Thursday, May 17, 2012

Yosemite’s beauty

Via Towleroad, comes this gorgeous tribute to one of the most stunning places I’ve ever had the luck to visit, California’s Yosemite National Park:

Simply spectacular.

In Memoriam

Donna Summer (1948 - 2012)

donna summer

The Disco Queen of the 70s passed away today after a battle with cancer.  She was 63.  Winner of 5 Grammy Awards out of 17 nominations, she was the first artist to have 3 consecutive double albums reach number 1 on the US Billboard chart.

Famous for, among others, Love to Love You Baby, I Feel Love, Hot Stuff, She Works Hard for the Money, and MacArthur Park, I personally discovered her with 1989’s Another Place and Time, for songs like I Don't Wanna Get Hurt, This Time I Know It's for Real, and Love's About to Change My Heart.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

The Banner #7

Feeling the need to change the banner because I wasn’t too happy with banner #6, I picked this gorgeous view of the Saugatuck Reservoir, in Redding, CT, shot on March 12, 2012 at dawn.

Blog Banner 07

Unfortunately, I hadn’t slept very well that night, and had a very hard time getting up in time to get there at first light.  I can still remember the sadness looking at several marvelous pink clouds while I was driving speeding towards my destination on the highway, still a good 20 minutes away.

I was still able to capture some stunning shots, but it was upsetting to know that in spite of waking up so early I had missed the first light of that beautiful day.  At any rate, this is the full image:

2012_03_12_3942_3_4_tonemapped

While admiring the beauty of the landscape, I decided to take several shots at different exposure levels in order to try my hand at HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography.  I’m very pleased with the results, even though I might have pushed the “dreamy” effect a little too much (I used Photomatix for the tonemapping).

Camera: Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XSi
Lens: Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM
F-stop: f/8 + f/11 + f/5.6 (tonemapped into one exposure)
Exposure: 1/125sec. + 1/250sec. + 1/60 sec. (tonemapped into one exposure)
ISO: 100
Focal length: 17 mm
Tripod

All rights reserved, NittardiPhotos.com

Wednesday, May 09, 2012

President Obama endorses gay marriage

The news broke a few minutes ago, and it’s a historical moment.  The President of the United States of America, Barack Obama, now officially endorses same-sex marriage and believes gays and lesbians should be allowed to get married.

image

An ABC News exclusive via Yahoo! News:

President Obama today announced that he now supports same-sex marriage, reversing his longstanding opposition amid growing pressure from the Democratic base and even his own vice president.

In an interview with ABC News’ Robin Roberts, the president described his thought process as an “evolution” that led him to this place, based on conversations with his own staff members, openly gay and lesbian service members, and conversations with his wife and own daughters.

"I have to tell you that over the course of several years as I have talked to friends and family and neighbors when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together, when I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that Don't Ask Don't Tell is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage, at a certain point I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married,” Obama told Roberts, in an interview to appear on ABC’s “Good Morning America” Thursday.

Thank you Mr. President.

Navi Pillay

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, talking about the human cost of homophobia and transphobia:

“All over the world, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people of all ages face harassment and discrimination — at work, at home, at school and in many other everyday situations.

In many countries, national laws are skewed against them. In some 76 States, having a partner of the same sex is a criminal offense. People are being arrested, singled out for physical attack, being tortured, even killed – just for being in a loving relationship.

When I raise these issues, some complain that I’m pushing for “new rights” or “special rights” for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. But there is nothing new or special about the right to life and security of person, the right to freedom from discrimination. These and other rights are universal … enshrined in international law but denied to many of our fellow human beings simply because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

We cannot let these abuses stand. We know what needs to be done. States must repeal discriminatory laws and ban discriminatory practices: punish violence and hatred … not love.”

Tuesday, May 08, 2012

Love story

Towleroad highlights the story of Shane and Tom, a story so beautiful and tragic, words can’t make it justice.

Watch it!!

Totally heartbreaking.

All the water in the world

From BuzzFeed, via Towleroad, an image that’s worth way more than a thousand words.  It puts the fragility of our planet and its “uniqueness” even more in perspective:

water

This picture shows the size of a sphere that would contain all of Earth's water in comparison to the size of the Earth. The diameter would be roughly the distance from Salt Lake City, Utah to Topeka, Kansas.

The sphere includes all the water in the oceans, seas, ice caps, lakes and rivers as well as groundwater, atmospheric water, and even the water in you, your dog, and your tomato plant.

In Memoriam

Maurice Sendak (1928 – 2012)

Maurice Sendak

This great author, who just so happened to be gay, left us.

From The New York Times’ breaking news:

Maurice Sendak, Author of ‘Where the Wild Things Are,’ Dies at 83

Maurice Sendak, widely considered the most important children’s book artist of the 20th century, who wrenched the picture book out of the safe, sanitized world of the nursery and plunged it into the dark, terrifying and hauntingly beautiful recesses of the human psyche, died on Tuesday in Danbury, Conn. He was 83 and lived in Ridgefield, Conn.

The cause was complications from a recent stroke, said Michael di Capua, his longtime editor.

Roundly praised, intermittently censored and occasionally eaten, Mr. Sendak’s books were essential ingredients of childhood for the generation born after 1960 or thereabouts, and in turn for their children. He was known in particular for more than a dozen picture books he wrote and illustrated himself, most famously “Where the Wild Things Are,” which was simultaneously genre-breaking and career-making when it was published by Harper & Row in 1963.

Aside from Where the Wild Things Are, one of my favorite short stories by Sendak is Pierre.