Author: Marco

  • Back from Amsterdam…

    …it is time to enjoy some Coolscanning. I was happy with the Delta 3200 in the Contax just as much as with the Ektar 100 in the Nikon. Two humble examples. Of course, my Amsterdam pictures will begin to pop up in iStock too.

  • Yes, you can…

    …go to Amsterdam by sea only. And enjoying it, too. Thanks to DFDS for this! Of course, a Nikon FM2n loaded with Ektar 100 makes the trip even more enjoyable. Available on iStock!

  • Useless

    I am trying to understand which type of patents should deserve the “crown” for the most useless: design patents or software patents? Well, the latter are more difficult to understand (hence the uselessness), but the registered designs are sometimes so… innovative. See this new design for a digital camera, for example. I shall better conclude…

  • Wrong ergonomics

    If an HP printer has to display “sleep mode on” to mean that it is “sleeping”, then there is something wrong with the ergonomy.

  • A need or a must?

    Caffè Nero, like most British food companies, excel in graphic design and suck in food. I only noticed yesterday how they advertise their “bread” as being so delicious not to “need” those usual flour enhancers, usually found in the common English rubber-bread. However it seems that needs are not the only behavioural motors, and their…

  • English subtitles for De Filippo’s masterpiece

    New English subtitles for De Filippo’s “Le voci di dentro”

  • A pasta recipe by me

    Stasera ho creato una ricetta di pasta: Ho tagliato a striscioline sottilissime alcune foglie di salvia e le ho fritte nel burro caldo fino a ottnere ricciolini croccanti. Li ho prelevati dalla padella (la Safepan è fantastica) e li ho messi a asciugare su carta da forno. Ho diluito il burro con un po’ di…

  • Some cameras, many cameras

    Having just received my second Contax 139 (to replace my beloved original one that I got when I was 16), I reckon this is the right time to summarise my photographic equipment. I am not a collector. I own cameras and lenses because I use them, with the only exception of the first in the…

  • Watching Durham

    There aren’t many things to see in Durham, but those few things are keen on being watched and watched again. The picture above was shot on Ektar 100 with an Olympus XA. Grazie a Marco Raco per la visita, e per avermi fatto notare questo bella scenetta!

  • TLR perspective

    One of the easiest things to do with a Twin Lens Reflex (“biottica”) is looking down (in the viewfinder) and high (with the lens). I did the same, a few years ago, in Canary Wharf.

  • The Almshouses café, Durham

    The Almshouses café in Durham has one of the best locations anybody could wish for, in Durham: just betwen the Cathedral and the Castle, built in a clearly historic building and internally decorated soberly and nicely. It is a pity that, once at the table, the windows are so high that no outside view is…