasons I like to get out early and shoot during sunrise: 1) It's peaceful. You don't have other photographers all clamoring around for the same shot. You don't have crowds of people & tourists wondering what you're doing (this is especially true when running around with the Ronin or shooting aerial with a drone). 2) You beat the crowds. Most people are on vacation when visiting these iconic cities, so they aren't typically setting their alarms for 5:30am. You have virtually the whole landscape to yourself and can capture a whole new side of a place that is just waking up and getting ready for the day. I also did some research and found out that the cruise ships dock in Venice around 8:30am (with sunrise at 7:15am), so I decided I would shoot from 6:30am-8:30am. That way, I get blue hour, golden hour and beat the crowds! 3) The lighting. In my experience, sunrise lighting creates such a sharp image on landscape (well, unless you're chasing fog, but that's also pretty cool) and the blue hour transition to golden hour is so nice because you're actually gaining light instead of losing light if you find little treasures you want to capture toward the end/along the way.
Second, map out your route before-hand and plan to get a bit lost. For this shoot, I knew I only had 2 hours to capture everything I wanted, so I found some photos online and linked them into my google maps to create a route. By doing this, I could see how much time it was going to take me to walk from one point to the other so I wasn't trying to cram too much into my timeframe. I also figured in time for the unexpected and to get a bit lost. For me, some of my favorite shots I end up getting are those that I ran into as I got off the beaten path and decided to peek just around the corner. Make sure to allow yourself to wander and as you discover it, make sure you are rolling/snapping photos because you will be able to feel that same sense of discovery and intrigue later as you watch your footage back.
Lastly, pick the equipment you'll use and stick with it. You can lose a lot of time by trying to do everything. For this shoot, I decided I would shoot on one camera (the Sony a7s), and mainly use a wide angle lens (17-40mm) on my Ronin-M. This would allow me to be able to run through the city and create some fun sweeping, dolly-like movement throughout. I also threw my 70-200 in my pack just in case along with a tiny ground-tripod that I did pull out a few times to get some solid close-up shots.
