I had a bit of fun putting some of my Burano shots together to make this image. I love that place.
Tag Archives: Burano
People of Burano
This is the last in my series about the colourful Italian island of Burano.
I am not a street photographer and none of these shots would even begin to qualify as decent candid portraits, but they are the best I could manage, awkwardly trying not to be noticed as I furtively snatched an image or two.
I wonder what it is like living on a tiny island where every day the day trippers vastly outnumber the inhabitants.
Do the locals heave a hearty sigh of relief when the late afternoon’s long shadows see the departure of the last vaporetto and the colourful streets no longer echo with the babble of multiple foreign tongues?
Tourism and the sale of intricate lace, to tourists, are the principal/only industries on Burano so the relationship with the tourists must necessarily be one of polite encouragement. Certainly we didn’t feel any animosity. But it must be a strange existence.
Tourism websites are rather coy on the question of the origins of the tradition for colourful houses. They seem to agree that it began during the middle ages and had something to do with distinguishing dwellings from each other. Apparently the colours follow a well-established pattern and if one wants to paint one’s house one must apply to the government who will then provide a list of permitted colours.
I leave you with a few more shots of the colourful island.
Pure draughtsmen are philosophers and dialecticians. Colourists are epic poets. (Charles Baudelaire)
The picture will have charm when each colour is very unlike the one next to it. (Leon Battista Alberti)
Color is all. When color is right, form is right. Color is everything, color is vibration like music; everything is vibration. (Marc Chagall)
Burano reflections
As I mentioned yesterday, Burano’s vibrancy is doubled by the reflections in its many canals.
It’s always fun to flip a reflections shot. Well, I like doing it anyway.
Zooming in close creates a more abstract look.
Or a wider view makes a more painterly image.
I have so many images of this lovely little island, but I don’t want to bore you! Tomorrow I will take a break to share with you some exciting news but then, if you can stand it, the weekend will see us back in Burano for one more visit.
We need not to conform! What we need is to burst out into all these beautiful colors! – C. Joybell C.
More colours of Burano
I couldn’t resist sharing more of Burano’s colourful houses, this time from a slightly wider perspective.
Some towers lean rather alarmingly.
Washing billows in the spring breeze.
With no cars, it’s a lovely place to stroll.
And cycling is popular too.
As if all this colour wasn’t enough, it is doubled by the reflections in the canals, of which more tomorrow.
Colours of Burano
One of the delights that should never be missed when visiting Venice is the little island of Burano.
Less than an hour’s Vaporetto ride across the lagoon, Burano is a tiny island where all the houses have been painted in vibrant shades. A photographer’s dream.
You aren’t going to win any originality contests with your photos – Burano is already copiously recorded in pixels – but still you can hardly resist snapping away like a photog possessed.