Piero Bosio Social Web Site Personale

Manhattan Bridge, NYC, 2023.

All the pixels, now with a significantly improved mayor, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/52841667763

#photography

Trump said he "exceeded his objectives" in Iran. One wonders what those objectives could have been given that before the war, the Strait of Hormuz was freely open, but thanks to Trump's dealmaking prowess, ships must now pay a toll to Iran to be allowed safe transit.

Heck of a job there, Donny.

@benjistokman @cstross Ah. That would explain it not affecting laptops in practice.

@cstross While I can believe there is a bug somewhere in the mac network stack, it definitely doesn't always cause things to crash after 49 days all the time. The machine i'm typing this on has been up for 170 days (and is due for a software update, come to think of it).

I have mixed feelings about the Leica M system (used for this image). The lenses are of very high quality, and everything is small enough that I can travel (or hike) with a fairly complete kit when I'd otherwise not bring a camera at all. Most of my favorite "opportunistic" photos have been with a Leica.

But everything is obscenely expensive. And while the small size is great, it's also a compromise. I usually wish I had my larger camera (with movements, etc) with me instead.

This was a rather opportunistic capture with a Leica M240 camera, a 35mm lens, and a tabletop tripod on a windowsill, just before a late afternoon thunderstorm.

The light always does most of the work in photography. Sometimes it works especially hard.

Upper West Side, NYC, 2014.

All the pixels, broker's fee collected, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/14422880057

#photography

I’ll say what we’re all thinking: the FIFA Peace Prize will never be taken seriously now.

He literally told us that the objective is to “wipe out their whole civilization”. If that isn’t a crime against humanity, the most fundamental of war crimes, nothing is.

Virtually no one wants this. It will accomplish nothing. We must stop it.

@Legit_Spaghetti except the they both CAN kick ass. It just involves burning down the bar.

This is like watching a slow motion train wreck. Except there's no physical momentum involved. It can be stopped simply by stopping it.

Yet it lumbers on toward disaster.

The Lincoln Memorial, an iconic DC tourist attraction, is crowded and bustling year round. But in the middle of the night, when it's empty and quiet, it becomes a very different place. It's solemn and peaceful in a way that takes you by surprise. I lingered longer than I needed to when taking this photo.

Part of my "slightly better versions of the pictures of local attractions than you might find hanging in your hotel room" series.

Captured with the Rodenstock 90mm/5.6 HR Digaron (@ f/7.1) and the PhaseOne IQ4-150 "Achromatic" back. 12mm of vertical shift kept the geometry in line. The sharp lens and achromatic back reveal a lot of detail zoomed in at full resolution (full res is downloadable on flickr).

This is a very simple composition, the frame filled with the Memorial from roughly the perspective shown on the $5 bill. The National Parks Service does a superb job lighting the site.

Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC, 2020.

All the pixels, none of the tourists, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/50402933763

#photography

By now many, though not all, of the structures from the island's military era have been demolished (including the bowling alley in the photo). Environmental remediation is proceeding slowly.

A small community of mostly low-income families live in the island's housing, and some of the larger buildings are used as sound stages for film production and related industries. Fancier redevelopment is starting to accelerate.

San Francisco's Treasure Island is a weird place. An artificial island built adjacent to Yerba Buena Island in the middle of the Bay Bridge, it initially hosted the 1939 World's fair, with plans to then use it for the city's main airport. At the start of WW II, the US government appropriated it for use as a Naval station. After the Cold War, the government returned the island to the city. It was extensively contaminated by radioactive waste from decontamination training conducted on the island

This was captured with a BetterLight scanning digital back and Nikkor 90mm lens on a Sinar P 4x5 camera.

This now-demolished bowling alley was part of the Treasure Island Naval Station, closed about 15 years earlier and then just starting to be redeveloped (a process that's been slowed by serious environmental contamination).

The composition emphasizes the simple lines of the structure and the isolated, rather desolate setting.

"Bowl for Health", Treasure Island, San Francisco, CA, 2007.

All the pixels, shoe rental mot included, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/2123765265

#photography

@weezmgk @oclsc I think it's less of a tunnel at this point than a sub-basement level shared between Treasury, the Residence, and the EEOB as one complex.

@RVLara23 As the old joke goes: guy goes to newsstand every day, scans all the front pages, but never buys a paper.

Proprietor finally asks him, "What are you looking for every day?"

"An obituary".

"But the obituaries are printed inside the papers".

"Not the one I'm looking for."