Category: Living

Photo by Joe WilcoxMar 3, 202410:07 pm

‘Finding Vivian Maier’

For some reason, last night, YouTube’s algorithm suggested a not-so-interesting video about a street photographer with whom I had limited knowledge. My watching some portion of the vid generated suggestions for others and finally the gem: Documentary “Finding Vivian Maier“, which I watched in its entirety this evening.

Quick backstory: A large portion of her collection of media—including more than 150,000 negatives, hundreds of undeveloped film rolls, audio recordings, and home movies—were auctioned in 2007; she had failed to keep up payments on a storage unit. Vivian Maier was an unknown, unpublished photographer at the time; she died in April 2009, following a fall, unaware that her street shots had started to draw attention after some were published on Flickr.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMar 2, 20249:41 pm

The Cats of University Heights: Lavish

For the first Caturday of March, we meet a stout shorthair seen on Cleveland Ave.—the first of three on the same day, which is more than the total number for the previous two years. What’s up with that, suddenly?

I used Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra to capture the Featured Image, which is composed as shot and straight from the smartphone; no edits. Vitals: f/3.4, ISO 32, 1/200 sec, (synthetic) 230mm (digital and optical zoom); 9:52 a.m. PST, Feb. 24, 2024. Nickname: Lavish, for appearing so fine, posed, posh, and regal.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMar 1, 202410:41 pm

What These Flowers Mean

The Featured Image is a memory marker. I shall explain. The grass on this property is rarely overgrown like this. But the woman responsible for tending things has lost the privilege of doing so. For reasons of protected privacy, I choose not to show the building.

One of my neighbors is in the process of losing her home. Supposedly she will be duly compensated, but what she wants is to stay in the neighborhood she knows and loves, living out her life in a house her grandmother once owned.

Photo by Joe WilcoxFeb 29, 20248:15 pm

Parrot Posers

What a Leap Day treat: Two of the squawkers that flap around the neighborhood perched atop the building next door. I pulled out Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and captured the Featured Image and companion. Both are pseudo-10x zoom; the camera combines 5x-optical lens and digital wizardry to mimic what the S23 Ultra could achieve totally optically.

Vitals: f/3.4, ISO 32, 1/320 sec, (synthetic) 230mm (digital and optical zoom); 5:10 p.m. PST, today. The other is same but 1/310 sec. Both photos are composed as shot. I must admit that the 10x renders are as good as or better than what would come from Galaxy S23 Ultra.

Photo by Joe WilcoxFeb 28, 202410:52 pm

Shadow Selfie

I don’t know why, but this thing gives me the willies. Nov. 5, 2023, while walking along El Cajon in the University Heights, I passed a mounted photo lying on the sidewalk beside ill-named BLVD North Park. Presumably, that’s a shadow selfie shot somewhere else.

The Featured Image comes from Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. Vitals: f/2.4, ISO 800, 1/30 sec, 70mm (film equivalent); 7:39 p.m. PST. The sun set at 4:54 p.m., and evening’s darkness had fully arrived. This photo benefits from ambient building light and the smartphone’s night shooting capabilities.

Living by Joe WilcoxFeb 27, 202410:02 pm

Feel Free to Park Overnight

As part of the settlement of a class-action lawsuit, San Diego will no longer enforce overnight parking laws that restrict where some vehicles can park. The prohibition has burdened people sleeping in RVs and vans, particularly, with costly tickets or tows.

Section 86.0139 of the San Diego Municipal Code states: “It is unlawful for any person to park or leave standing upon any public street, park road, or parking lot, any oversized vehicle, non-motorized vehicle, or recreational vehicle between the hours of 2:00 am and 6:00 am”.

Photo by Joe WilcoxFeb 26, 20249:20 pm

The Cats of University Heights: Blaze

On just one walk over the weekend, I added three more putty-tats to the backlog of the unpublished. If I rightly recall, the queue reaches back to at least June of last year. This fine feline was more recently photographed: Jan. 9, 2024.

The Featured Image comes from Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. Vitals: f/4.9, ISO 50, 1/1800 sec, 230mm (film equivalent); 1:28 p.m. PST; somewhere along Howard Ave. For commanding presence and basking in the sun, this stout tabby earns nickname Blaze. He (or she) is the the one-hundred-twenty-sixth kitty found behind door or window.

Photo by Joe WilcoxFeb 25, 202410:20 pm

A Chilling Color Conversion

Yesterday, I used Samsung Photo Assist on Galaxy S24 Ultra to colorize a blurry black-and-white portrait from the 1950s. Today, we transform a sharp shot taken using an exceptional camera: Leica Q2 Monochrom. To see the original, click through to “Ghosts Light Up the Dark“, Sept. 30, 2023.

I kind of like what the auto-AI enhancement tool has done to the Featured Image. Do you? Remember: All done on the smartphone, with little effort on my part. Neither clarity nor detail was compromised during the conversion, something I wondered about.

Photo by Joe WilcoxFeb 24, 20249:18 pm

A Touch of Color

For the Aroostook County, Maine trip a week ago—to see Dad while we still could—my sister and I stayed with our beloved aunt. Her husband, and naturally our uncle, was Washburn fire chief for two decades. He passed away in August 2020. I was humbled by opportunity to sleep in his bed, over which a portrait of him in uniform looked.

The Featured Image and companion of brother and sister (my uncle and mom) are opportunity to show off some of the AI-enhanced capabilities of Samsung Photo Assist. I edited both portraits on Galaxy S24 Ultra. The second, made more monochrome, is for reference to the first, which is colorized.

Photo by Joe WilcoxFeb 23, 20249:59 pm

A Maine Reflection

The weekend trip to Aroostook County, Maine, ended Feb. 19, 2024, when my sister and I joined a full flight of passengers flying from Presque Isle. Scheduled for 6:15 a.m. EST, the jet took off late due to deicing of the wings. Travel to Maine had been sudden, and unplanned; the ravages of old age accelerate, and we can’t know how long Dad will last.

As the aircraft lifted off the ground, I wondered about the abnormally low amount of snowfall; chuckled thinking about my father’s absolutely adorable and friendly Shih Tzu dogs; and longed to see more wildlife outside the Solarium windows.

Photo by Joe WilcoxFeb 22, 20249:27 pm

They Come to Eat

On the second—and last—day visiting Dad, he asked my sister to take out scraps for the birds. She put them beside the building just below the big windows looking out onto the backyard. She calls the room, where his little dogs like to sun, the Solarium.

During the course of the afternoon, I observed birds and several red squirrels come by for grab-and-go snacks. The glass was clean enough that I could shoot through the window, using Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. The Featured Image sets the mood for the set. Look sharp for the red squirrel. Vitals: f/3.4, ISO 32, 1/900 sec, (synthetic) 230mm (digital and optical zoom); 1:58 p.m. EST, Feb. 18, 2024.

Photo by Joe WilcoxFeb 21, 20249:27 pm

Dad’s Dogs

The first morning in Aroostook County, my sister and I left our Aunt’s house to be greeted by a balmy air temperature of -10 Celsius (14 Fahrenheit). The next day: -17 C (1 F). Brrr. By the way, -40 is where the two scales of measurement meet—and, yes, Northern Maine absolutely does get so cold.

Dad’s dogs are the cutest ever. The Shih Tzu littermates are about three years old, and they are litter pan trained. Think about it. Would you want to take out two little dogs to do their business when it’s so cold outside. Wind blows constantly at the family farm, so think colder.