Category: Tech

Photo by Joe WilcoxMar 27, 20249:58 pm

A Pair of Redheads Visit

The parrots sure are squawking this week, typically starting in the hours following sunrise and again before sunset. The closest coastal community to University Heights is 12 kilometers (7.5 miles)—less as the bird flies; Ocean Beach is better known habitat for the exotic fliers, so their presence is surprising but definitely welcome.

Late last month, I felt quite lucky to get photos of the birds on a neighbor’s roof. Today, a parrot pair presented in a palm that I happened to be nearby and angled into the morning sun. I pulled out Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, set the camera to 10x zoom, and started shooting. The Featured Image and companions are the result.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMar 26, 20249:30 pm

The Sitter

I had planned to close-crop the Featured Image but altered after looking at the context in relation to some past posts (follow the links). The young women sits on a wall alongside the Sprouts market; that sidewalk stretch is a frequent homeless hangout.

To the far right is the entrance to the local library’s book sale room, which is open the third weekend of every month. My recent purchases include the first five volumes of Talk to Me in Korean and ye olde history books.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMar 25, 202410:39 pm

Whom Do You…

The answer related to the Featured Image is easy: No one. I am a fact-oriented journalist, who trusts nobody—nor should you in this era of mass misinformation. With perhaps the exception of Matt Taibbi, there isn’t a soul among my profession whose news reporting I would accept as factual—that is without some independent verification of my own.

We live at a time when commentary and editorialization—narratives, if you prefer—supplant real reporting. Everyone is an armchair analyst with an opinion, and not enough emphasis is placed on gathering facts and assembling them into a meaningful story that unfolds some current event or reveals something legitimately in the public interest.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMar 23, 20249:31 pm

A Fine Fence

There is a purity to black-and-white photography that can make the mundane more—or at least, not less. The Featured Image, captured with Leica Q2 Monochrom, is today’s proposed proof. I unlikely would have stopped to shoot the fence in color, which would have distracted from the rather plain object.

But B&W draws attention to the straight lines of the wood, and even to the structure’s apparent purpose: To protect the tree, which could attract dogs and their owners willing to let the mutts defecate or urinate either upon the grass or at the trunk. Park Blvd in San Diego’s Hillcrest neighborhood bustles with pedestrians and leashed animals. The simple fence is purposeful.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMar 22, 20249:26 pm

Cali Catnaps

This afternoon, I seized a rare opportunity to take a portrait of Cali sun slumbering on the Katris blocks in my home office. While she sleeps there often enough, the Tortie rarely so perfectly presents herself, and the illumination exposes fine fur detail otherwise obscured.

The Featured Image comes from Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. Vitals: f/2.4, ISO 50, 1/430 sec, 70mm (film equivalent); 3:50 p.m. PDT.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMar 21, 202410:19 pm

By the Grace of God

Along Park Blvd, barely outside my San Diego neighborhood of University Heights, is a church I hadn’t stopped to regard—until yesterday. I simply don’t walk that way often enough to have noticed the stately structure.

Near as I can gather from the official website, Grace Lutheran is a family-oriented, traditional Christian church located in an area where other places of worship cater more to the licentious, cultural mob than to God.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMar 20, 202410:41 pm

Wheelin’

The Featured Image is more brooding than it needs to be, but the mood remembers what was—and thankfully—what is gone. From before our October 2007 relocation to San Diego until September 2015, The Crypt—a goth, fetish, sadomasochist, sex shop—occupied the corner retail space at Park Blvd and University Avenue. The place closed for failure to pay rent.

The storefront stayed vacant—cursed, if you ask me—for another almost six years. MJ’s Cyclery is the current tenant; refreshing change, too. As the city removes motorized vehicle parking spaces to make more bike lanes, lifestyle and sales opportunities open up for cycle shops.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMar 19, 20248:54 pm

Lilac Wall

Four years ago, I shared with you shots of lively lilacs along a wall here in my San Diego neighborhood of University Heights. What those photos lacked was context, which the Featured Image gives quite dramatically.

This afternoon, while talking to one of my sisters by phone, I came upon a young woman shooting photos of something behind me. I turned to see. Lilacs. Sis loves lilacs. So I pulled out Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, pointed, clicked, and texted. She was delighted.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMar 18, 20249:16 pm

Falcon Flies Into Space

So-o-o-o, tonight, I sit at my desk participating in a meeting over Zoom, with 15 other people, and suddenly startle looking out my office window. A rocket rises upwards in the Western sky from Vandenberg Space Force Base, and I so want to be outside with camera in hand.

Two problems: I can’t politely leave, and the thing rises really fast; this isn’t like the slower-moving Alpha that I watched in September 2023. I rudely turn off video, pull out Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, snap shots (three total), and resume video. The Featured Image is best of the trio.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMar 17, 202410:30 pm

The (Honorary) Cats of University Heights: Mousy

We make another boundary breach into neighboring North Park and sighting of a timid tabby. My wife saw this fine feline first, on Arizona Street, which is one block outside of University Heights. Synonym for shy is Mousy, which is appropriate nickname for other obvious reasons.

I used Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra to capture the Featured Image, on March 10, 2024. Vitals: f/3.4, ISO 32, 1/160, (synthetic) 230mm (digital and optical zoom); 10:18 a.m. PDT.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMar 16, 20249:04 pm

More Music in the Park

The day’s mild weather got me looking at past outdoor photos of people gathered together. The Featured Image is a discard for post “Bluegrass and Monochrome“. The close-crop comes from Leica Q2 Monochrom on July 22, 2022. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/4, ISO 200, 1/160 sec, 28mm; 7:33 p.m. PDT.

Setting: Old Trolley Barn Park in San Diego neighborhood University Heights. The community sponsors a concert series for four Fridays every summer—but interrupted during SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2)/COVID-19 restrictions.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMar 15, 202410:27 pm

Garden Supper

Among the many benefits of Leica Q2, or any camera from the series, are dedicated manual focus and macro modes—activated by turning dedicated rings around the lens barrel. I used the latter feature when taking the Featured Image and companion, which were close-cropped in post-production.

I captured the pair yesterday. Vitals, aperture manually set for both: f/4, ISO 100, 1/1250 sec, 28mm; 4:27 p.m. PDT. The second is the same but 1/1600 sec, two minutes later.