Breaking news in Venice, Italy! Even when the canals saw some ice coverage in 2012 and 1929, nothing could have prepared Venice for the recent cold front that came through last week, causing temperatures ranging from 5 - 19 degrees. With these low temperatures, the water in the canals fully iced over, stranding some gondoliers and tourists as well as providing an excellent rink for a local curling team to practice their skills in preparation for their upcoming tournament in Rome. The captain of the team commented, “I am a native Venetian and have never seen anything like this. I started learning the game of curling when I was 5 and always have had to travel outside of Venice, to local rinks to practice. This recent freeze has provided a spectacular opportunity to play my favorite sport right here in my hometown, which is magical.” Local meteorologists claim that climate change is the main cause of this drastic drop in temperatures in and around Venice as well as other parts of Italy and Spain. Only time will tell how long these freezing temperatures will last!
I created this image using a photo that I took in Venice, Italy in 2022 as well as a recent picture of me pretending to "curl" in my front yard. Most of the other elements like the tourists, gondolas, curling team, and flag were royalty free images and AI added to make this fake it image come to life.
“Curling in Venice” by Suzanne Voigt is a landscape-oriented photographic image focused on the canals in Venice, Italy. In the photograph, it shows a street in the city with the canals frozen over. In the frozen canals, gondolas are frozen in their spot as a curling team is practicing curling on the frozen body of water. Beside the canal is a snow covered sidewalk with tourists walking by; one is holding numerous shopping bags and another are two people walking side by side with one another. In the foreground, a flag is hung over the railings of an apartment building. The weather is quite sunny even with the snow and ice covering the sidewalk, hanging foliage, and the frozen canals.
ReplyDeleteFrom the elements of the photograph, this work can possibly be interpreted as climate change affecting Venice as cold weather with snow and ice is highly uncommon in the area. In the image, the weather looks to be sunny and hot which is what one would presumably picture when thinking of Venice. The canals are also hardly frozen over which contributes to the idea. But with the image, having the canals frozen over presents something almost shocking as one would hardly ever think of the canals actually freezing. Curling is considered to be a winter sport and would need an adequate amount of ice for the sport to occur. For the ice in the canal to be able to hold numerous people playing curling on top of it, it conveys that the freeze is likely nearly extreme. Though with the low temperatures, it still wouldn't stop tourism as we see tourists strolling by engaging in common activities but not utilizing gondola services which is an activity that Venice is known for for tourists to engage with.
The work itself presents itself as believable given the content and technique. In terms of content, the photograph is engaging and fun to explore visually as you take in several details. The images chosen for the composition contributed successfully to the concept especially with the presence of people. For technique, overall it is executed very well, making the work believable itself to the idea that the author would have intended to portray. Every added aspect was blended in cohesively like it is one singular photograph taken. However, in the frozen canals, I would say the shading on the added people (the two players wearing red and white tops) could be added since they look too light while playing in the shade set by the building. As for the group of people sitting in the far back near the tunnel, the saturation of the colors could be toned down slightly. With the project focusing on misinformation, the work follows the parameters very well and the execution of the image makes it believable.
DeleteIn our larger culture, misinformation on issues has been prevalent in our time and days. With major issues in areas such as in social, political, cultural parts of our society, a lot of information is passed around especially since we have greater access to technology and information than ever before. With this, media literacy is highly crucial as we would have to critically dissect and process the information we see and decide if it is true or not. The image shared with the audience gives us the idea of what we could possibly see especially with a situation involving climate change. Even with the fun activities shown in the photo, the premise itself would raise concerns as something that wasn’t common or possible before is currently happening. We could hardly think Venice would ever be frozen over to the point that playing curling is possible in the frozen canals. In an article written by Sophie Gilbert, it is stated that modernity isn’t entirely embraced in television shows especially centered around teens as a way of creating escapism. “The worlds that Sex Education and I Am Not Okay occupy are selectively topical enough to feel relevant (sex positivity, sexuality, and inclusivity all feature), but retro enough to be escapist, sidestepping the burden of considering real life.” Surrounding ourselves in a growing environment with deep fakes, propaganda, and visual misinformation, this image with the content surrounding the idea of climate change speaks on these issues – one would choose not to engage with this image as it could impose doom looming over and in response, escape from it without giving much critical thought on whether the image is true or not.
The image successfully captures the essence of being believable with the idea of visual misinformation. The concept of curling in Venice is interesting conceptually and visually. In its entirety, the work was eye-catching with the bright colors and dynamic placements of added images making it engaging to interact with while processing the possible intended idea associated with the image. The execution was well done in conveying the concept through content and techniques with only slight changes such as shading, coloring, and lighting that would make the image more believable. Overall, the piece itself was put together with a lot of thought and details into mind that made the image successful.