February
13-20, 2027
Black & White Venice
Limited to an intimate group of 12
Venice in winter is a different world entirely.
The crowds disappear. Fog drifts across the canals. Light softens over stone and water. The city becomes quieter, suspended somewhere between dream and memory.
Join Jamie Beck and Todd Ritondaro for an intimate week in Venice during its most cinematic season, a carefully curated experience of beauty, atmosphere, romance, and visual storytelling inspired by the timeless language of black-and-white photography.
Everything throughout the week is chosen through a photographic frame.
The cafés. The hidden passageways. Candlelit dinners. Morning fog drifting across the lagoon. Elegant interiors. Reflections on water. Long lunches. Quiet walks. Evenings dressed in black tie. Each moment designed not only to be photographed, but deeply experienced.
This is Venice slowed down.
A rarer, more intimate glimpse of the city shaped through light, texture, mood, and atmosphere. The Venice of old films, winter mornings, whispered conversations, and fleeting moments that feel suspended outside of time.
Photography remains at the heart of the experience, but always in service of something deeper: learning to see more beautifully, more poetically, and with greater sensitivity to atmosphere, emotion, and place.
Throughout the week, Jamie and Todd will share their distinct approaches to image-making and visual storytelling through conversation, guidance, curated experiences, and immersive photographic moments designed to deepen your relationship with light, composition, romance, and personal vision. They are there to help you capture this moment in your life as it’s meant to be remembered - timelessly, romantically, and full of the nostalgia we will all have for Venice after this.
More than a photography experience, Black & White Venice is an invitation into a slower and more cinematic way of moving through the world. And through photography, we will help you hold onto these moments and memories forever so that you will always have Venice.
A week of fog, candlelight, film, beauty, water, elegance, artist studio tours, world class museums, Royal Palace, and a black-and-white ball, souvenirs gifting you with unforgettable shared moments inside one of the most visually intoxicating cities ever created.
7 Nights/8 Days
Throughout our week of film, light, and water, we’ll move through Venice slowly and intentionally, experiencing the city through a carefully curated visual lens. Highlights throughout the week will include:
• Early morning walks through quiet Venetian streets and along the lagoon before the city fully wakes.
• Guided film photography sessions centered on atmosphere, mood, composition, natural light, and visual storytelling.
• Practical guidance on exposure, metering, film selection, and developing greater confidence working with film and light.
• An intimate visit to the private studio and darkroom of a renowned Venetian fine art photographer.
• Explorations of hidden neighborhoods, canals, passageways, cafés, and lesser-known corners of Venice chosen for their atmosphere, beauty, and cinematic character.
• A day at the historic Rialto Market selecting seasonal ingredients before gathering for a long Venetian lunch of food, wine, conversation, and photography.
• Creative conversations and editing sessions focused on developing a more personal and emotionally resonant visual language.
• Explorations of Venice by boat and gondola, drifting through quiet canals and across the lagoon as the city reveals itself through fog, reflection, and winter light.
• Candlelit dinners, wine, music, and intimate conversation throughout the week, including an elegant black-tie dinner in a secret Venetian location.
• Plenty of unstructured time for wandering, photographing, lingering in cafés, journaling, or simply experiencing Venice at your own rhythm.
Accomodations in Venice
We’ll be staying at the newly opened Orient Express Venezia, a beautifully restored 15th-century Venetian palazzo hidden along the quiet canals of Cannaregio.
You’ll find yourself lost in time under the hotel’s opulent fresco ceilings, candlelit salons, Murano chandeliers, private courtyards, and richly layered interiors create an atmosphere suspended between history, romance, and cinema.
For centuries, this palazzo remained closed to the public. Today, it has been reimagined through the timeless lens of Orient Express, blending old-world Venetian grandeur with intimacy, elegance, and quiet luxury.
We would love to invite you to join us in Venice February 13th to 20th with a $5,000 deposit required to secure your place. Availability is extremely limited, deposits are non-refundable.
We are finalizing the details of the experience, with an estimated total cost around $15,000 per person give or take.
It will be another trip of a lifetime, with more than stunning photographic souvenirs but memories, mementos, friendships and experiences that make life truly worth living.
What is included
Accommodation
7 Nights at The Orient Express Venezia
Meals & Dining
Daily Breakfast at the hotel
Daily Lunches
Dinners
Select Aperitivo
*alcohol is not included except for specific events and dinners TBD
Experiences
All Experiences, museum visits, and surprises are included.
Transportation During the Retreat
Gondolas and Water taxis to and from experiences
What is not included
International Flights or internal trains to Venice
Transportation from the airport or train station to the hotel
All alcohol that is not specifically included in some select expereinces
Meals and Experiences not explicitly part of the itinerary