Author: Marco
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A nice place to read
Che spettacolo! What nicer reading opportunity than in the library of the University of Durham? I love this place: head down, book, journal or magazine; head up, the Cathedral. It reminds me of another wonderful reading situation: 4th floor of the library of the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa, with a book by Leopardi coming…
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Tempo di migrare
Settembre, andiamo. E’ tempo di migrare. Ora in terra d’Abruzzi i miei pastori lascian gli stazzi e vanno verso il mare: scendono all’Adriatico selvaggio che verde è come i pascoli dei monti. da I pastori, di Gabriele D’Annunzio It is not September, nor the Adriatic sea, but towards the sea I am going. So it…
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Ghosts and ghosting
In a lens, ghosting refers to the formation of light artefacts due to reflections of the source of light. This book, “The Ghost stories of M.R. James”, published by Edward Arnold, is therefore the perfect companion. Good night. On a technical note, I can hardly think of anything more difficult than photographing in candlelight only…
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Of cameras and microwave ovens
It happened that today my trusty, bread-defroster Sharp microwave oven retired from this world. I knew I needed a new oven, and I knew I love my Nikon FM2n camera. There are not many microwave ovens suitable for users of this very fine camera. Do you see the simplicity? Shutter-speed dial: that’s all you need…
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Photography magazines
It happens too often that neophytes wishing to read and learn about photography end up by browsing through books and magazines that are just about cameras and equipment instead. This is bad. This creates generations of amateurs thinking of buying a new lens rather than approaching a new theme. I did that too. My first…
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Making or taking pictures
Most of us, most of the times, thinking of photography, think of taking pictures rather than making. It’s true for me, too. At times, however, I have an idea in mind and I need to create it in order to shoot it. The following is an example. Besides the usual difficulties of light and exposure,…
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Enhancing Autumn
I learnt most of what I know about photography several years ago. One of the few “new” things is for me the discovery of the “enhancing” (dydidium) filter (generally manufactured by Tiffen or Schneider Optics B+W), that apparently works only on digital sensors, by differentiating further the wavelenghts corresponding to colors of earth and foliage.…
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This year is going to snow
It doesn’t matter what meterologists will say: the snow will come to London, abundant. I have recently sold this stock: If people buy my snow stock, snow will come. Stock doe not lie, buyers know (better than metereologists).
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Una capra ed un cetriolo
Sometimes, shooting in RAW pays back, especially if we are playing with our new digital toy, and have a long learning way ahead. This picture is over two years old. When I shot it, I used one of the crappiest Nikon lenses (the 35-135 AF zoom, now sold) and I was not into subtle retouching…
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Un buon cappuccino
Sebbene poche volte gusto e scienza si incontrino, mi piacerebbe capire qual è il segreto, qual è la ragione, per cui certi cappuccini (Starbucks, Café Rouge) sono orribili, altri (Caffé Vergnano, Ismail) sono fantastici. Tra parentesi, osservo che la realtà commerciale britannica mi porta a fare qualcosa che in Italia non farei: dare un nome…
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I miei DVD
La mia collezione di DVD – collezione di fatto, ma non per intenzione – è a circa quota 400. Dove arriverà? Dove arriverò?