This past week I was in Venice, Italy. I attended  David DuChemin’s “portfolio series” workshop, where the goal is to come away from the trip with a cohesive body of work. As an educator myself, I feel it is important to find the right mentor, especially when it comes to growing as an artist and having my work critiqued. I’ve known David for years, and when he announced this workshop I was 100% on board. I’ve been wanting a creative kick-in-the-ass for some time and figured that there was no time like the present.

Photography is my excuse to travel the world. I’m not as well-traveled as some of my colleagues, but on average I tend to go on two or three big trips per year. On these adventures, I bring along my camera and try and create beautiful photographs. I often come home with several images I’m proud of and happy to share. For anyone who follows my work, you may already know that I love color. I rarely (if ever) process my digital images in black and white.

In Venice, one of the things we were encouraged to do was to challenge ourselves creatively. For me, that meant straying from my comfort zone of zoom lenses and colorful scenes, and so instead I stuck to two prime lenses and I also took the leap and photographed everything in black and white (minus a few off-series locations). But I didn’t just process the color images after I photographed them, I was actually seeing black-and-white through my viewfinder when I was creating the image.

It’s all too easy to stay in one lane and continue down the same path.

At the end of the week, I created a body of work that is not only cohesive but is what I believe could be some of my most compelling and intimate work. It’s all too easy to stay in one lane and continue down the same path. It’s difficult to make changes, say no, and create self-imposed limits, but when you do it is so incredibly rewarding.

Below is my finished 12-image series from Venice, and you can also view these and other photographs of my trip to both Venice and Cinque Terre over on Instagram.

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This past week I was in Venice, Italy. I attended  David DuChemin’s “portfolio series” workshop, where the goal is to come away from the trip with a cohesive body of work. As an educator myself, I feel it is important to find the right mentor, especially when it comes to growing as an artist and having my work critiqued. I’ve known David for years, and when he announced this workshop I was 100% on board. I’ve been wanting a creative kick-in-the-ass for some time and figured that there was no time like the present.

Photography is my excuse to travel the world. I’m not as well-traveled as some of my colleagues, but on average I tend to go on two or three big trips per year. On these adventures, I bring along my camera and try and create beautiful photographs. I often come home with several images I’m proud of and happy to share. For anyone who follows my work, you may already know that I love color. I rarely (if ever) process my digital images in black and white.

In Venice, one of the things we were encouraged to do was to challenge ourselves creatively. For me, that meant straying from my comfort zone of zoom lenses and colorful scenes, and so instead I stuck to two prime lenses and I also took the leap and photographed everything in black and white (minus a few off-series locations). But I didn’t just process the color images after I photographed them, I was actually seeing black-and-white through my viewfinder when I was creating the image.

It’s all too easy to stay in one lane and continue down the same path.

At the end of the week, I created a body of work that is not only cohesive but is what I believe could be some of my most compelling and intimate work. It’s all too easy to stay in one lane and continue down the same path. It’s difficult to make changes, say no, and create self-imposed limits, but when you do it is so incredibly rewarding.

Below is my finished 12-image series from Venice, and you can also view these and other photographs of my trip to both Venice and Cinque Terre over on Instagram.

SaveSave

SaveSave

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Nicole is a photographer, published author, and educator specializing in Lightroom, Photoshop, and photography. She is best known for her books on food photography but is widely versed in various photographic genres, including landscape, nature, stock, travel, and experimental imagery.

9 Comments

  1. hammondbrian November 8, 2015 at 11:09 am - Reply

    ALL are great, but I especially like the man on the bench and the girl with the pigeon! WOW! Well done, and thanks for sharing.

  2. Laura November 8, 2015 at 11:39 am - Reply

    Love them! Really beautiful. I like the most that of the reflection.
    Thanks.

  3. mukumoto November 8, 2015 at 12:26 pm - Reply

    These are all great. Great framing and composition. I especially like the stories in each photo.

  4. Jameson Fink (@jamesonfink) November 8, 2015 at 1:33 pm - Reply

    Very evocative. Love the interplay of light and shadows.

  5. Jenny Reid November 9, 2015 at 12:06 am - Reply

    Nicole, these are amazing, it has been an eye opener to me to see travel photos in black & white as it seems to calm the busyness of the day. My favourites are man on bench & gondolier in opening.

  6. Liana November 9, 2015 at 9:10 am - Reply

    Evocative, as another commenter expressed. It’s the first word that came to my mind.

  7. Simon Grosset November 20, 2015 at 4:52 am - Reply

    I love the shot of the gondolier through the archway!

  8. Two Black Dogs January 5, 2017 at 5:54 pm - Reply

    Beautiful, personal images that evoke strong emotion and memories of our trip to Venice. I close my eyes and I am there. Thank you.

  9. Exidia October 11, 2021 at 4:13 am - Reply

    Fabulous images, but the thing I like best about the post is that you did it as a challenge, on a visit to a city a long way from home. I image it took great bravery – I always “play safe” when the shots are important to me, so gold star for you!

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