An Unusual Venice - Giorgio Schirato

Yesterday, on 4 September 2026, a new photography exhibition was inaugurated at the

Toaldi Capra palazzo in Schio. The exhibition has works of a young Venetian Giorgio Schirato. 

His images of Venice are about stillness, where the silky smooth water and gentle colours have frozen in a dreamscape. Some of his other pictures, catch the light in such a way that makes you see something which otherwise you would not have noted. It is a beautiful exhibition.

After the inauguration, I had a brief talk with the photographer Giorgio Schirato (GS), which is presented below. If you are in or around Schio, do not miss this exhibition. If you can't come to the exhibition, take a look at his webpage and his Instagram page to have an idea of his works.

You can click on the images for a bigger view. All the Venice images are by Giorgio Schirato and are protected by copyright.

Talking With Venetian Photographer Giorgio Schirato 

 

SD: Tell me about yourself

GS: I was born in Treviso and when I was three years old, with my mother I went to live in Venice, and I grew up there, not really in proper Venice, since we lived in Lido for the first 20-25 years of my life. When I joined the famous Venice art school, Academia delle Belle Arti, then I shifted to proper Venice, I was sharing a house with some friends.

I had chosen sculpture in the art school. While I was studying sculpture, I knew that I really wanted photography, I was already passionate about it. So photography became my preferred way of creative expression.

I prefer expressing myself with things that are quick and thus sculpture had become a kind of suffering, because sculptures took months of work. So slowly I started experimenting with photography. I liked different ways of artistic expression but then I chose photography.

However, instead of photo-documentation, which means documenting what you see, I always try to express something extra. For example, through the light - such as using a torch at night to obtain a specific effect that I want. Or using long exposition times so that the day landscapes become aseptic, clean, smooth, moved by a desire to see Venice as something which I feel inside myself. I have absorbed the beauty of our landscapes and I want to avoid the human presence in these kind of photographs, so that I can focus on the essence of the place.

I want to express something which different from the usual. I am not looking at the well-known landmarks, instead I want to show glimpses of something which you miss when you are there.

SD: On your website there are some folders showing different series of photographs, for example those showing silhouettes. You want to tell about different kinds of your work?

GS: My photographic poetry, if I may call it that, can be grossly divided into 2 big branches - first is the contemplative and experimental, where I use colours, I plan and study them to get a specific effect; the second are my images in black and white, they have a graphic impact, where I try to capture the moment, these are more immediate.

 

Both these kinds of images are captured on a tripod, but other things like light they change, so that the image is not a representation of the reality but its interpretation. 

SD: How you have been doing photography?

GS: This exhibition is the artistic part of my photography, which I have been doing for about 25 years, it started as a passion when I was in high school.

I am also a professional photographer since 2012, where I do specific kinds of photographic services.

SD: In these 25 years, how do you see your evolution as a photographer? 

GS: I have changed over the years, also due to the professional work that I have done. That has brought me in contact with a large number of persons, especially artists with long experience and this brings new ideas and suggestions into my work, and some of these have influenced me as an artist.

 

However, my search has been more through silence and not through describing or discussing.

There are days, when I am inclined towards black and white photography, other days when I am more contemplative, and look for specific effects, and other days when I just do not feel like clicking any pictures. When I wake up in the morning, I know that today I am going to do this kind of work. There are days when I can see things that are not visible on another day, it may be something to do with focus, concentration and inspiration, because it requires me to look beyond what my eyes can see.

It can also depend upon the light. One time, the light is such that I can't see anything special and on another day, the light is such that even a simple thing looks different and has a different, more fascinating impact. You have to train yourself to see, to discover our surroundings.

 

There are days when I wake up with a desire to capture people and action. On other days, I want to walk around in my city, to find an idea to try to express it in the way I feel it. It is about sensations.

SD: Do you also plan and bring together things to create a particular kind of picture?

GS: I prefer working with what is already existing and not create an artificial effect. I don't create particular effect in post-production, all the effects that are there in an image, they come from working with my camera.

Even if we are in the digital era, I try to think as if I am working with an analogical film. Thus, I don't click a lot of pictures, I prefer clicking pictures as a gift, few and well thoughtful clicks. I prefer limiting the use of technology.

 

It is also a kind of rebellion against digital and there are persons who prefer using analogical film.

SD: What is the value of photography in a world where millions of tourists click millions of pictures with their mobile phones?

GS: With the social media, the significance of images has been lost. Our ideas of beauty and ugliness have been turned upside down. Even for this, one needs to go back to older ways doing things, to think and reflect more and to have less anxiety about clicking a large number of pics. Today we are bombarded with images.

I feel that it is better to click as few pictures as possible, which means you have thought about them. If you are clicking thousands of images, then it is easy to find one good picture among them. It is more important to click a few with some good ones, because that requires reflection, reasoning and becoming more aware of our surroundings. If you are in contact with the reality around you, you use your capacity for observation.

SD: In terms of AI and your work as a professional photographer, what do you think?

GS: I see it as a potential problem, especially for the images used for advertising. Instead of taking models, professionals, you can create a set and people out of nothing and thus, for that sector I think that it is going to be a problem.

At the same time, the vast diffusion of digital images has created a greater sensibility among the people towards photography. Since the canons of beauty and ugliness have been turned upside down, some aspects of photography continue to need professionals, for example for making portraits. Sometimes persons come to me for portraits even if they can click their own pictures, because they are looking for an impact on the social media.

SD: Have you also done photography for films or videos?

GS: I have done the still photography and backstage for some documentary films, to document everything that happens during the filming and in the backstage.

SD: Thanks Giorgio for taking the time to talk to me.

In The End

Giorgio Schirato's photo-exhibition titled The Lessons of Water - 450 Years From Titian Till Today  (Le Lezioni dell'Acqua - 450 Anni Da Tiziano Ad Oggi) is on at Palazzo Toaldi Capra in Schio till 13th September 2026 and can be visited on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, entry is free.

 

I loved his images of Venice where time seems to be standing still and it looks like a dreamscape. I also love his cityscapes where he captures fleeting moments that seem to open the world like a hyper-reality, letting us see things that we would not have seen.

All the images of Venice in this blogpost are from Giorgio Schirato's website and are protected by copyright. 

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