Tired of walking through streets that felt like Oxford Street on Christmas Eve, I sought out a sanctuary in Venice via a Google search – “secret sites in Venice”. My search brought up thousands of results. Clearly, I wasn't the first jaded tourist looking to escape the crowds.

A bit of digging brought up a promising article which listed 10 secret sites. Five of them referred to bars, galleries or churches and could safely be ignored, but the other five seemed promising. I jotted them down and set about exploring them the following day.

As promised, the five secret sites were quiet and uncrowded. They were also underwhelming which led me to the obvious conclusion - crowded sites in Venice are crowded for good reason. Why travel to Venice and avoid the main attractions?

At this point, instead of fighting the crowds, I joined them and became a proper tourist in Venice. This included doing the absolute tourist 'no no', I ordered a cappuccino after midday. The fact that I can't speak any Italian says more about my origin than my drink of choice. Venetians dress up, which might make sense in winter, but in summer, dressing up can only lead to misery. As a tourist, shorts and a tee kept me comfortable and happy.

I am a photographer though and I couldn't spend all my time photographing crowds, so for those looking at seeing the best sites in Venice without swimming through an ocean of bodies, here are some useful strategies.

1. Be inconvenient. Tourists are creatures of habit and will not go out of their way to change their routine. Around breakfast, lunch and dinner, most tourists will be sitting down enjoying overpriced Italian food. Use those times to explore museums, churches and galleries.

2. Be more inconvenient. The most crowded sites are the ones that are easiest to get to. My favourite location in Venice is a little island called Burano. It's a mission to get to via the public transport system, so even though it's on par with the most popular sites in Venice, it's far less crowded. After 6pm, I had the island virtually to myself.

3. Be even more inconvenient. The best light takes place around sunrise and sunset, but the least crowded times are at sunrise. I was in Venice for four mornings and I got up before sunrise every morning. I felt like death, but got most places to myself, including St Mark Square - the most crowded spot in Venice.

4. Be less obvious. No, I'm not referring to ordering cappuccinos before noon or not wearing North Face gear. Be less obvious by finding alternative viewpoints. I went to the most obvious location to see Bridge of Sighs and it was packed. Looking past the bridge, I noticed that the opposite end was empty. Ironically, the view was virtually the same, except that it had a better background. Almost every site in the world has an obvious viewpoint (the postcard view) as well as less obvious viewpoints. It is the less obvious viewpoints that are most interesting in my opinion.

5. Wait. For some reason, pedestrian traffic flows in waves, as if it was regulated by traffic lights. When you find something interesting worth photographing, stand and wait, you’ll be surprised to see the crowds magically disappear.

6. Use people. Why is it that most tourists want to photograph the sites without any tourists, but the big budget travel shoots have a crew of models to fake tourists? Instead of avoiding the crowds, try deliberately photographing them. A favourite technique of mine is to photograph an enormous building with a couple of people in the frame. It emphasises the size of the building. Alternatively, set up at a good place for people watching and take some candid portraits. Sometimes the personality of a city is revealed by the people who travel through it.

Keep your eyes peeled for more travel photography coming from Jon Reid. You can find more of Jon's work here.