Gondolier on Grand Canal

A gondolier at work on the Grand Canal — a single figure in the traditional dark uniform of the trade, balanced at the stern with the long oar that propels and steers the boat. Becoming a gondolier in Venice is harder than most professions in the city: the trade is restricted to roughly four hundred licensed positions, with applicants passing a multi-year apprenticeship and a difficult examination in navigation, history, and several languages. Most of the gondoliers working the canals today learned the craft from their fathers.

Made in late September 2016 during my first trip to Italy. The gondolier at work is one of the most photographed subjects in Venice and one of the hardest to photograph well — the trick is to let the figure carry the image without staging it.