San Diego residents leave all kinds of things in alleys behind their residences. What’s that saying about one person’s garbage being another’s treasure? This sofa sits by a dumpster, but it waits for a new […]
Category: Photo
Beetle Mania
The killer feature(s) of my beloved Leica Q: Manual focus and Macro mode, both of which are controlled by rings around the barrel of the lens. They’re best when used together, as the Featured Image […]
The Cats of University Heights: Momma
The drama of the three feral kittens opened a new—and perhaps final—neighborhood chapter last evening. I don’t yet know how the story ends. Around 7:20 p.m. PDT, with the protection of the waning light, I went out for a walk. Hours earlier, I had been at the ophthalmologist’s office, where one eye was dilated, leaving my vision temporarily impaired and sensitive to the San Diego sun.
My walk ended abruptly. A small group of teens, from two families, were gathered around the house where I had seen the feral trio the previous evening. Armed with cans of tuna, tenacity, and patience, they determined to trap the beasties—and one other: their momma. I started this series in October 2016, to date featuring more than 80 felines, and until last night I had not seen her. That’s surprising, since she raised her brood about a block from our apartment.
The Cats of University Heights: Ferals
What a coincidence! On the same block where yesterday I saw house stagers, three kittens, presumably feral, are loose; I encountered them about 10 hours later. They’re skittish, but scooted back rather than ran away. I might have made life-long friends had kibble been handy to give them.
This series typically features neighborhood cats that, well, I expect to be long-term fixtures. The majority are obviously pets that are let outdoors. While the feral trio spent most of our visit hanging around a front porch, they clung more to the space as birthplace—perhaps below or in the bushes—rather than permanent home where they are owned. I expect that they will soon be captured and taken to the shelter; wouldn’t local adoption be so much better?
The Stagers
While walking past Campus and Meade this morning, I saw stagers moving furniture into a house “coming soon” for sale. After initially crossing the street, I turned back. The vantage point appealed to me, and Leica Q was in tow. The bold, yellow crosswalk symbols in the foreground are what made the moment worth capturing.
The Featured Image is the original, slightly straightened. Neither this pic, the other, or two crops of both have been retouched. I imported the DNG originals into Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and exported as JPEG. Vitals, aperture pre-set for street shooting: f/5.6, ISO 100, 1/800 sec, 28mm; 9:49 a.m. PDT.
The Cats of University Heights: Wink
For about five years, delight of the neighborhood—down Maryland Ave. about halfway between border streets Madison and Lincoln—is a mini-wildlife refuge that I affectionately call the Butterfly House. The name derives from the Monarchs and other flying things that frequent flowers and foliage there. This series has featured felines—nicknamed Flower and Skull—on either side of the property, but not until today did I see, for the first time (finally), and photograph a kitty there. Of course, my wife and I would be walking to The Hub for groceries without a camera other than iPhone 7 Plus.
The Featured Image pulls back from the furball to provide some sense of the lush greenery and their variety. Vitals: f/1.8, ISO 20, 1/523 sec, 3.99mm; 9:36 a.m. PDT. San Diego’s typical early day marine cloud layer made for perfect shooting conditions.
The Cats of University Heights: Sophie
Friendly, feisty feline Fess is missing! His owners started postering his disappearance on Aug. 5, 2017. I last saw him about 7:25 p.m. PDT on the second, sitting way out into the sidewalk gutter of his apartment complex driveway; no one has reported seeing him since. Given that he is my neighborhood favorite, and needing to relax-the-mind walk following my mother’s death two days ago, I have looked all around for him—yesterday twice meeting his owners doing the same. Fess has a new collar, which I used as excuse for a July 22nd Caturday mini-pictorial.
My heart stopped, or so it seemed, last night while searching the alley between Campus and Monroe—well within Fess’ territorial range. I came across a long hair that lying flat reminded me of him. The animal let me approach and lift up collar tag to reveal Sophie. Her face shares similar features, but mitten paws and spectacular white ruff easily distinguish her from the neighborhood’s pride. I am amazed how many people know, or know of, the missing kitty.
Hello, Rabbit
Last night, seeking relief from an uncharacteristically overcast and muggy August day, I grabbed the Leica Q and walked, looking for felines to add to my “Cats of University Heights” series. Instead, I saw a bunny, sitting smack in the middle of New York Street, about halfway down from Madison—or, coming the other way, dead end into the canyon. I approached cautiously, getting closer and closer captures; necessity without a telephoto. The digital camera has a fixed 28mm f/1.7 Summilux lens. Noise from a nearby house startled the rabbit, which sprinted into a yard.
So I persisted, until my approach drove the cottontail to scramble further—and eventually out of sight. The 24-megapixel full-frame shooter uses (inside the lens) a leaf shutter, which is virtually silent. I didn’t worry, then, that camera clicks would spook the critter.
Purple Passion Flower
While I attended a basic botany class in college, my familiarity with plant life is limited—unlike clouds and bugs, or even the stars. Walking down Cleveland Ave. the other day, purple flowers hanging from vast vines rapped my attention. I snapped some closeups using iPhone 7 Plus, which were okay. On the evening of July 27, 2017, I meandered back with the Leica Q in tow and, using the dedicated Macro mode and manual focus, captured satisfying shots.
They’re purple passion flowers, and new flora to me. Interestingly—no surprisingly—their presence is “absent/unreported” in California, according to USDA. Oh yeah?
What Chainsaws Obliterate
I am often perplexed why someone would chop down a living tree. A decade ago, my family relocated from the Washington, D.C. suburb of Kensington to sunny San Diego. A year earlier, I told my […]
Meow! Second Sightings
Several re-sightings of felines previously featured in my “Cats of University Heights” series demand updates about the beasts. So, please, pardon yet another furry exposé. The Featured Image is a tiger that I call “Stalker“, sighted and profiled in November 2016. I shot this more recent portrait on July 17, 2017, at 7:11 p.m. PDT using Leica Q. The animal is usually on the move, and this is the first instance seeing him quietly sitting in his yard, near Campus and Monroe. He really blends in, eh? Vitals: f/1.7, ISO 100, 1/400 sec, 28mm. After deliberate consideration, I chose to keep brightness and exposure as shot in this crop.
SDCC 2017 Day Four
The greatest geekfest and pop-culture event on the planet wrapped up this afternoon in San Diego, as the original Comic-Con closed its doors on the Convention Center. Imitator shows are everywhere this Century, but none commands character and class like the original. The first, full, three-day event took place from Aug. 1-3, 1970, at the U.S. Grand Hotel, with about 300 attendees and sci-fi luminaries, including Ray Bradbury and A.E. van Vogt. This week, 140,000 people attended, but the number doesn’t include the tens of thousands descending on the Gaslamp Quarter and other areas of the city. SDCC is too big to be contained by the formality of a single glass-and-steel structure or the fire marshal’s mandates.
I had given up on participating until unexpected opportunity occurred yesterday morning to purchase a legitimate Day 4 badge with my name—not one assigned to someone else and sold for exorbitant price, despite firm policy against such scalping. I picked up the badge in the afternoon, spending several hours afterwards in the Quarter.
Like yesterday, I captured moments using Leica Q, but far fewer than my typical day. Those that follow aren’t all, or necessarily the best, but they tell a story about shooting them.