Alturas de Machu Picchu

23 Apr 2013

Cuzco

Antiguamente fue la capital del Imperio inca y una de las ciudades más importantes del Virreinato del Perú. Declarada Patrimonio de la Humanidad en 1983 por la Unesco, suele ser denominada, debido a la gran cantidad de monumentos que posee, como la "Roma de América".

(google translate:)
It was formerly the capital of the Inca Empire and one of the most important cities of the Viceroyalty of Peru. Declared a World Heritage Site in 1983 by UNESCO, is often called, due to the large number of monuments which has, as the "Rome of America".

Festival on Plaza de Armas

Plaza de Armas through window

Mini skirts seems to be popular

Typical scene for 'Gringos'

All photos are from Sunday, 21 Apr 2013.
Cusco was my first stay in two short South America weeks.

Palouse, USA

Interesting report from Palouse!

Steptoe Butte

Dolomites

This year is high time for me to visit Dolomites. Below are two reasons why not to go is not an option: first is by Jon Baker from his Summitpost article, the second is by Hans Kruse from invitation to photo workshop.
And the third reason is Via Michelin.

Karersee

Lago di Fusine Superiore

01 jun 2013, Lago di Fusine Superiore, vista verso il Mangrt, sul confine italiano-sloveno, con neve fresca

See more photos from this beautiful part of Italy on Flickr.

Piazza del Campo

Piovosa domenica sulla Piazza del Campo:

09 Jun 2013, Samyang 8mm

Eppur si muove

And yet it moves
The implication of the phrase is: despite this recantation, the Church's proclamations to the contrary, or any other conviction or doctrine of men, the Earth does, in fact, move around the sun, and not vice versa.
A little less controversial is a fact, that the Earth is not flat. Exactly what can be seen on this photo :)

San Gimignano,  Italy, 07 jun, Samyang fisheye 8mm

Carl Zeiss Touit 32mm F1.8

Just a few days after Carl Zeiss has announced two new lenses for mirrorless systems (Sony NEX and Fuji-X), by some lucky coincedence I got opportunity to test them on my NEX-7.

Carl Zeiss Touit 32mm F1.8, left on Fuji, right on Sony

Bellow are some photos with Carl Zeiss Touit 32mm F1.8, taken some 15 km from Siena. I am not impressed with lens, but then I don't like prime lenses (because zoom lenses are so more convinient) and usually I can't tell jpg from raw...

Stratospheric lenses

Till few days ago I wasn't actually aware one could spend 10 grands or more for lens. And today I saw brand new lens from Nikon, 800mm f/5.6, which Amazon sells for 17,900 USD (actually Amazon wants to sweet the deal with 3 dollars discount, so it's only 17,896.95)

Nikon 800mm f/5.6E FL ED VR Monster

To quote from PetaPixel:

Professional photographers have a choice to make: buy a car, put a down payment on a house, or buy Nikon’s new 800mm f/5.6 FL ED VR behemoth. Obviously the last one, right? Well, maybe not, but still, this thing is impressive.

And on Mansurovs site one can read an early bird review with a lot of photos, if someone is still hesitating...

Circles of Unknown Origin

On recent trip to Tuscany we admired some very interesting artistic installations in the countryside.
This photo was shot close to San Gimignano.

Circle, Sun and Me, with Fisheye

Samyang 8mm F2.8 & Sony NEX-7, location by San Gimignano, Tuscany, 07 Jun 2013

Hasselblad Lunatic

New Hasselblad Lunar seems to have a rocky start:
Tom Hogan's is Howling at the Moon
Leo Edwards' dilemma: Lunar or Lunatic

Adobe's gamble

After controversial Photoshop creative cloud move, Adobe is making some new enemies with new Lightroom 5 version. See interesting article by Nasim Mansurov.

Fisheye for Landscape

A week ago I got my first fisheye lens, Samyang 8mm F2.8 (marketed as Rokinon in USA) for NEX 7, and looking for some inspiration I stumled on this great article. I really didn't imagine fisheye lens can be so versatile.
Some fisheye photos from Tuscany very soon ...

Samyang 8mm F2.8 on Nex 3