My friend Mauro and I took the vaporetto across the fog-bound Venice lagoon to Burano. Just like a trip to a remote part of a city served by an on-land metro, this involved several changes of boats—including a synchronized switch at the Lido. Burano is a quiet suburban island with colorful houses, each painted a different color, on a small network of canals. In other words, it is a Fauvist dream. Besides its colorful houses, Burano is also known for lace making, fishing, and oyster farming.

About the image: My thinking was to create an image using in-camera photographic techniques that echo the colorful qualities of a Fauvist painting. To achieve this look, I used my Nikon D810, a 28-300mm zoom lens at 48mm, a 4 EV neutral density filter, and a polarizer (which helped to amplify the reflections in the canal and saturate the colors). The exposure time was 2.5 seconds at f/18 and ISO 500. I hand-held the image, with my elbows resting on the railing of a canal bridge, and moved the camera slightly during the exposure.