During February 2018 I participated in a Venice Carnival photography tour and workshop organized and operated by Chromasia.  A main focus of the workshop was portraiture and lighting with strong emphasis on capturing engaging images of people in costume.  We set out before dawn each morning making our way to St. Mark’s Square.  At this time in the morning, the square was lit by street lamps and external lighting up on the sides of buildings.  Masked cosplayers made their way across the square and toward the waterfront where photographers gathered with the intent of capturing the stunning costumes under lamp light and during the soft dawn.

Over several days, we photographed many people in masks and costumes.  The variety of costumes was wide and the creativity stunning.  Many of them were elaborate and highly detailed.  Design, fabric, color, and flourishes had been carefully thought out.  Costume design clearly takes significant time, thought, and creativity.

A Passion for Venice Carnival

Many of the cosplayers return to Venice Carnival year after year.  I began to wonder about the elements of Carnival that capture the hearts of cosplayers to the extent that they dedicate themselves to attending the event annually.  It takes significant effort and resources as well as dedication to have costumes made and to travel to Venice.  Cosplayers also prepare themselves every morning at an early hour and stay in costume every day until late in the evening.

Venice is a beautiful and romantic city.  During Carnival, there is a magic brought to the city by the passionate people who arrive in unique and wonderful costumes.  Masked costumes by their very nature impart a sense of mystery.  Who is behind the mask?  What motivates one to have a costume so elaborate and beautifully made that it appears cinematic?  What is the draw to participate in this event year after year as a masked and costumed character?  How does the history of Venice Carnival capture the imagination of people worldwide so that they continue the tradition?

One Cosplayer’s Story

After a sunset shoot at San Giorgio, I spoke briefly with one of the cosplayers, Mirko Consoli from Catania, Sicily, whose delightful character Nick Tempest was a joy to watch and photograph.  He told me that being at Venice Carnival was very important in his life and I could feel the passion that he has for it just by hearing it in his voice.  I was very interested in understanding his perspective and asked him if he would be willing to convey his story.  He agreed.  In his own words, Mirko describes his fascination, history, passion and dedication to Venice Carnival and relates his multifaceted experiences.

Here is Mirko’s story:

My story with the Venice Carnival is very special … because where I live in Sicily the carnival is very little heard … here it is celebrated only in a nearby city called Acireale with wagons made of paper mache that run for the city ​​and for the primary streets ….

My story has very strange roots because I love the concept of mask and mystery … and all this is realized not in a mask but on the Venetian mask that has always been synonymous with elegance and refinement and mystery …

I began almost 20 years ago to collect photos from the Venice Carnival and the costumes (Masks) that I liked best and that felt more relevant to my way of conceiving the art and the plot twist based on the construction of a character .. I was inebriated by seeing so much passion and so much perfection behind a costume … in that vintage as well as making a collection of photos I filled my house with masks to hang on the walls … in short, I was surrounded by Venice even though there was not yet. ..until that moment.

The most important thing is that looking at the photos … I collected … despite being different people and costuimi always different from year to year … there was something that attracted me particularly … a sort of common thread on some costumes … from there he understood that under the mask there was always the same person and the same hand in the construction of the clothes … as well as very often the use of the same expression in the face … of the mask is of papier-mâché that of hard plastic.

Using the Internet I was lucky in the early years of Facebook … to track down this man … and discovered that it was one of the most important and famous masks that came to Venice for more than 25 years.

This person came to visit me in Sicily … because we formed a multimedia friendship … and one day in a bar … realizing my passion for the mystery and the elegance … he made me a proposal to go up to Venice for the next carnival. From there began the dream … a dream that I try humbly and continuously to carry on for almost 10 years …

Constructing and inventing almost 2 costumes a year from year to year … well, I count the number of people I have … there are those who have more than me … I even know a person who has more than 200. ..

On the constructive part of the costume per se … I make and create the drawing on paper … always trying very carefully not to create a dress or a mask beautiful or ugly … but trying to create a character … a character that strikes at the sight … because this is what attracts the person … the amazement … the see something that normally around would not see …

Then I choose faithfully fabrics … colors … materials … etc etc … and last measure the painting and the expressiveness that need the white mask … for the character that I have in mind.

On every costume we often spend a lot of people time … even if it’s my creature like every person I can not do everything alone … I would not have the skills … therefore the design, fabric … material and creation are mine … the cut of the dress … jackets pants etc etc … I entrust them to a professional … while for the hats and other more complicated things my father … he is very good at these accomplishments …

A dear friend of mine … she always thought that we masks of Venice are like little animated puppets … I always liked this thought of her.

Very often for the realization of a costume it takes even a whole year … and already when you wear one … think about what to create for next year.

Almost all masks do it … the brain is walking at 10,000 rpm.

Once finished … you choose the dates for the carnival that are usually always or almost the last week even if there are those who are also 1 month … and brings our creation on stage … (In this case mine) … it takes a whole week to do photo shoots from all sides … from sunrise to sunset … especially where there are some suitable backgrounds to contextualize the colors of the costume.

Meanwhile, the greatest joy of carrying our character around is the amazement of people … the joy in their eyes … everyone wants to take a picture … embrace you … people from all over the world .. (Only dogs are often afraid of us masks … I do not know why but it has always been like that !!! …)

Every person to carry out this passion really makes a lot of sacrifices … there are those who take plane … train … bus … ship etc etc. very often on the same day as in my case … but people come from all over the world … and this is the thing that makes the Venice Carnival unique … you can find masks around at all times … and even when the light goes away … you can find other masks with LEDs and light bulbs at night around the city.

I can guarantee you that many believe it’s easy … it’s all a walk … giving oneself arias … but it’s never been like that … being with a mask 12 hours in the face … with sweat. ..with the cold … with the tiredness … it’s not at all simple …

For every person is a feeling … I also know people seriously ill … who does not give up dressing in masks … to be there ….to prove that they are there … always every carnival … to give amazement … friendship … magic … just like I do for many years … I have been in a mask … in the rain … under the snow … with the fog … with the high water … with the sun at the peak … day by night … at dawn at sunset … always … I love that place … Venice captures you … it’s pure magic … only very sensitive souls can understand this … over the years I understood something very important …it is not you who chooses the carnival or Venice … but it is she who chooses you …

In all these years I realized that all the masks have its own story … its motivation … and this is the beauty … because Venice is at the carnival as the carnival is in Venice … none of the 2 things would exist without … Venice will also be beautiful the rest of the year … but it is at the dawn of the carnival that the magic that has been reigning in that city reigns for so many years!

Wonderful things happen in the mask … I could tell you so many … it really happened to me … I remember an Austrian girl who gave me a rose … or an old lady who plied with emotion in seeing me .. .insomma is something that we must live to understand … it’s not just a relationship between photographers and masks … it’s courtesy it’s civilization … it’s love … it’s feeling and devotion for what many say is the the most beautiful city in the world ….

So as long as I have life … and I will have … and the possibility … at the dawn of every carnival … I will be there … in a mask … for you … for you … for all … to give astonishment and magic as well as that twist to those who have had a year of bad things …

I repeat anything that could tell you … it would always remain a little …

I can only say hello telling you …. at the next carnival … look for me … or ask for me … I’ll be there …

Mirko’s beautiful and emotion-filled narrative conveys his passion and dedication to Venice Carnival, the work, sacrifices, and rewards.  I found his story to be engaging and full of feeling from start to finish.  I would like to extend many heartfelt thanks to Mirko for taking the time to compose his story for me and to allow me to publish it here.

My hope is that readers will consider Venice Carnival from the cosplayer’s perspective.  While visitors to Carnival witness the beauty, magic, and mystery, the cosplayers have spent significant time, thought, and resources on their preparation and travel.  They then spend hour after hour, for days, dressed in elaborate costumes, in all kinds of weather, starting early in the morning and going into the evening. It is their heartfelt passion and they give it to you.  They are the magic.  They are the mystery.  They are Carnival.

For more images of Venice Carnival, please view my online gallery at Venice Carnival Photo Gallery.