Buongiorno Venezia

the winner of the last VeniceWord Photo Contest has been chosen by the jury composed of the director of the Venice School of Photography and the editors of Veniceword.com. The winner will be announced in the next issue of Buongiorno Venezia. As Monday 9 April is a holiday in italy (Easter Monday), the Buongiorno will be issued on Tuesday 10.

In years, I’ve seen so many good and interesting shots of Venice, even by amateur photogrphers. So the idea is to give them visibility and maybe help them starting as professionals. After some editions, I put the winners in touch with a publisher This is how the VeniceWord International Photo Contest was born.

It should become a regular monthly contest, also depending on sponsor. The current contest is sponsored by The Venice School of Photography, as announced in today’s issue of our newsletter Buongiorno Venezia

The jury who will judge the winning image consists of the Director of The Venice School of Photography, school staff, and the VeniceWord.com editors.

- ALL participants will be granted a two percent discount on ANY Photography Workshops offered by The Venice School of Photography, either in Venice or in other location

- THE WINNER will be granted a five percent discount on ANY Photography Workshops offered by The Venice School of Photography, either in Venice or in other locations. The winner will also get a free “web photo gallery” on VeniceWord.com and will receive a photography-related gadget from The Venice School of Photography and VeniceWord.com. The published photos cannot be published elsewhere without permission of the photographer and of VeniceWord International Media Services

my great friend and photographer Paola (whose website i’ve been asked to design, which honours me) just explained to mne the difficulty of taking “the right picture” in venice. light, humidity, people passing by. it may take days to find the special glow. whilst i would be happy all the same with the special glow’s brother and receive the photo some hours (or days) earlier. you would expect that digital photography has destroyed all the romanticism in the profession, instead you still find people who are in love of hard work. my best friend Mauro, also a photographer, does not even use any digital camera and has even a more funny time: he refuses any approach to technology (as a means to oppress the working masses, i guess) (like many venetians, he has no licence to drive. he doesn’t take lifts  - they make your muscles weak, and you-never-know. he hates computers, and i wonder if he ever used a typewriter himself). i smile and tease them, but i understand. i began working with websites in 1997, and i still enjoy programming in pure HTML.

again about Mauro: when we made the project of a calendar together last year, we spent days and days together and i found out he is such a strict vegan that he does not even eat sweets containing eggs - as hens live a terrible life in their cages,  exploited by the breeders. everyone feels he is exaggerated (everyone likes croissants with cappuccino… and all the rest. by the way the same attitude of his applies to milk, in case you were wondering) but everyone feels he is somehow right, and admires him. such as venice: love him or hate him. adorable, in his pureness.