Despite being an overcrowded destination, Venice is a city that will never cease to impress me. Walking on streets that are constantly sinking, crossing bridges, and enjoying fascinating architecture are things that will never tire me. As you can easily imagine, the day I booked my trip to Venice, I started thinking about which instant camera I should pack. Actually, the right word is “craving”: I was craving to shoot some Venice Polaroids and see the results.
The days before my departure, I kept checking the weather forecast for Venice. It was the beginning of autumn, and the weather was unstable. I hadn’t shot Polaroids with my SX-70 for a while, and my initial thought was to pack this camera. However, the weather made me also consider my Impulse AF. A day or two before departure, the forecast talked about a mixture of clouds and sunshine. And since the SX-70 often struggles in low light, the decision was made: I’d travel to Venice with the Polaroid Impulse AF.
Indeed, the days in Venice consisted of a mixture of clouds, sunshine, light rain, and the inevitable yet charming Venice fog. Packing the Impulse AF turned out to be a good idea. As you can see in the following lines, I got good results: my Polaroids from Venice reflect the nostalgic yet elegant style of the Serenissima.
*Some links are affiliate links. It means that if you buy something, I might earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.
What’s on the Polaroid Diaries: Venice Polaroids
In the 27th edition of my Polaroid Diaries, you will see 8 Polaroids from Venice. I traveled with one pack of 600 film to the floating city and -unsurprisingly- I wished I had more films with me. However, as you probably remember from my previous diaries, the decision was not cost-oriented.
Apart from always being willing to travel light, I appreciate the thoughtfulness of Polaroid cameras as a medium. Instead, I’d think twice about shooting a Polaroid and have keepers than travel with packs of films only to discover that half (or more) were taken in a rush and looked bad.
So, before I share my Polaroids from Venice, I’ll add the usual remark: at the bottom of this post, you will find my settings for this diary with the Impulse AF.
Polaroid Diaries: Venice Polaroids with the Impulse AF
As I wrote earlier, my days in Venice consisted of clouds and sun. I decided to play it safe for my first Venice instant photo. On the second day of my journey, I reached the iconic Ponte dell’Accademia. Although not as stunning as the Rialto Bridge, the Accademia offers magnificent views of the Grand Canal and the Santa Maria della Salute Church. It was late afternoon when I stood atop the bridge, and here’s the photo I took.
Commuting with the Vaporetto in Venice is one of the sweetest things to do in town. Sooner or later, you’ll disembark at San Marco to see the famous square and its breathtaking buildings up close. Unfortunately, due to the crowds, shooting a decent photo of St Mark’s Square is very hard. However, since an image from the square was almost obligatory for my Polaroid Diary, I decided to shoot St Mark’s Clocktower. That’s a beautiful early Renaissance building, and you can also see the Lion of Saint Mark, symbolizing Mark the Evangelist.
I know what you’ll think about the coming photo: that’s so touristy. Indeed, riding a gondola in Venice is probably a saturated activity. However, I somehow regretted not taking a ride on my previous visit to the city. Although I was still skeptical, in the end, I jumped in for a ride. Apart from seeing the otherwise invisible side canals, riding a gondola shows you how the locals commuted once upon a time. Seeing the City of Bridges from the water is fantastic, and here’s a Polaroid from my gondola ride.
Despite its elegance and beauty, downtown Venice feels overwhelming after a while. I knew there were quieter places around the Serenissima, so I decided to take the Vaporetto to Giudecca. Although it’s just a five-minute ride with the waterbus, Giudecca has a local flair and regular daily life. You can enjoy a drink by the water overlooking the skyline of Venice and explore the small streets where laundry is hanging to dry on ropes. Although I miscalculated the light, here’s a photo from the laundry at Giudecca.
One of the must-do day trips everyone should take is to Venice’s nearby island. The closest one is Murano, the island where the world-famous glass is produced. Strolling around Murano feels like walking in a more compact downtown Venice. Daytrippers spend time here, and seeing a Murano glassblowing demonstration is an enlightening experience. Moreover, Murano has its own Grand Canal. Although not as impressive as Venice’s, it’s charming. And here’s how it looks on a Polaroid photo.
I then continued to Burano, which is famous for its colorful houses. What is glass for Murano is lace for Burano. The century-long lacemaking tradition is omnipresent on the island, and there’s also a museum dedicated to it. However, most people come here to see the colorful houses that helped fishermen find their way home when the Venetian fog covered everything. I tried to choose a house to shoot a Polaroid and decided on a purple one. However, as you can see in the photo, the light’s intensity washed off the colors.
I had two shots left on the film and had to pick the locations carefully. On the last days of my journey, I focused more on enjoying the time in Venice and less on sightseeing. However, while strolling around the narrow streets, I thought of visiting the Scala del Bovolo. The tower hosts one of the most famous spiral staircases in town. Unfortunately, it’s tough to photograph the tower itself, even with a wide-angle lens. Therefore, a Polaroid image wouldn’t work on the location. Instead, I shot the magnificent view from the tower’s top, and you can also see St Mark’s Campanile.
Whenever I wanted to escape Venice’s crowds, I always visited Lido. The nearby island is famous for its Film Festival and a place to relax on the beach. Lido’s atmosphere is fantastic, and its style impressed me. It doesn’t take more than 15 minutes to reach Lido via Vaporetto, and I found myself unwinding at the beautiful Lido Beach. It was only fair to shoot a photo at the beach on the last day of my trip to Venice.
And that’s it with the 27th edition of the Polaroid Diaries and my Venezia Polaroids.
The camera settings for the Venice Polaroid Diary
Unlike my Anafi diary, the mixed weather of Venice, Italy, meant I had to use various exposures for the above photos. Additionally, the Impulse AF uses the Sonar Autofocus technology, and you don’t have to care that much about focusing. However, keep an eye on where the Autofocus ring faces: the sound waves transmitted by the camera for focusing will pick the closest spot to you. Now, add the fact that you can’t override the flash, and you might send the blitz to the nearest point, creating an overexposed and soft photo.
From the photos you saw earlier, the ones I underexposed by a stop due to the intense light are the Accademia Bridge, the Murano Canal, the Burano house, and the Scala del Bovolo view. Especially for the Burano house, I should have underexposed by two stops to get a deeper purple.
On the other hand, I kept the exposure wheel in the middle for the Clocktower image, the Giudecca laundry, and the gondola. Seeing the photos now, I think I could have overexposed by a stop the Polaroid from Giudecca to get a more even exposure of the entire image.
Finally, the Lido Beach image is overexposed by a stop due to the late afternoon low light. The photo looks good to me, and I believe that if I overexposed it further, I’d have a much softer sky.
Last but not least, here comes the usual final remark of every diary. The photos you see are not post-processed. The only addition is a +20 in sharpness for web optimization purposes. Polaroids should always look like Polaroids (pun intended).
And that’s it with my Venice Polaroids. If you want to see more diaries, get instant photography tips, and read camera reviews, subscribe to my Polaroid mailing list.
And check out my Polaroid Zines.
You can search for second-hand Impulse AF cameras on Amazon.
More Polaroids: The complete Polaroid diaries
Polaroid Camera reviews: Polaroid Sun 660 review & Polaroid NOW+ review
Pin it for later
Sharing is caring. Share these Polaroids from Venice, Italy, with your friends.
Last Updated on October 2, 2024 by George Pavlopoulos