Consider these two photos of the same bridge in Venice:

Venice Bridge photo taken May 2009

Venice Bridge photo taken June 2012

The two shots are very different, eh? Let’s set aside the difference between the two shots that the waters in the second photo  aren’t calm enough for a reflection of the bridge in the canal — that was due to a motor boat passing through just before I took the photo in June. The biggest problem is that the angle is all wrong in the second photo – in the May 2009 photo, I’m taking the shot while standing in a spot that let’s me shoot that bridge straight on. However, in June 2012, it’s not possible to duplicate that angle.

What happened?  Well, back in 2009 they were restoring the bridge that I’m standing on to take the shot in 2012. 3 years ago, there was a temporary replacement bridge built along side of the “real” bridge, so in 2009 I was standing on the replacement bridge, and NOT on the real bridge. But now that the reconstruction work on the real bridge is done, they’ve taken away the temporary bridge, leaving only the real bridge. Makes sense … but doesn’t make for as good a photo of this other bridge, IMHO. So, even though I was thinking I could duplicate my 2009 shot of this particular Venetian bridge anytime I pleased, it turns out that you can’t always go back again to take a second shot. Interesting.

BTW, not to worry about finding another good bridge for a photo, though. I did take the following photo of another bridge along that same canal.

Can you see that boat just barely visible on the other side of the bridge? FWIW, it passed under this bridge just after I took this photo, disturbing the water, of course, and thereby destroying the reflections in all the bridges along that canal at that moment.

A Venetian Bridge

I guess we’ll just have to go back to see if I can try my luck with a second shot of this bridge next time, with or without the laundry in the background…