Rocco Galatioto, nice photos and good food

These dancers were residents of an assisted living center run by Catholic Charities, my client. They were celebrating the anniversary of the place and, being in Brooklyn,  many different ethnic groups participated.

I believe that this is one of my better shots. Taken on East 27th Street between Lexington and Park Avenues. I had a studio on 26th Street off Lexington Avenue and was on my way there when I spotted this image. I love the light and the whole composition. I used a Nikon F with a 35mm Nikkor  F 2.8 lens on the usual Tri-X Pan film, my all time favorite emulsion for black and white work.

Shot a few years ago at this time of the year at the brooklyn Botanic Garden.  he Brooklyn Botanic.

A new weather resistant lens   branded as  a Pentax has just been announced by Ricoh, the parent company to this once glorious brand of unforgettable cameras. We all remember the Spotmatic, a very important design that alas, had that annoying screw mount. The company had it's ops and downs but the brand has survived along with some of the traditional Pentax qualities.  This lens has a 20-40mm F 2.8 zoom range and appears to be well built.

Shot with the Yashicamat 124, the original, and my first foray to medium format bliss. In the days of film, the 120 format offered clearer and basically grain free negatives. The film was Tri-X Professional. This old mill structure was in Westerly Rhode Island.

Shot from aboard a dinner cruise boat for a job I did on an evening in  June in the middle eighties for Citibank with the Nikon F and Tri-X Pan. The lens was the Nikkor 24mm F 1: 2.8.

Prospect Park is one of the greenest places in New York City. Smack in the center of Brooklyn, it creates  an oasis in a  very congested urban area. This photo was shot with the Yashicamat 124 G on Tri-X Professional. I just love the feeling of this wintry day way back when.

Many of you know that Tamron was actually the first to come out with zoom lenses. They had the ingenious Adapt-All system that made these lenses compatible with may cameras; you just got a new Adapt-All ring and  were in business. My first zoom ever was a Tamron 70-210 back in 1974 for my Nikon Ftn. They have just announced work on a new super zoom: a 150-600...that is some zoom range that on DX system will be equivalent to 225-900.. . mamma m ia!  

Posted before but worth a second look are these three photos from long ago  of my father in law's cousin Grace who lived  in Washington DC. She was a real character with a sparkle in her eyes that I tried to capture with my Leica M-4 and Tri-X Pan. 

I love to photograph children and as many of my costumers were non profit social agencies, I had many chances to come up with what I believe to be great faces.

From the front it looks like an oversize FM and from the real like a D 700 but instead of being a simple "retro" SLR that is digital we have a mix bag. If the manual focusing is as hard as with any D SLR' s who need this when one can buy the D 610 for less and with 24 mega pixels. I am intrigued and this is based on what I ahve gathered from the web so I will pass further judgement when I actually see and hold one. But so far it looks like a disappointment. Perhaps i was hoping something totally anachronistic. Nikon Finally Releases a Sophisticated New FX-format SLR: the Nikon Df Nikon has just released an very interesting new full-frame SLR, which pays homage to their classic F-series of 35mm film SLRs; the Nikon D f. This impressive camera goes hedad to head against Sony's just  released Alpha 7 and Alpha 7R cameras, and has that retro look and design that will feel quite nostalgic to those who fondly remember their Nikon F, FM, or FE 35mm film cameras. The ...

Leica M-4 with 90mm Tele Elmarit F2.8 Nikon SP-4 with 35mm F3,5 Nikkor Canon FT with Canon 59mmF1.4 FL I want to post again some of what I believe to be my better work, shot years ago on Tri-X, the film that I absolutely loved. Many who are new to this blog have never seen them before. If you have seen them, I believe that they are worth another look.

  Because of the great foliage at the local park this year, I take my GX1 along  when I walk my dog and capture whatever I can. The light was just perfect this afternoon; very low and specular and with that great afternoon glow and warmth. I hope you enjoy these as much as I do.

The most important building in my beloved Castellammare del Golfo is  of course the castle from which it gets it's name. Literally castle on the sea. Once the castle with the walled town were on the sea sort of. The Castle itself was on the water with a bridge  that led to the walled town. That was long ago and for  many years the castle laid sort of abandoned. Recently it was restored internally and externally and galleries, meeting centers and museums were created. The posted images were all shot in the museum that deals with the many crafts. The camera was the Panasonic LX-7 that my son borrowed permanently, so to speak.  It is literally below the ground and makes for a very informative experience that should not be missed