HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Well, the Christmas break was nice and quiet.

The kids were great. Like two little angels in their school Christmas Pageant.




The day after Christmas -- Mikey learned how to shoot with his Daisy BB rifle. Rica on her new bike.

We went to see "Night at the Museum." The day after, a day trip to NYC, to the Museum of Natural History. It seems a lot of other families had the same idea. Good for the Museum.



Walked around Central Park, winding up at Rockefeller Center to see the tree. It is beautiful at night. The line for ice skating was, oh, three hours long. The kids agreed to a raincheck, which they did friday back in Connecticut.

Oh, and the boy learned to ride a bike.


Not a high-tech toy in sight this Christmas, well, except for Daddy's video ipod.

It is close to midnight, and the champagne (and apple juice) is waiting to be toasted. Goodbye to 2006. May we all have a blessed and peaceful New Year!

The Classic Look

There must be quite a few ways to achieve the old-fashioned classic look you see in black and white portraits from the 50's. Personally, the most fun and authentic way is to use classic equipment.

This was taken with an uncoated Leica Summar 50mm lens from 1934. A leica medium yellow filter was used. The camera was a 1950's vintage Leica IIIF. Shot wide-open, the Summar is known to give a soft, dreamy rendering.



The film and process are equally important. I used Kodak Plus-X rated at EI 64, plus one stop for the filter. This was souped in HC-110, pulled by 25% less on the developing time. The negative was a little too thin for my taste. I will try 10-15% next time.

In Memoriam

An Old Family Holiday Recipe

There are certain things that transport you back in time to Christmases long ago, to family gatherings of your childhood. Nothing does that better than an old family Christmas recipe. This one I learned from my mother, who in turn learned it from my grandmother, and so on. An old Spanish dish which we prepare for the holidays. Here is our old family recipe for Callos. If you are not squeamish.

Ingredients: *

*quantities are as found in a U.S. grocery

2 packs ox tripe
2 packs ham hock
1 can or pack chorizo de bilbao, diced. Substitute other chorizo (not as good) if you cannot find this, but DO NOT do without.
2 cans garbanzos. Discard liquid.
2 cans tomato sauce or 1 small can tomato paste
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced

Place tripes and ham hocks in large pot, with enough water to cover. Boil in low to med heat until soft, when ham hock meat is beginning to fall off the bone. Strain and save stock.

Remove ham hock meat from bone and cut into approx 1/4 to 1/2 inch cubes. Slice tripes thin, about 1 inch long by 1/4 inch stips.

In a new pot, saute garlic and onion in olive oil. Add red pepper.

Add tripes and ham hock, tomato sauce. Add in enough stock to cover meat. Salt and pepper.

Boil in low heat until the tripes are soft. I mean melt-in-your mouth buttery soft. If you press a stip against the side of the pot with a fork, it should cut easily without having to jerk the fork back and forth. This is crucial. Tripes are not good chewy.

Add chorizo, garbanzos and cook another 5-10 minutes.

Salt and pepper to taste. I usually add one bullion cube (in place of the salt), and a dash of tabasco.

By this time, the callos stew should be thick. If you want it thicker, add a little bit of corn starch or toasted flour if you prefer, and sprinkle a little olive oil on top. You can add your choice of herbs, but we have always prepared it as is.

Best (for me) served in a soup bowl with your choice of bread. In fact, I will go heat myself up some leftover right now. Enjoy!

770: Willy Ronis: Photographs 1926-1995

I enjoy Willy Ronis' photographs - warm, honest, unstaged. This is the first comprehensive collection of his work, published in english by the Oxford Museum of Modern Art.

770: Crosstown

One of my favorites. THE retrospective of Helen Levitt's long career, with amazing street photographs of Manhattan, full of tiny little details that you discover each time you crack the pages. Beautifully produced. It is very quickly getting expensive.

770: Inferno

This is the largest and heaviest book I own.

In the same way DDD's book, "War Without Heroes," is about the soldiers' at war, "Inferno" shows us the ravages of war. The hell that is war, especially for the civilians in these war-torn places. This opus was taken over a 20 year span, by the greatest war photographer of our time.

770: War Without Heroes

The first and only edition of DDD's book on the Vietnam war. Some say the best book of the Vietnam war. Beautifully made, with rich gravure reproductions.

“This book is simply an effort to show what a man endures when his country decides to go to war, with or without his personal agreement on the righteousness of the cause . . . In their own eyes, they were participating in everyday events while serving in a foreign land where their country was at war . . . a war without heroes.”
— David Douglas Duncan

770: Koudelka

Here's a nice pair of Koudelka books. The first gives a broad range of Koudelka's work, including his early work in the theater, to the Prague 1968 events, as well as photos from his books Gypsies, Exiles and Chaos. A small book, published by Torst, the reproduction quality is nonetheless above average, especially for an inexpensive book. The size is perfect for reading on the plane or train. A good introduction to the work of the famous Czech-born photographer.







Josef Koudelka's latest book, shot entirely in panoramic format. The book is definitely for larger coffee tables. The reproduction is excellent, with beautiful deep rich tones. Judging from the prices of Koudelka's past books, buy this while you can. Photo courtesy of digital journalist.

770: Andre Kertesz His Life and Work

The most comprehensive retrospective of the Hungarian-born photographer. Another big book, with 335 duotone and 15 color photographs.

For me, this is a must-have. The original publication was in 1994. I could not resist grabbing the last remaindered copy of the 2000 reprint by Bulfinch in paperback for a $7 and change.

World Travel Map

Here's a cool way to keep track of your travels. I have travelled to 26 countries, 11% of the countries in the world as of today.




We plan to see 10 new countries in 2007. Morocco in March, and cruise along the Baltic Sea in September.




create your own visited country map

770: Robert Doisneau: a photographer's life

The first authorized autobiography of the French photographer, this large book is his only comprehensive monograph. This is the 1st edition, published in 1995, and recently went out of print. Doisneau is one of my favorite photographers.

770: Paris by Night

1987 Pantheon reprint of Brassai's Paris de Nuit from 1933. The reproductions are beautiful, in heliogravure, as was the original. A must for anyone interested in night photography, this book is becoming collectible. I was lucky to find one in excellent condition from a book dealer in Michigan (gotta love the internet) for only $25. It was listed with the wrong title! Photo courtesy of ebay.

770: Japan

When someone asks "How do I improve my photography?" the answer that is surely soon to follow is to "Shoot, shoot, shoot." While that may be true, I think that looking at photographs is equally valuable in enhancing one's craft.

Just as there is so much misinformation on the internet, you must also be discriminating in the photos you look at and try to learn from. Especially when browsing galleries and yes, photoblogs. At least in print form, there is some kind of editing process, that what you see in books and magazines have gone through some critical sifting.

I thought I would start a series of posts highlighting any new or favorite books in my modest and evolving photography book library. Not really meant to be reviews, but rather a few lines about why it is in my modest collection. Not recommendations by all means. We all have our own tastes. Just books that I enjoy.

770? In case you haven't figured it out yet, that's the Dewey Decimal Classification number for Photography and Photographs. I figure that in the future, it would similarly help search for these blog entries.






Possibly the most beautiful book of photos I have ever seen. Enough said. The printing is exquisite. The binding, and even the folio, are first-rate.

The photos I take are mostly of people. But I think there is something to be said about turning away from society and focusing on the beauty of nature.

Not AA's grand vistas. More simple. Moody. Serene. Not an epic. More a haiku.