Somehow, the past three years have been marked with a May visit to the city of Venice. It always involves taking the train up the Adriatic coast for six hours until, in the distance, I can make out the shapes and forms of Venetian churches, houses, and towers against a backdrop of blue. Those first moments, more than any other, wake me up to the magic of Venice, and the feeling of jetting over an endless bridge toward a distant city on the water makes my heart jump.

These past years have fueled several attempts to capture Venice through writing and photography. I have many unfinished stories stuffed away, waiting to be unearthed. It seems I cannot write about Venice, about those hidden aspects of her that tourists don't see, without doubting myself--how can Venice be anything without pigeons in Piazza San Marco or a ride down the Grand Canal, leaning out to see the Rialto as our Vaporetto passes under it? But there is another side to Venice as well. Venice can really be as it is in one's dreams--the sleepy waterways in Dorsoduro, lace on Burano and jewelbox churches like Santa Maria dei Miracoli on floating piazzas. Perhaps the true Venice is a combination of these things--the tourist traps and the hidden beauties--making a more complete city, not just the fairy tale Venice promises to be.

But I think there is much more, really. Not just two sides, but many sides, many different reflections. This photojournal attempts to capture some of them. There will always be another trip to Venice, and more photographs to take, when May comes again next year.