A Venice Engagement Shoot Filled with Vintage Glamour and Rockstar Intrigue

David and Kelley’s cinematic and painterly “Jagger-esque” -inspired shoot in the meandering mystical, old-world of Venice.

After Covid, I can’t help but think about how I can make my life lush and luxuriant with romance and imagination. If I’m going to live, I want to be the star of my own movie, and do things that are bold, beautiful, and creative. I’m always thrilled when incredible clients fall into my life and share this vision of the world.

I can’t think of a better place for lovers like Kelley and David to wander and make art than Venice. David’s new job took him to Vicenza, which separated them. Having been in a long-distance, international relationship with my husband for years – longing for each other over a distance brings a sharpness and vibrance to your relationship when you’re together again. Their warmth, beauty, style and the radiance were the muses that inspired these images.

Backstreet Deals and Dancing in the Sun 

Before the sun rose over the spired domes of St Mark’s Basilica, I had already completed a very seedy deal. The contraband from my clandestine exchange? Actual. seeds. Feeding pigeons is illegal in Venice, but anyone watching these birds waddle around after tourists like eager pets can tell you it happens a lot. A keen eye can spot the men selling their wares from under trench coats on the Piazza and we all know it goes downhill from there. Anyways, what’s a glamorous rockstar photoshoot without a flock of admirers and illicit substances?

David and Kelley danced as the sun illuminated the Piazzetta, surrounded by avian admirers. They looked golden, radiant, joyful with the magical flutter of wings around them. In our plans, they shared how they wanted to remember how young and beautiful they were when they’re old and gray.

Venice is one of those places that is so ubiquitous in our collective consciousness that it begins to feel like a poster on the wall of a travel agency—a story we tell ourselves so many times we often forget to look up from the storybook.

Venice is magic.

The beauty has an edge to it. Walls sinking into canals, burdened with memory and history. 

By the time the dawn burned off the morning haze, Kelley and David gathered more than just avian admirers.

It was an auspicious start to our day’s adventures.

A Timeless European Coffee House That Entertained Casanova, Nietzsche, and Warhol

Next up for the golden duo was grabbing an espresso at the legendary Caffè Florian.

A warming sip and then the pleasant shock of the cool marble of the tabletop as you set down your cup. 

Wood inlays, mirrors, photographs, paintings, and tastefully-askew sconces on the walls create a luxe vibe with nods to the Florian’s storied past. Prominent thinkers, artists, and, allegedly, Italy’s most famous lover came to consider big ideas during the day and get into big trouble at night.

Gondola Ride

After coffee I accompanied David and Kelley as they took a leisurely gondola ride through the city.

Our gondolier, who perhaps hadn’t had his coffee yet that morning, seemed like he was only four tourists short of throwing his oar into the canal. Thank goodness there were only three of us.

Sometimes I marvel at how Venice gets more tourists per year than Disney World. Then I think about how I’ve heard they repaint Main Street at Disney every night. Do they do the same for Venice, but in reverse? Constructed deconstruction? 

A Labyrinth of Streets and Waterways

After a change of clothes, we were off to casually wander the city. Kelley told me that the best way to discover the city was to get lost, so we did.

Crumbling stucco streets with heavy smells of water and stone suddenly open up to campos filled with people. Sometimes, I want to believe that if I turn down the right alley at the right time, it will lead to another world entirely, a similar but uncanny place, differering in some undeniable, indescribable way.

It’s been several centuries since Venice was the luxurious port city full of schools of ornately embellished boats carrying the great wealthy families to masked balls. Now, people across the world long to understand, and reach out and touch the floating spectres of old world Venetian power and wealth, and the vibrance that used to be through the beautiful, longing remainders of what is. 

Capturing beauty may seem superficial, but that’s an incomplete understanding of what beauty is – there’s a depth and a longing in beauty sometimes, that rings of life and truth. I think you have to live a little, to lose a little, and long to truly comprehend the value of living. We have one life, we must live with romance and heat and glamour – maybe a little like celebrities. Because like Venice, what exists now will only be experienced in reflections in the time yet to come.