CAPRI ITALY – We spent another day at da Luigi at the Faraglioni. This is from later in the day shopping.
We spent some time Saturday and Sunday at Le Conversazioni, Antonio Monda’s literary festival in Capri. We had run into Dona Tart on the aliscafo to the island, so we caught Antonio’s interview of Dona this evening. Leica M9 with a 90mm lens.
On this day last year: Clamps.
CAPRI ITALY – We spent the day at the da Luigi at the Faraglioni, one of those rocky places where people congregate to bathe in the sea in Capri. The link above says that you get there via a “pretty little path through the coastal pine trees that leads down to the sea”. That may be a fair description of the descent but the return is a very long uphill slog in the heat of the day with hundreds of steps. We’ve always gone to da Luigi and going there maximizes our opportunity for chance encounters with family and old friends. But I maintain that the real reason we go there is that walking back up the mountain burns any calories that might have been added by a truly superb plate of spaghetti alla vongole.
Anyway, lunch at da Luigi:
Da Luigi and the Faraglione from well less than half way up the path (three frames stitched).
On this day one year ago: Our new sign in Connecticut.
CAPRI ITALY – Still no bag from Air France. They say it should arrive late afternoon. Anti-French images crowd out every other thought. “Cheese eating surrender monkey” doesn’t begin to capture it. The wedding is at 6:00 PM. This is no joke. I’m in Italy. These people take their wedding seriously. Everyone is beautiful and well dressed. I have a theory that on Capri the Carabinieri round up all of the ugly people every night, take them out to sea and drown them. You actually can’t show up at a fancy Italian wedding in jeans and a three-day polo shirt.
We made the most of the day. I bought a swimsuit and spent the day with my family on the “beach”. Beach is in quotes because there are no actual sandy beaches on Capri. People pay mega-euros to lay out on the rocks near the water. I’ll cover that beat in tomorrow’s post. Anyway at exactly 6:00 PM my bag arrived at my hotel room door. I dressed and was out the door in 15 minutes and got to the church by 6:30. This was the full mass version of a wedding so things were just starting to move along. I’m posting several images from the wedding, not necessarily in narrative order, all taken with my Leica.
The enthralled crowd at the Piazzetta.
All kidding aside the bride, Emanuela Volpe (Maria’s niece and perhaps Francesca’s closest friend), was radiant.
Some ambience.
Francesca and her great aunt.
On this day one year ago: Quito.
CAPRI ITALY – What a difference a day makes. After a rushed set of connections (New York-Paris; Paris-Naples with exactly 25 minutes to make the connection; meet Maria, Alexander, Francesca and Laura at the Naples airport; taxis to port; aliscafo to Capri; madhouse disembarking) we finally made it to our hotel and Maria and Francesca made it to the pool. Caught with my Leica M9 and a 90 mm lens. The calm of the setting bears no relation to the chaos of getting here. I made the connection in Paris but my bag didn’t. I now hate Air France. When I made the reservation they swore that there was plenty of time for the connection. As it is I’m stuck on Capri in the jeans and two-day polo shirt that I wore on the flight while my bag tries to find me. No swimsuit. This is why I’m not at the pool.
When I added this post I found out that I didn’t have an “Italy” tag – we haven’t been to Italy in the past 20 months which is unusual for us. We go to Italy almost annually, often to Capri or the Amalfi Coast.
On this day last year: sunrise outside the farmacia.
NEW YORK NEW YORK – Our firm’s partners meet for lunch every Tuesday. I wouldn’t ordinarily photograph at one of these but this was a special occasion: it was the last lunch at which Rick Evans served as presiding partner, a role that he is retiring from after a record-setting 13 years of service. I sat across the table from my retired partner Andy Hartzell, who doesn’t make many of these because the conflict with the weekly “French table” at the Yale Club, which actually includes a French tutor. Anyway here’s Andy caught with my Leica M9 and a 50mm Summilux lens.
On this day one year ago: San Pablo del Lago
NEW YORK NEW YORK – Our friends Varya Gornostaeva and her husband, Sergei Parkhomenko, were in town from Moscow so we had a small dinner party for them in our kitchen. Varya has terrific English and Sergei very good French (as does Maria) so we had enough languages in common to communicate well. This is Sergei captured with my Leica M9 – this is less annoying than it looks because it was at the end of the meal and still mid-afternoon in Moscow.
On this day one year ago: A passport photo for Maria. This very clearly demonstrates that I really could make a living at photography, doing passport photos.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Our friend Steve Rubin gave a “retirement” party for Phyllis Grann. Here’s an earnest discussion at the party, cpatured with my Leica M9 and a 50mm Summilux lens.
On this day one year ago: at Bar Boulud,
