ST MARK’S SQUARE
ST MARK’S SQUARE BEFORE DAWN
VENICE
Image Number 246
St Mark’s Square is the principal public square of Venice. It is dominated at its eastern end by St Mark’s Basilica with its great arches, marble decoration and Romanesque carvings. To the right of the basilica is the bell tower, built in 1156 but reconstructed in 1902 after an earthquake. On the left of the photograph is a long arcade known as the old procuracies, formerly the homes of high officers of state.
The arcade on the right was rebuilt by Napoleon about 1810 and is known as the Ala Napoleonica (Napoleonic Wing). It includes one of the world’s oldest restuarants, Florian – little changed since it was patronised by Mozart, Voltaire and Cassanova.
St Mark’s Square is one of the busiest places on earth. To shoot the empty square Atticus arrived before dawn and took this image before the sun rose.
TECHNICAL NOTES
Captured by Atticus Webb on a Zeiss Contax 645 medium format camera with a Zeiss wide telephoto 35 mm lens at f16 with an exposure of thirty-two seconds. Fortunately the morning was still enough for the long exposure on the tripod and nobody entered the square. The image was registered on a transparency using Fuji Velvia 100 ASA film. It was then scanned in high resolution by Bond Imaging. The image has not been cropped and it has not been significantly manipulated.