Vernazza Waterfront —
The Vernazza “waterfront” (pardon the lack of water).
We arrived in Vernazza to find it absolutely crawling with parasi—er, I mean photographers… Apparently, Saturday is the day for Italian photographers to form into herds, hop on the train, and ride to the riviera. These herds roam through the towns of Cinque Terre, stampeding towards whatever any of them sense as a possible photo opportunity.
And it was about the first place we’d been in Italy where my 5D wasn’t the biggest camera around…
But watching the local fauna in its natural state, I realized something about photography in a riviera town like Vernazza. Think about all those rustic-looking boat close-ups you’ve seen from places like Cinque Terre. What is missing?
It’s easy…
Nothing makes a rustic boat-photo look less rustic than a giant Evinrude outboard motor hanging off the back.
The locals may like to keep their boats looking nice, but they’re no dummies. Aesthetics can’t help you cut through a strong current.