Burano

Burano, an island of Venice, is known for its colorful houses. Legend says that the houses were painted bright colors so that fisherman could find their way home when it was foggy.

After watching Scott Kelby’s video highlights of what to photograph in Venice, we hoped for a cloudy day to  explore the colorful island of Burano. 

(As a photographer, we know that sunshine can create harsh shadows and actually washout rich colors. An overcast day or even a rainy day, enriches those same colors.)

On my last day in Venice I was gifted with overcast skies.

The boats again, with a view of the Lido

No sunshine at the Gondola’s

After sunrise and breakfast, I was on the water bus to explore a new island.

As we approached the island, I could see a canal lined with beautifully colored houses. 

Colorful houses line a Burano canal. 

The boat docked, and Jeff and I scampered off. The color of the houses were amazing, richly hued yellows, reds, blues, greens and oranges.  

But before I got too far, I saw this beautiful square…. “click”

 

Then this alley … “click”  the photography adrenaline was pumping directly to the trigger finger.

 

And another beautiful alleyway, “click” again.

I turned around and I was alone.

I went around another corner, and saw no-one. Either I was lost or Jeff was lost. [If you know Jeff, you can safely place your bet on this one.]

Another empty square.

I backtracked, and still no sign of Jeff. It was mildly disconcerting to realize that I had lost my husband and I had no idea how to find him.  But Burano is an island, he couldn’t have gone too far, could he?

Not wanting to stop the exploration, I presumed we would eventually run into each other.

With a camera in my hand, all sense of time is lost. An hour passed and there was  still no sign of Jeff. Should I start to worry? Perhaps, he’s worried about me? Reluctantly, I agreed to the $10 fee to activate my cell phone for the day. I could only hope he had his phone activated.

“Where are you?” I texted. “On the main canal” he responded, “the one with the shops.” 

I was on a canal with shops. I stood looking. No Jeff.

“Meet me in the large square next to the tower”, he texted. I headed for the only tower that I could see. I entered a big square that contained a couple of tour groups, but no Jeff.

I headed towards the only tower in town. No sign of Jeff.

The island is bigger than I thought. I walked around to the other side of the walled off tower and found another large square. “I’m in the square next to the tower AND I am standing next to the flag.”

The “flag” was the clue that worked. Reunited we continued our exploration and stumbled upon a fun model shoot. A photography group was photographing a model against the colored houses. We were invited to join them.

I thought the beautiful colors really set off this model and her dress.

As Jeff mentioned in his earlier post, Venice is a wonderful city to get lost in and this includes Venice’s island of Burano.