Saturday, August 6, 2011

Ready for some serious sauce


Just bought these tomatoes, picked early this morning. Now for the task of making some seriously delicious sauce.

Sunset on Quebec City / Nikon Ftn



It's amazing how much color the defunct Kodachrome keeps. Here I used Nikkor optics. The 105 F 2.5 for the vertical and the 35 F 2.8 for the horizontal.

Friday, August 5, 2011

Sicilian friends..


I cannot stress enough the bounty and friendliness of my friends here in Castellammare. My next door neighbor just picked these wonderful table grapes and, naturally, gave me three bunches. What can I say.

Old door / E Pl-2


I took a walk in a neighborhood of Castellammare that I seldom go and took some interesting panoramas that I will eventually share, This old door in a quasi abandoned old building caught my eys.

From the archives / Nikon FTn


This shot of this old light [called an antique] was shot with high speed Ektachrome and the Nikkor 50mm F 1.4. The location was an old used furniture store in Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

San Gennaro / Nikon Ftn




In 1979, the Vatican Council came up with a list of saints who really were not saints and were removed from the ecclesiastical calendar. One of these saints was San Gennaro, the patron of Naples and the excuse for the largest street feast in New York. Naturally, the Neapolitans objected very strongly so San Gennaro is still revered, celebrated, venerated and embroiled in the so called yearly miracle where his alleged blood liquefies. This rite is still held. Naturally, this blood can never be chemically tested because of the dreaded control effect. It would upset the chemical balance of this divine liquid. Naturally, being a great source of income, the Holy See and the archdiocese of Naples, turn a tolerant blind eye to this great miracle. We are in New York at the San Gennaro Feast and these images were all hand held with the 50mm F 1.4 Nikkor. The film was Ektachrome that has remained true to it's colors.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

People just do not get it, perhaps it's too late.

This is my latest and perhaps my last post on face Book:
I have decided that in the interest of committing what is now the most gruesome crime, offending someone, I will go into a sort of FB hibernation. It's not worth the bother. No one really cares about differing opinions anyhow. So a warm and fuzzy arrivederci or perhaps, addio to all. I have better things to do here.
What really saddens me is that the meanings of my posts are wasted an many of my so called Face Book friends. My own children got very agitated and one of them even accused me of being a Nazi, an appellation that I find execrable. No one has any sense of humor anymore; no one has any political interests anymore and everyone appears to be so into what I consider purely trivial pursuits that they have inured themselves from the worls around them. Perhaps it's the only way to live today. Total denial that the Titanic is sinking. The resulting political correctness, insulates evrybody in a false security. As we have gone into a quasi elemental mode or even ionic mode from a molecular or even crystalline one, we are all unable to form bonds as we have shed our social electrons, i.e. social skills, that create these bonds. This of course creates a perfect situation for the political class who is eager to take advantage of this political nonchalance.
So the populous knows the words to all the pop songs and knows all about the puerile lives of so called celebrities, they are totally ignorant of our Constitution and of our politicians. This creates a perfect situation for the ruling class, disinterest, ignorance and self censorship.
So while I will no longer annoy or awaken my Face Book friends from their soporific slumber, I will use this blog, from time to time to express my opinions. I hope that some followers from my generation, at lest, will still believe that a divergence of uncensored opinions can only be beneficial for our country and world. It may be a shot in the dark or a voice in the wilderness, but I will shout it until that long night into which I shall not go gentle. And for those of you, gentle is appropriate instead of the adverb gently, thanks to Dylan Thomas.

There are peaches and then there are these..


I just got these white peaches at the local farmer's market here in Castellammare del Golfo. They were picked early this morning. What else can I say. Un fenomeno della natura.

FRom my old studio on 27th Street / Leica M4


I shot this Kodachrome with the 35mm Summicron F2. This ceramic vase had been created by my wife when she studied pottery. I like the composition and the colors of the tiny geraniums.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Prima colazione / E PL-2


So called first breakfast..for me it's not the usual cappuccino o caffe' latte that I shun. It's instead bread, tomatoes, basil, sea salt and extra virgin olive oil. A little local cheese is also added. Of course these ingredients are all grown a few kilometers away and are super fresh. After this, I will have one of my several espressi that I consume as the day progresses. Not bad, not bad at all.

Waiting on Fifth Avenue / Nikon Ftn



These are two separate shots taken on ti different dates but they sort of show this angry and sad waiting that people do sometimes. The red outfits sort of tie the two images together.

Monday, August 1, 2011

Light projections / Canon FT



These projections from the Stained glass windows of Santa Croce church in Florence are now somewhat muted as the Agfachromes have faded. I did all I could in PS but I could never get that original glow. Conversion to B&W would have been meaningless in this situation. The lens was the superb Canon 28mm F 3.5 FL lens.

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Family memories / Leica M4


This Kodachrome of my first born, Josef in the arms of his maternal great grand mother was shot with the superlative Summicron 35mm F2 lens. It was hand held and the film had an ISO [ASA} of only 25! Boy my hands were steady then. They still are but now I use higher ISO setting thanks to digital that has made photography almost too easy and less challenging and less fun.

Fall splendor