Hall of Fame
Winners of the One Day in Venezia photo contest
Grand Winner 2017:
Tatiana Lazareva (Russia)
Monthly winners of the “2017” edition (from November 2016 to September 2017)
Massimo Campioli (Italy), Marco Cendret (Italy), Luca De Riz (Italy), Tatiana Lazareva (Russia), Luca Massarotto (Italy), Katia Morichetti (Italy), Mirka Rallo (Italy), Cleve Schneider (USA), Anna Szmuda (Poland), Piera Trento (Italy), Giovanni Volpe (Italy), Rosemary Wilmot (UK), Maurizio Zanetti (Italy)
Special mentions
Luca Lamanna (Italy), Maida Marrocchella (I), Alexandre Neves (Portugal)
Just a few words before browsing the awarded photos
At the beginning of this edition, we had suggested to you some monthly sub-themes, but this has been somehow interpreted as a disadvantage for travelers, who cannot stay in Venice enough time to shoot the “right” picture. The final result is another and interesting kaleidoscope, we often encountered a dilemma when selecting the winner every month, especially at the end of the year.
In this international competition, therefore open to all, Italians have a logistically greater chance of taking the “right” picture, of capturing a special moment. But never say never. In Venice, it is above all necessary to know how to look. Which is not so obvious for recent years’ tourists, to whom we would like to say, and sometimes to shout: Look! Seize the moment, enjoy it and take it home: this is basically what photography is for.
Taking a good shot of Venice would require time and patience but tourists may always rush to the next scene. Don’t miss the real Venice when you are busy taking selfies. We just would like to remind you that —— in Venice, there is Venice.
One of the “handicaps” of the “Sunday photographer” – (literally and without offense, since they are people who do another job and dedicate their free time to the passion of photography ) – is the struggle to be taken seriously. People will think you are just lucky to have a good shot when you show them the picture you are particularly proud of. As a hobbyist, the perfect photo may go out “by pure luck”. Uhm…
Reviewing the photos in the competition, especially of those who participated with more than one image, we realized the desire, the research (and sometimes an already defined style), the commitment and love for our city, and (yes) for life. Such as Lazareva and her work on the theme of the double; Wilmot and his constancy in safeguarding Venice; Zanetti with his amused and amazed gaze – because there is always something to marvel at; Rallo with his black and white to tell a timeless childhood.)
Such as Lazareva and her work about the double, the mirror; Wilmot and her passion in defending Venice; Zanetti with his amused and amazed glance; Rallo with her black and white to portray a timeless childhood —— those pictures continue surprising us.
The winners in their own words
Cleve Schneider is November 2016 Winner of One Day In Venezia Photo Contest
Warmest Greetings!
My name is Cleve Schneider. I was raised in Idaho, and have lived in California and now in Dallas Texas. I enjoy taking pictures to record memories of my travels both domestically and abroad. My passion for photography was inherited from my grandfather, who would put on mesmerizing slide shows of his travels in Mexico and Hawaii when I was young.
Decades after his passing, I am always awestruck by the changes and the memories that he captured when I visit places he photographed and shared with me. I take numerous trips through the National Parks in the U.S.A. to photograph nature.
I am always challenged with getting the right shot at the right time of day, and have been known to backtrack a day on vacation because the light or the weather was not right on my first attempt. When I travel in Europe, it is the cities that I find most interesting. So much history and beauty in such compact areas. What makes Venice my favorite city are the endless panoramas and vignettes alike.
Every time I return, I am presented with new possibilities to get an even better shot than the last time, or to discover something that I have not seen before. I never tire of visiting Venice, or enjoying a quiet stroll early in the morning or late in the evening, which are my favorite times to capture the true beauty of the city. The more Venice becomes another hopping off spot for day trippers, the more difficult it becomes to get those perfect shots. But that does not dampen my enthusiasm completely. I enjoy viewing others photographs of Venice, and how they captured the essence of the city in a way that I may have missed. I always look forward to returning to Venice to renew bonds and friendships with those I have encountered there through the years.
Thank you so much for recognizing my photo and allowing me to share my love of Venice.
Ciao, this is Maurizio Zanetti… And I love Venice of that blind and passionate love that only sees the best in his beloved, and denies any obstacle and problem that is making Venice a very complicated city to live in: from the high tide to the hordes of tourists invading it daily, or the awful stands with made in China junk souvenirs, or the pizzerie, fast food, and absurd takeaway restaurants parade.
I’m in love with her since the Seventies, when I was an Architecture student at IUAV living in Calle della Laca; my long solitary evening walks were aimed to admire calli and campielli without the tourist choreography.
I love Venice since the first Carnevale dei Teatri, (1980), when director Maurizio Scaparro created an extraordinary event throughout the town that I took pictures of, day and night, in campi and theatres.
I love it for the Venice Film Festival, the Architecture Biennale, the Visual Arts Biennale, for all that I had the chance to see and take photos of, in years.
But above all, I love Venice for the smallest details that I discover in every walk, images, perfumes, and smells. Hardly a year goes by without at least a couple of “pilgrimages” in my beloved Venezia.
Some time with a specific objective (an art show, a monument, a church or museum), or more often in a random tour, getting lost in order to find myself again, seeking for nothing as we have already found everything. Since some years ago, I used to carry a reflex camera with me; I had films, and later on, the digital memory card was born. When in the end I got a “mobile phone taking pictures” I switched to it. Since six years ago, iPhone and the Hipstamatic app have become my tools for remembering places and emotions, of taking quick notes with photos. A “trip to Venice” for me results in hundreds of pics. The ones that still move me after one week, are the ones that I post on my FLICKR, FB, Instagram accounts, or competitions. “Venezia Rivelata”, the fancy project by Alberto Toso Fei and Elena Tagliapietra, ended up in St Mark’s Square on 20 September 2015. I decided to live and document the experience using just my iPhone, rediscovering the excitement of the pure, simple, close-up click. The output of an afternoon’s preparatory work was to be admired from above, and professional photographers were waiting on top of St.Mark’s belltower with their super equipment, ready for their final shots. I stayed in the Square, my (low battery) smartphone in my hands, but a childish excitement in front of those lights lit towards the darkening sky.
This seemed to me the right photo to be entered for the “Light of Venice” sub-themed photo contest. The OneDayInVenezia jury appreciated. Thanks!
A Special Mention for Maida Marrocchella (December 2016)
Ciao from Katia Morichetti.
I have been taking photos since about six years ago, I have won some prizes, and exhibited some of my pictures. I have worked for the theatre, I have been so lucky to meet the photographers I love, and study with them. I started photography because my father used to take terrible family photos, “cutting all heads”. In un a website about photo contests I read of “One Day In Venezia” and I thought I had the right photo, shot behind the house of a friend of mine, in the Castello area.
I have a personal photo challenge going on with Venice: never getting gondolas, masks, pigeons, and canals into my pictures. I am seeking for the unseen Venice, for the beauty of a city that could even not be Venice, but gorgeous like only Venice can be. It is so interesting to me. I have ever agred with those saying “Venezia is nice but I am not sure I would live there”. I would live in Venice, with pleasure.
I like Venice, I like its silence at night, I like its quietness in spite of the myriad of tourists. I never know where I am heading exactly when I walk around, because Venice’s fish-like map is disorienting me every time, but it’s alright. All things considered, why should I know where I am exactly? I am ok with the yellow road signs: Alla ferrovia, Per San Marco, All’Accademia, but very often I disregard them, because you can’t fight the labyrinth, you just get lost into it.
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February 2017 had 2 ex-aequo winners and a special mention. It’s been quite hard because of the variety of subjects and techniques. But at last, we found some common criteria in selecting the finalist photos!
Among the suggested sub-themes there was “Venice and its Masks” because of the Carnival of Venice held in the same period. In the end, we selected a “classic” shot for a different subject. And then, two Carnival photos: one quite technically questionable, the other well set up and well expressed, both of which showing what’s “behind the mask”, in their own way.
Neve a Venezia. Magica, giocosa, incredibile e .. così black & white.
“This is Luca Massarotto, ciao. I set up great events as my profession, and I often work for cinema and advertising.
Spending time in the entertainment industry educated me to watch with more attention the different things and people surrounding me.
Photography has always be a greatest passion for me, and lately I have been able to practice it more regularly, as a member of the “Marco Polo” photo club.
Living in Venice is continuously stimulating me in finding the most various situations and people. My favorite type of photography is the “street-photography”.
In this other shot, here above, a “very unlikely Venetian” family of the 18th century is seated at a Cafè in St.Mark’s Square, visibly enjoying Carnival at its best. Tourism flows have changed, and Venezia is attracting more and more Oriental visitors. Venice and its tourists are so exotic to each other! Bravo to Marco Cendret, who did not miss the occasion: ex-aequo photo competition winner for March 2017.
What is there under the Carnival mask? Pure happiness, at any age, as far as we see in Luca Lamanna‘s photo. Luca (a finalist in the first edition) is also a lover of street photography. A special mention for him this time.
A good idea can be developed in many ways. And this is an evocative image, though not perfect. Isn’t this contest reserved for non-professionals?
Ciao, my name is Anna Szmuda, born in 1991. I live in the north of Poland and I can say that my camera has become an extension of my hand! ?
I used to feel overwhelmed, some time ago. I was worried about many things when shooting a picture. Since I visited Venice, something in me changed irreversibly. I have become fully aware of what I see, feel, taste, smell, and hear. Every minute of life in Venice becomes a celebration, so calming and positive.
Furthermore, I have always been interested in art and really liked Italian Renaissance paintings. But after seeing, for example, Tintoretto’s masterpieces in Scuola Grande di San Rocco or in Gallerie dell’Accademia, I started to feed myself on art.
Being in Venice during Carnival has been also an unforgettable experience. When I was taking the awarded photography, I was laying down on the ground in order to capture a good shot, with a fluttering childish fairy tale’s heart. It has been wonderful, and this is award is adding even more joy.
April 2017’s winner of the photo contest is Mirka Rallo (children playing in Campo San Giacomo dell’Orio, in the city center of Venice)
This is Mirka Rallo (from Mestre), an employee, and an art lover since my childhood.
I approached the world of photography four years ago when I bought my first reflex; I attended a basic and an advanced course. Initially, there was only my desire to learn how to use a camera and to acquire the technique needed to take a good photo. By doing this, my passion broke out so much that I started attending more workshops and courses, reading photographic books and magazines daily, and making the reflex an inseparable companion. I have been working for two years on the creation of a magazine of stories and photographs.
I love both shooting photos of the lagoon scenery and the street genre, documenting everyday life, finding genuine smiles among people, and curious attitudes; my aim is to tell different, unique stories set out especially in Venice, a city that I love very much, and that I consider an extraordinary “training gym for shooting”. Looking through the lens, for me, is a way out from the world surrounding me, and entering a world in itself, where emotions, colors, and spaces are amplified, instinctively capturing the still images of life. Photography is a way to express me, and in my photographs I always try to tell a story, launch a message, transmit an emotion, that same emotion that photography always gives me.
As May 2017’s winner, we chose a black and white photo shot some years ago in St.Mark’s Square by Piera Trento, who lets us know some interesting details.
“Hi, I’m Piera Trento, I am a teacher and I’ve been knowing Venice for a lifetime. I used to visit since a very young age, not as a tourist but as passionate. Of photography, of theater, of music. I arrived by train, after work, with friends. And returned home late at night.
We used to go to the Malibran and the Goldoni theatres, to watch Lindsay Kemp, for Carolyn Carlson, Pina Bausch, Valentina Cortese, Carla Fracci … Venice was not only a magnificent city, but it was also a place of culture, ideas.
I have always loved b&w photography, it is essential. I’ve always “studied” the images in books. From a magazine, I learned about the infrared photographic technique and I fell in love with it. For a decade I used exclusively the Infrared HS by Kodak, I developed films and printed my photos personally. Until their production stopped as there was no big demand … and they all went digital.
I do use digital cameras, but I still use films thanks to an excellent b&w printer, in Turin.
I was fortunate enough to be part of the Circolo Città di Thiene for decades (with which I celebrated the 40 years of activity in 2014) with two friends: Bruno, an internationally renowned photographer, and Giuseppe, an excellent b&w specialist. As true masters, they are always helpful and never jealous of their art. I won contests, published photos, participated in exhibitions. Some of my pictures, winners of a competition about walled cities, were exhibited at Tendo, Japan.
I started in a strange way. My sister was graduating and her thesis referred to the various stages of motion development in the child. She asked me to help her by photographing her kid, nowadays 43-year-old. I got a Kodak Instamatic, and Dad gave me a Polaroid which I still have. ”
Luca Massarotto (see February) has also been awarded also in June 2017!
In JULY 2017 we had 2 ex-aequo winners:
Tatiana LAZAREVA (Russia) and Massimo CAMPIOLI (Italy)
Ciao, my name is Massimo Campioli, I live in Modena where I work as a surveyor.
I have been to Venice many times during the Carnival, the Biennale or just to enjoy the beauty of the city, unfortunately always only for one day at a time, from morning to evening.
This year I have been able to crown a dream that I had in my drawer: to celebrate my birthday in Venice. For the occasion, with my wife I stayed a few days, especially to discover the less known and less crowded corners.
I have always liked to photograph: as a teenager with my friends I was “the one with the camera” to document all the journeys and happy moments spent together.
Only six years ago I made the big leap, buying a reflex and I was more and more interested in amateur photography. I attended some photography courses, attended several competitions, and also collected some personal satisfaction. I love sharing with other photo enthusiasts; a couple of years ago I joined a photo club in my city. Photography remains for me a moment of evasion that gives me great happiness”.
Tatiana Lazareva is also the Grand Winner of the 2nd edition
Ciao, this is Tatiana Lazareva, from Russia. My interest in photography has grown into a serious passion.
I travel quite a lot and I always have my camera on me. I love minimalism, clean lines, and space in my pictures. I like finding minimal frames in the environment with lots of colors and details around us.
There is beauty in everything, it is around and inside of each of us. I live in Siberia where the winter lasts long. Sometimes it is very cold and not so comfortable, but snow is a minimalist’s dream, and it shows us all places in a new light by hiding some details under the snow.
I love Venice. I have been there a lot of times, but I always want to come back right after departing. Venice is always beautiful, amazing, and inspiring. In August 2016 I bought a photo print at a flea market, showing winter in Venice, San Marco square covered with snow and three people walking. Two of them look cold, wearing heavy coats and hats and, honestly, don’t look happy; the third person instead is absolutely happy, he is stretching his arms and definitely enjoying the snow. Since I’ve seen this picture, I started to dream of visiting snowy Venice. I bought tickets and came to Venice in January 2017 – the month, when there was snow. But I was late, just a couple of days!
Now I still have my dream, but in January in Venice, I found the information about the One Day in Venezia competition. I like all of the winners’ pictures and I’m so glad that now a photo of mine is a part of the beautiful winners’ gallery. And hope I’ll be back to this amazing city to see its wonderful streets, canals, and light again.”
(Post scriptum, dated 2018: Tatiana has been our guest in January 2018 and took the photos of her dreams! In Venice, she had her first solo show ever, and she is now publishing a photo book. We are so happy for her success)
In AUGUST 2017: one monthly winner and one Special Mention!!
Ciao, this is Luca De Riz,
I am an IT professor with a passion for photography.
Many years ago the old, analogic reflex Konica of a friend’s, Bruno, lit a curiosity that very soon got into a great passion for me.
I started reading books and magazines, trying to improve my technique. The Grado lagoon and its seagulls were my first training ground.
Now my reflex camera follows me everywhere. Shooting pics stimulates my desire to catch the moment to remember.
I like seeking details, hidden places, light, or the gestures of people that I happen to meet in the streets. Venice is always an infinite source of inspiration.
Thank you for giving me the chance to share my passion.
The September 2017 winner is Giovanni Volpe (not a relative of Paola Volpe’s!), with a photo in a very peculiar place, where many photographers like playing.
Ciao, this is Giovanni Volpe.
Architect and teacher, born in 1973, I discovered photography during the years of my Architecture studies. I have abandoned this passion for ten years, then in 2013, I attended two photography courses and workshops. I love traveling and discovering other cultures. I am fascinated by wildlife photography but also by travel and street photography.
I am Sicilian by origin (from Marsala) and I have been living in Tuscany for 15 years for my work.I am lucky to know and portrait two such beautiful lands. I do not feel like a photographer, but like “a passionate amateur who day by day, tries to communicate pleasant emotions to his photos’ viewers”.
Get inspired also by the photos awarded in the other years
- 5th edition (2020) work in progress
- 4th edition (2019) .
- 3rd edition (2018) .
- 1st edition (2015-2016)
Reopen the photobook of your memories!
Select your best photos of Venice, and enter the current
edition of the OneDayInVenezia.com Photo Contest!
Who will be the next contest winner? it could be you!
Don’t be shy ? Take the chance.