Rocco Galatioto, nice photos and good food

When one thinks of Newport the super and over the top mansions come to mind. They do make for nice images to post. But Newport is also a great town and it's lots of fun. A must place to visit.

At the end of the day at daylight's last gleaming the prosaic can become interesting. This is such an example. A cloudy evening and the sky just lightened for an instant because the clouds lost their homogeneity and a brief cone of light shone on the top of this otherwise dull building making what I think is a nice shot possible. You have to be at the right place at the right time and must be ready with your eyes and your camera. Who said it was easy; actually it's not too hard.

It is a while back but I feel as if were only yesterday. My Leica M2-R was loaded with Kodak Tri-X-Pan and the lens was the superb Summicron 35mm F:2. A marriage mad in  heaven.   

Every year the city's Japanese community celebrates a Japanese cherry blossom festival at the famed Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Alas, this year it had to be cancelled. These images are from a few years ago. It is a wonderful event featuring traditional costumes, food and many Japanese cultural events. Like everything in New York, it's very crowded and one must get there early in order to park. Fortunately the subway has a Brooklyn Botanic Garden stop that is very convenient.                                                                        

The Bed-Stuy ghetto in 1974. No matter how desolate the area, the cigarette ads were there to show how cool it was to smoke. This area has been totally gentrified and one cannot even smoke in city parks now. The nanny state at it's finest. Ridiculous.

This shot depicts a woman who, like myself, had been invited to a friend of mine's birthday party. She was sitting and waiting for the festivities to start. I was taken by the subject's pride and dignity. She was also elegantly attired. Photography is perfect for capturing such a state of mind. She was not aware that I took the photo but afterword I told her and she was pleasantly surprised. I just love this image. It must be added that in using digital, I was able to take advantage of the auto white balance of my Nikon D2-H. With film this shot would only have been in black and white.