Rocco Galatioto, nice photos and good food

The Sicilian Cuisine Blog: Palermo is the Capital of the Italian Culture for 2018

New York's bridges are truly marvelous but they are even more magnificent at dusk. It's always the light .

Most tourists do not wander away from the crowded streets where all the attraction are and miss what I call the real flavor of Venice, I believe that one must indulge in all the artistic, cultural ad touristy offerings of this incredible city and still find time to take in the places where very few tourists ever see. You see  the other side of of the coin.

Like most places that are happening, Castellammare del Golfo, my birthplace is undergoing renovation. The old buildings that were abandoned when many moved into the new elevator apartments in new neighborhoods, are being renovated. Many of these are srtictly for the booming tourist industry but many people, like myself, prefer to live in the older neighborhoods. The top two buildings were about to be fixed uo while the bottom one was done a few years ago and looks like the way these homes looked once. I used some Photoshop editings to make the images stand out more and give them a more graphic look.

Manhattan's Meat Packing District was once a rather unsavory area that like most parts of the city it has been revitalized by the process of gentrification. Here we see the outskirts of this area but be assured that they soon will sport trendy shops and restaurants.

My love  goes to all my dear visitors. Thanks for stopping by.

These images are from the archives and date from the early seventies. Scanned Kodachromes shot with a Nikon FTn. Somehow I feel that this is appropriate for Valentine's day. BTW happy Valentine's day to one and all. I love you.

Followers of this blog know my position on this ever increasing mega pixel race and this whole techie trend toward greater definition. If I need this, I use my eyes. In specialized situations high definition is useful but here are  philosophical problems with this trend. If one is to subscribe to the rather tenuous notion that photography is an art, then the HD model will surely put this matter to rest making photography just a tool and a craft. To be an art, one must interpret and instead of faithfully recreate a scene  and one must emphasize and compose. I call this decomposition because one starts with a scene as a given and them must remove items as to emphasize certain points while de emphasizing others. This ideal runs contrary to pixel peepers and counters who are always  tempted to buy the latest camera model unaware that the rest of the world is getting by with smart phones that are making everyone a photographer. It's just too easy. The big cameras are usually...