"Casoni" by Rohan Reilly

These fishing huts (Casoni) are built on stilts in the Venetian lagoon. The local fisherman use them to store their equipment in a safe place.

I was completely transfixed by their colours and shapes, but even more so the space around them. I loved the ramshackle way the fisherman left their nets, tools and equipment lying around them, giving character and a narrative. The local government tried to have them dismantled in 2011 as they deemed them an eyesore.

I shot this series in November 2017. The weather was perfect with no wind, the fog was thick enough to render a monochromatic feel to the scene whilst reducing the background to a blank canvas. This gave prominence to the subtle colours of the huts. I used exposures of around 30 secs to further smooth the water without losing texture in the shadows.

On a return visit in Jan 2018, one of the huts was being refurbished or dismantled, I do hope it is a refurbish. It would be a great shame to lose these huts from the lagoon.