Rocco Galatioto, nice photos and good food

From a plant across the street from my home here in Sicily.

  I have decried on many occasions the touristy flavor in many place. I must say that they do make for interesting photo ops. And that is really what interests me the most, after the food, of course. These ceramics for sale in Erice are an example. Here in Sicily, we always see the Trinacria, the head with three legs. It is the symbol of Sicily and appears on it's flag. The history of this icon is rather obscure. Needless to say it also appears on the flag of the Aisle of Man and it was the Symbol that the Spartan soldiers wore on their helmets. The fact that Sicily is triangular has many believing that this is why it's Sicily symbol.

When the System 1 was introduced I  wondered what they were thinking. To little and too late. Too little as the sensor was too small and too late as the Four Thirds system was already established with it's large sensor that gave excellent images but in a small package, Nikon has lowered its sales and revenue estimates for this year, prompting a rethink of its 1 Series mirrorless cameras. Nikon cites poor market conditions, a large drop in compact camera sales and, most interestingly, a 'deceleration' in mirrorless camera sales growth. Nikon's measures against these changing conditions include accelerating production of entry-level DSLRs and 'reconsider[ing] product planning' of their Nikon 1 mirrorless camera system.  

La Plaja beach in Castellammare

I want to share what I typically eat here in Sicily. I'm not rubbing it in. I'm not even going to comment on hoe tasty food is here. Hopefully, the photos will do that. After all this is a photo blog. Colazione , breakfast Pranzo , lunch Ricotta al forno, baked ricotta, merenda, afternoon snack Cena ,  supper Dessert , dessert

Thanks to digital, it;s easier to take night shots. Long exposures where subject to reciprocity failure when each film layer would react differently to long exposures thus causing color shifts. This early night shot of Petrolo beach in Castellammare, before things get moving usually after midnight, shows what is possible with the new digital cameras that also are increasingly free from noise. Olympus E PL-2

This fascinating town in Southern Sicily, in the province of Siracusa, was totally destroyed by a severe earthquake in the beginning of the 17th century. It was rebuilt in the then baroque style. Each building is highly ornate and massive.It has become a great tourist attraction. The restaurants here are superb and are among the best in Italy.

A special filter can make the prosaic into an eye catching shot. The Olympus EPL-2 has several of these that, alas, are missing on the Panasonic Lumix GX1.

These were shot during a visit to the Capitol in this past spring. I love and miss the so called old architectures in the States. Here of course this would be called recent, but it has a great charm and is very different from the building architecture in Italy. I love how ta camera and some imagination, a few interesting images can be created.

This shots dates from 1969. It was originally shot on Tri-X and then scanned. These are nasse that are used for fishing. They were dried on balconies and made for interesting shots. Sadly today these are only curiosity items that are only made small enough so that they can be used for decoration and as lamps for restaurants. More of the touristzation - to coin a word - and banalization of  a place that although very beautiful, is loosing it's heart and soul all for the sake of attracting tourists. What can I do but decry this  sad practice. But at least the sea is still very clean,  the food is to die for and the people are wonderful.

On my way to my late afternoon espresso at the Bar 2000, I came upon this interesting corner with towels drying. The light was intriguing and it made for a couple of nice shots.

More Adobe updates ACR 8.2 and Lightroom 5.2 I haven't got to try my Lightroom 4 yet! Adobe has announced the latest 'release candidates' of Adobe Camera Raw and Photoshop Lightroom, adding support for ten cameras - including preliminary support for the Canon EOS 70D and Sony RX100 II. The release candidates of Adobe Camera Raw v8.2 and Lightroom 5.2 also fix some bugs introduced in the previous versions. ACR v8.2 acts only as a camera and lens profile update for users of Photoshop CS6. Both are available to download from the Adobe Labs site, with the usual reliability caveats about release candidates. A release candidate of DNG converter 8.2 is also available.

This abandoned old estate is located on the way to San Buca di Sicilia and shows how the economy has changed on this island. In many places it has become too costly to tend the old estates. You can almost feel the hot sun in the images.

                     Hello from Castellammare del Golfo

My beautiful cat Gioia

The only thing I watch on TV is the NFL. Only the games. The rest of TV is a big waste of time; I just prefer a good book and I get my news from the internet. This should add to the pleasure of watching the games. The instant replay old hat by now. In fact, it can be said that it's one of the main reasons why watching Football is America's favorite Sunday night living room pastime. Sometimes it's overdone and can be annoying. The implementation of 12 cameras in each end zone brings something new to your big screen TV this NFL season - a 360-degree instant replay. Starting with the September 8th Dallas Cowboys home game, fans watching the action on NBC’s Sunday Night Football will see an all-around view of controversial plays in each end zone.