Rocco Galatioto, nice photos and good food

Only in Queens can you feel the vibrancy of the new America. It's different foods, languages, peoples, all trying to become Americans.

Thanks to NASA's LRO probe we can now see higher definition photos of the lunar surface.

Interesting indeed and theorized many times. Now a new book asserts that Leonardo was the creator of the world's first negative, From Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper. "il primo negativo "fotografico" della storia che ha come matrice un'immagine mentale» «Così Leonardo creò la Sindone» La tesi della scrittrice Vittoria Haziel: «Il maestro usò un ferro arroventato e disegnò sulla tela il suo autoritratto» Interesting for us photographers.

Back to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. This time on a cloudy and very atmospheric day when the colors really come out. Taken on May 2005 with an Olympus D300.

Because of the recently announced demise of Kodachrome, and the discontinuance, a few years ago of its wonderful line of silver halide based photo papers, it is incumbent upon us to give it our thanks. Kodak deserves our thanks not only for Kodachrome, Ektachrome, VPS, HPS, Kodacolor, Tri-X, Pan-X......[after all it was Kodak that introduced new film formats and gave them their names i.e. 135, 120,220, 808, 110, 620 etc.] Not to mentionrbut also for its many photo gadgets such as that superb tray siphon that lasted me 30 years, its superb darkroom lights and Wratten filers... you get the picture. It should be thanked for being an American company that was emblematic of a period of corporate innovation almost unseen anymore. Let's not forget that it was Kodak that introduced the digital sensor for still cameras. Little did they know that it would be their demise. It's photo chemicals were always manufactured to the highest standards whether they were for B&W or color film...

This time it's the near by Queens Botanic Garden. A works in progress compared to the Brooklyn and the NY Botanic Garden in the Bronx; it does have a large number of flowers and it's tulip beds are very well kept. It's a very pleasant place. Taken on a sunny day in April of 2004 with Canon 10D and the Canon 50mm f2.5 Macro.

Our friends at dp Review have posted a very interesting just concluded test on underwater cameras. These are very handy to have, not necessarily for use under water but for use in inclement weather. check out the link below. http://dpreview.com Scroll down to the bottom of the blog to find the active link.

A new month and more rain in NYC. This sunny face may cheer you up. This recent photo was taken with a D2X and the Nikkor 70-300 VR f 4.5-5.6 G. A nice and not too expensive lens. It's shortcomings are it's rather plasticky built and it's slow aperture. Nevertheless, it's very sharp and not very heavy. A generall all around good lens to have for extra reach.

Can I ever leave Venice? Not really. This photo from April, 2005 was taken with a Nikon D2H and a Sigma 18-135 j3.5-5.6. Venice does have its less touristy places and does have rainy days. Yet it's still the most fascinating city in the world.

Remember Agfa? The venerable German photo giant made a slow fade out as digital took hold. It was hit hard such as Kodak, but unlike the latter it was in a worse position to survive. We all thought it dead but it has surfaced, no pun intended as it has just released a sort of underwater digicam. Here are excepts from it's press release. AgfaPhoto has announced the DC-600uw rugged compact camera. It is claimed to be water-resistant up to 10 meters and can withstand pressure of up to two bar (29psi). Its exterior is designed to protect against dust and dirt. The camera has a 6MP sensor, a 2.4" LCD and includes Face Tracking and video recording for easy sharing on YouTube. Priced at €149, it will be made available next month. The price is in Euro no dollar price has been set. It is very reasonably priced however. We shall see if this release holds water or better if it keeps the water out. Welcome back AGFA we missed you. Now if you could bring out Portriga as an ink jet paper we...

Continuing with "oh what 4 mega pixels can do," we turn now to an image shot in April of 2004 with a Canon 1D and the 16-35 f2.8L. Nice combo on the 1.3 factor 1D. The place is route 25 on the North Fork of Long Island near the fabulous wine country. This area is a definite must visit.

On the venerable dpreview.com, one of the most active forum posts at the present time, is the one where a person reports that a passerby, having seen his camera commented: "ho it's only a Nikon." This resulted in a slew of indignations, recriminations, and "replies" that the Nikonian should have used. I even contributed my two cents. It makes me think how pathetically attached we are not only to our cameras but to our brands. There are Nikonians, Canonians etc all ready to attack each other with the "my brand is better than yours. More space is wasted on such inane posts than on anything else. What can you do. Most people are in love with equipment. The picture taking part is necessary but only to vindicate equipment purchases and lusting for the next camera or lens. Another really ridiculous thing is that people list the equipment they own or even post pictures of their cameras and lenses that they call "glass" to sound more seasoned and knowledg...