Rocco Galatioto, nice photos and good food

The  Walter K, Hoerning Fund [WKH Fund] is an organization that offers educational enrichment programs for inner city boys. This event was held to introduce the program to potential candidates. Here are some bright faces shot with the Nikon D-700 and the Nikkor 28-105 F 3.5. This rather old   "non digital" lens is extremely sharp and useful. It almost makes all the claims for the new so called "digitally ready" lenses a lot of BS. The great thing about Nikon is that  most old lenses can be used making it almost unnecessary to buy the newest and latest lenses. I'm not saying that the new lenses are not needed, I'm pointing out that the old ones can still take great photos. The AF is better with the newer lenses and for some this is very important. I'm still looking for a great and affordable manual focus digital camera. But then, I'm considered odd by many.

It will soon be autumn and time to go to the nearby farms to gather  up some  fall delicacies. We usually go to the North Fork of Long Island. These photos go back 2 years and were shot with the Canon 5-D and the 24-105 F 4 L. I just love the fall in the North Eastern part of the USA.

This lens should not break the bank. Samyang has announced it will be presenting a perspective control 24mm F3.5 lens at Photokina 2012. The Samyang T-S 24mm 1:3.5 ED AS UMC is a wide-angle, full-frame lens that offers tilt and shift movements, allowing control of subject geometry and depth of field. It offers up to 12mm of shift and 8.5° of tilt; the shift movement can be rotated +/- 90° relative to the lens mount, and the tilt movement 90° relative to the shift axis, allowing lots of flexibility over adjustments. The lens will be available in Canon EF, Nikon F, Pentax K and Sony Alpha mounts.

Vanguard Offers New Mail-in Rebates of Up To $100 on Tripods, Ball Heads Etc. If you need to  buy a high-end tripod, the new mail-in rebate program from Vanguard is as nice a reason as any. There are many products available through the program, however the biggest rebates come from the company's Auctus tripods. If you buy an Auctus Plus carbon fiber tripod, you ere eligible for a rebate of $100. Those chosing aluminum can get $50 back. You'll also get a $50 check in the mail if you buy a XCenior shoulder or trolley style camera bag.  The BBH series ball heads will also get you a rebate of $25. Go for it. Help the economy. But are you sere these aren't made in overseas?

I really do, it's the only place that can make me tolerate my distance from my Castellammare del Golfo. I realize that you may have gotten tired of the Flat Iron Building but if you have, please bare with me. Amuse me if you will. I do not know of an area in New York were urban architecture blends so well with nature resulting in a very pleasant pace to sit and sort of escape the rigors of city life that unlike many I actually love, and where one can be in the center of it all and still be away from it all. The concomitant Madison Square Park, is the most European of any in New York. It mimics the great parks of Paris or the great villas of Rome. The word villa  means park in Italian even though in modern usage it also defines a unattached home. I love this park and love to photograph it. These shots date from February 2002 and were shot with the amazing Fuji S1-Pro with it's puny 3.4 mega pixels that today would be laughed at in a camera.

These shots of the Tuscan countryside are from April. 2007 and the lens was the 18-70 F 3.5-4.5 that came with the camera. This so called kit lens was actually rather good.

The late afternoon is a magical time for photos and these are a few examples. Have a great Wednesday / Buon mercoledi'

Some photos of my beloved town until I return to the archives and can post some vintage stuff. These are of  the Piazza Europa area that has become  rather trendy. This area had  many warehouses one of which was used by my father who was a cooper  to work on  large wine barrels. Have a nice Tuesday / Buon martedi'

This small town in the  Sicilian entroterra , is famous for the fact that it's present town hall il municipio , or municipal building is the one that was owned the prince in  Il gattopardo , The Leopard ,  the famed historical and autobiographical novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa who used it as his summer palace when he came to Santa Margherita. In the novel  he names the town  Donnafugata.   As a result several literary conferences are held here. It is a pleasant agricultural town that produces much olive oil. It was ravaged but not totally destroyed by the earthquake of August of 1968 and some buildings were never been rebuilt but much rebuilding and restoration has taken place. Behind the municipio lies a nice park with a space for public events. It is worth a visit although it is somewhat far from the nearest autostrada , the A-28. Have a pleasant new week / Buona nuova settimana 

The death of photography as we know it and have practiced for years has occurred some time ago; just that we were in some sort of denial. With the advent of the photo sensor the paradigm shifted but we tenaciously held on to the notion that we could go on as before. Many of us did to our detriment since we did not realize that digital offered many more possibilities. We just shot as if we had film in our cameras. We bought more and more expensive stuff that looked like film equipment and shot away with abandon. Our happiness was augmented by the fact that we didn't have to buy film anymore. But we were fooling ourselves. We belittled the smaller cameras that we deemed  derogatorily as focus and shoot and lauded our large sensors. This sensor pride reached it's peak when cameras with so called full size sensors became  commonly available. Actually Kodak, the inventor of the photo sensor and of it's own poison, has come out with a full sensor cameras at the dawn of digital b...