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Culture Events and holidays Travel

Saturday June 26, 2010

HACIENDA ZULETA, ECUADOR – We visited Hacienda Zuleta a few hour drive north of Quito.

I’ve paraphrased the history of the hacienda from its web site. In the late 16th century, King Charles gave the Zuleta region to the Jesuits, who implemented Spanish methods of farming and cattle and sheep production. In the following years a small wool mill was established. And by 1691, the Hacienda house, granary and chapel were completed and the farm was in full operation. In 1713 the property was confiscated and transferred to Canon Gabriel Zuleta, making Zuleta his seventeenth hacienda. The farm became known as Cochicaranqui de Zuleta. After the Canon’s death the farm passed to the Posse family,who restored the hacienda back to its 17th century grandeur. The estate was sold to Jose Maria Lasso in 1898 and passed through two generations to its current owner, Galo Plaza Lasso, the ex-President of Ecuador.

We attended the feast of San Juan at the hacienda – this is Mr. Plaza Lasso catching an offering from a local village.

Chicken offering

Leica M9 and 35mm Summicron Asph.

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Friday June 4, 2010

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – I spent a few hours today getting to know some new equipment.  Most of the images on this blog are taken with a Leica M9, which has the advantage of sensational image quality but is very much a traditional Leica.  The manual rangefinder focus and limited high ISO capacity has presented issues for me in poor light like Martha McPhee’s book party.  I also shoot Hasselblad digital medium format, but it’s unwieldy at parties and events.  I’ve been experimenting with a Nikon D700 and fast prime lenses for parties and events – this is the new (to me) equipment that that I referred to above.  This is a torture test for lens flare but I liked the image well enough to post it.  An Andrew Moore photograph, a Venini ice cream glass, a Venetian candle stick form 1914 or so and a Deruta cachepot.
Link to Andrew Moore
Link to Venini
Link to Deruta

Andrew Moore and Murano Glass

Nikon D700 and Nikon 35mm f2.0 lens.

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Culture Family and friends

Tuesday May 25, 2010

WASHINGTON DC – I traveled to DC today to attend a party given by a friend, Gus Schumacher, helping the James Beard Foundation in launching a new initiative.  This is a small part of Gus’s model train collection.

Collection

Nikon D700 with 50mm f1.4G.

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Culture Events and holidays Family and friends

Wednesday May 5, 2010

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – A party at Antonio Monda’s for Gay Talese and Michael Cunningham.  Nan Talese shot with a Nikon D700.

Nan Talese
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Culture Street Urban

Tuesday April 20, 2010

NEW YORK, NEW YORK –  Well here we are back at Tom Sach’s statue, Hello Kitty, in the sculpture garden at Lever House. This is a real urban oasis  As I’ve noted elsewhere Hello Kitty is a Japanese toy character owned by Sanrio.  Here’s a link: Sanrio

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Sunday March 28. 2010

WARREN, CONNECTICUT – Emmet Gowin, Nancy, Danville Virginia, 1969.  Nancy is now 47 or so – probably just starting to experience hot flashes.   The physics of how photos freeze time is well understood, but odd, nonetheless.

Emmet Gowin, Nancy, Granville Virginia, 1969
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Culture Events and holidays Family and friends

Thursday January 28, 2010

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Back to the real world.  Hughues de Montalembert at a book signing party for Invisible.

Hughues de Montalembert
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