Rocco Galatioto, nice photos and good food

Naturally, it's the Brooklyn Botanic Garden one of the city's true gems and the original intent of this visit was to enjoy the rose garden that opened today,  June first. The roses were wonderful but what caught my eye was a patch of peonies of disparate colors. The camera was the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX1 with an Olympus micro four thirds zoom.

Just like RAID back up  hard drives, we now have RAID back up CF cards. Nice. Japanese company Amulet is   releasing a CompactFlash card that allows images and video files to be backed up instantly using RAID-style 'mirroring'. In mirroring mode, the card effectively becomes two storage devices, and records images to both partitions simultaneously. As such, a 64GB card offers 32GB of actual storage space in mirroring mode. Many professional DSLRs offer twin card slots to allow for backup storage (in case of hardware failure) but the new Wise CF Card Duo effectively manages this trick in a single CF card.  This may appeal to photographers because a corrupted image  means a bad  screw up.  But the two card system is better. If the card fails would not be rational to think that both partitions will also fail. This is after all not a mechanical device. We shall see. In its standard mode, the card offers 60/50MB/sec read/write speed, which drops t...

Children are very difficult subjects. This child, at an event by Family and Children's Association, an old client, was very sad and I had to be very patient and creative to finally elicit a smile of sorts.

We have stated many times in the past, professional cameras and professional photography are nearing death. In the sphere of photojournalism with all the phones and cameras always present, any event will be recorded in real time. There is no need for the pros. There's no need for the fancy show off cameras. I am surprises as how fast this is all happening. After all this is progress and it cannot be stopped. With all the money I can save on new and improves cameras I can take more trips and eat at better restaurants. The silver lining? You bet. Chicago Sun-Times lays off entire photo staff: switches to freelancers May 30, 2013    According to a report in the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times has laid off its entire photography sta...

The clematis are now in season. They do not last long but they put on a great show. These were shot with the Canon 5-D.

Back in the days, it used to be all Nikon if you were a pro. Things changed when the EOS mount was introduced and Canon began its ascendancy. Canon just produced their 90-milionth EF-series lens Canon has seen several milestones since they began production of their EOS film SLRs back in 1987, and on May 23rd, they achieved yet another. While producing EF 24-70mm F/2.8L II USM lenses that day, Canon surpassed the 90 million mark for their entire EF-series of lenses. If you remember, just this past August they were celebrating the creation of their 80-millionth EF lens. 10 million new lenses in just 9 months is pretty amazing, so we can see why Canon is so proud of this accomplishment. The bad news was that all the old and great canon FL and FD lenses became obsolete. Nikon never did that. I can use really old Nikkors on my latest Nikon DSLR's.

The Tuscan countryside is full of colors that are emphasized by the bright sun. These shots have been posted before but they are worth a second look. They were shot back in April of 2007 with the Nikon D-200.  

Leica has been teasing us with the hint that a mini M will be released on June 11. Can this be the one? To bea true M, it must have a viewfnder. Leica M stands for 'Messsucher', which is German for "rangefinder."   Go figure. It may sport an EVF made by Panasonic but with a Leica brand name that doubles it's price.

These photos shot in a beautiful April afternoon in downtown Philadelphia show a wonderful civic center but for a New Yorker used to see throngs of people it left me cold. I just love the crowds, the noise, the energy that the multitudes produce. I know; it's just my personal preference.

After the rain in Madison Square Park on a wintry evening. Panasonic LX-7

These shots of  Piazza San Marco in Venice were made with a Sigma 12-24 mm zoom on the 1.5 X factor sensor  of the Nikon D-200 that resulted in an actual wide  angle of 18 mm. Still pretty wide but not as problematic as a real 12mm on a FF sensor like the Nikon D 700 or on any regular 35mm SLR. I did play  with some   perspective control on Photo Shop but just  slightly as it can get very messy real soon if this tool is not used carefully. The best thing is to be careful when shooting the original image.

Shot with the Panasonic DMC-GX1 and a Nikkor 24mm F 1:2.8 at F 8. The versatility of this camera is amazing.

I have posted images from this lovely Tuscan walled city before and I keep finding more interesting things to post.