Venice, you took my breath away when I arrived. It was a long time ago that we met. I was there for just one day. But here I am again for 4 days. With my lovely international jetset photography friends. I was the 1st one to arrive so I had some time to wander through Venice on my own. And I fell in love. How I fell in love with those small cobbled streets, the little canals and the colorful facades of  the houses.

I love these little chapels and barred windows. Or windows with just shutters.

Piazza de San Marco. It was busy. The weather was lovely. And suddenly I found a small puddle. I entered a small church and lighted some candles for my family, friends and one of my deceased colleagues, Martijn. Somehow it’s alway peaceful and quiet in a church and I love that. It calms my mind.

 These benches were empty and I had a vision for a photo. But I needed a person in it. A old or young one. I waited for 15 minutes and here she was! 

The view from our apartment at Rio de Marin. 

Us. As from left to right: Louise Freeland from the UK, Ana Quiroga from Spain, Rebecca Spencer from the UK, Julie Anne Skelton from the UK and Anne Wick from France. 

Venice by night.

And of course we had our wine. This weekend is about photography, food, wine and lovely conversations about life and of course photography.

We visited the Jewish Getto in Venice. The Venetian Ghetto (incidentally, the first ghetto) was instituted on 29 March 1516, though political restrictions on Jewish rights and residences existed before that date.

Life stood still. We all became quiet. Our pace slowed down and we just looked and took photos. The grand canal. We decided to take the water taxi toward a little island. We wanted to be there at sunset. The hand of God in the church.The famous bridge of sighs. Our lovely Julie Anne. Quite a model isn’t she?And Louise. They both followed our posing instructions from the other side of Rio de Marin.Burano. What a colourful little island. Yes, the tower of the church is leaning. It’s almost Pisa too.

Ana and I were together for a while. She is a stunning model! She knows how to flirt with the camera.

We traveled back to the city by boat. And we had a stunning sunset. The sky was on fire. No more vistors. And they are pointing towards the large cruise ships with all the visitors. Venice is busy and there are a lot of people wandering through the streets. Most of them tourists. We woke up early on Sunday morning. Ana had to leave for the airport. So we grabbed our camera and went back to the jewish getto. Our belated breakfast. With our appartement as a backdrop for this beautiful photo from Julie Anne. This man knew we were following him. What would you do if you had 5 girls with a camera following you through the streets? It always makes me wonder how their lives are. What is his age? What was his profession? Does he have a family? What is his life like? What/who does he love? What does he read? To which music does he listen?It was an awesome weekend to be together. When we had to say our goodbyes I had to cry. We have to wait another year to see each other in person again. Thanks girls for making this weekend unforgettable. X