Before the crowds are out in force, and require their undivided attention, the pigeons of San Marco have a little time for social matters

Venice would probably not figure in a town planning manual. However someone knew what they were doing when space was reserved for the many squares in the city. San Marco is an exception. All the others are woven into the fabric of the place. They perform a communal function as opposed to a civic one.

Wandering about Venice, it is a joy coming across one of them, often unexpectedly and almost always from an unobtrusive narrow alleyway. No grand avenues, no grand monuments (with a few exceptions). For me one of the tangible, physical effects of this tiny, beguiling place.

Not Florian or Quaddra - touristy, but characteristic.

I've been dredging through old photos from Venice recently, and I thought I'd just start posting them without any concern over theme or quality or whatever. I suppose you could call it laziness

Apart from crumbling architecture, it is also possible in Italy to photograph entire conversations

The completion of the building work at the Salute means for the first time in a few years it is possible to walk around this iconic little spit of land. This gave me the opportunity to have a look at the sculpture on top of the Dogana Tower at close hand.

The statue, sitting above a globe supported by two Atlases, is named Fortune, and is actually a weather vane. The vane is the rudder of a ship. Given Venice's important relationship with maritime trade, the allegories are just queuing up.

The new Francois Pinault centre is finished, and the Church has had its roof sorted, so there is no scaffolding any longer.

Clouds and skylines are a bit cliched, but I find them irresistible. They also illustrate though how difficult it is to get the perfect composition. Like here - all the elements are there but they are not quite where you want them. And you are powerless to re-arrange them!

All these photos from Venice have been taking with the Canon G11 which has replaced my Leica DLux 3 as an all purpose carry-around digital camera. In fact it's the only digital camera I brought with me. So far I'm very pleased - in operation and usability it suits me very nicely, which for me is the main thing in any camera. No matter how good the picture quality if I can't get along with it I won't get good results