What’s not to like about a child receiving a little “Llama Love“? Ian Sane used Canon EOS 5DS R and EF 50mm f/1.4 USM lens to capture the self-titled portrait on March 23, 2019. Vitals: f/2.8, ISO 250, 1/800 sec, 50mm.
About the moment: “Here’s my granddaughter, Penelope, getting a kiss from an unlikely source at Riverfront Park in Salem, Oregon. Full disclosure: I love her wild looking hair”.
I can’t speak for my wife, but to me a pair of benefits marshaled my interest in choosing our current apartment: The front windows and what I call the “squirrel tree” majestically before them—as expected, providing plentiful wildlife entertainment for our cats Cali and Neko to watch; for the humans, too. Yesterday, the management company overseeing the property snuffed out magic, and life.
Time is immeasurable this year, thanks to triple-P: pandemic, politics, and protests (e.g., SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2, also known as COVID-19; Election 2020; and racial riots). As such, I don’t recall how long ago the building manager spoke to me about the tree—two or more months, seems like). He said that the perennial would likely be dramatically trimmed back; being top heavy, the branches pulled the trunk into brickwork before it (see first photo). Some discussion drifted to removal, which I opposed, promising in threatening tone: “The day they cut down that tree is the day I give notice”.
For the first Sunday of the month, we turn to Mark Shahaf, who shot self-titled “Endangered Skill” on June 21, 2019, using Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II and M.Zuiko ED 12-40mm f2.8 lens. Vitals: f/8, […]
About half the month’s selections are black and white, and we end with another: “Drunken Cowboys“, which Theodor Hensolt captured on Nov. 26, 2011, using Canon EOS 7D and EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM Lens. […]
The Sunday spot goes to self-titled “Break“—for classic, compelling composition that makes open space an enthralling visual canvas. Hernán Piñera captured the moment on Feb. 20, 2015. Camera and vitals are missing from the metadata, suggesting […]
I looked through several thousand Creative Commons-licensed photos to find one to use for Veteran’s Day. Nothing moved me more than self-titled “Coming to America: Pursuing the American Dream“—active serviceman Personnel Specialist 1st Class Patrick Mbayoh. Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Greg Hall made the moment aboard aircraft carrier USS Nimitz on July 3, 2020, using Nikon D800 and 50mm f/1.4 lens. Vitals: f/8, ISO 100, 1/200 sec, 50mm.
According to U.S. Pacific Fleet, which joined Flickr in October 2009 and whose Photostream is source of the image, Mbayoh is “assigned to the ‘Kestrels’ of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 137”. A refugee from the Sierra Leone Civil War, Mbayoh arrived in “Brooklyn, New York, in 1998”, Hall explains. “Moving to the U.S. gave Mbayoh the opportunity to pursue a life-long dream”. Joining the Navy in September 2000 opened a path to earning a college education and to repaying the nation that harbored him. The sailor gained “his American citizenship in 2003”, Hall adds. “He and his wife have a child and live in Lemoore, California. Mbayoh hopes to one day retire from the Navy and go back to school to gain his PhD”.
I accidentally came to the Photostream of Greg Parish by way of his compelling portrait “7“, which would have taken the Sunday spot if not for my discovering “Lunch, San Francisco 2018, GR II“; the self-title identifies year and make of the Ricoh camera. Vitals: f/8, ISO 800, 1/2500 sec, 18.3mm; April 16.
What’s not to like? Clarity, color, composition, contrast, graininess, light, shadows, texture, and tilt are recipe for a street shot that’s as tasty as the noodles the subject soon will eat. Yummy.
The week goes to Leon Hernandez for self-titled “Feel the Music“, which he made on Jan. 14, 2017, using Pentax K-50 and smc Pentax-DA 35mm F2.4 AL lens. The portrait is irresistible for: bokeh that […]
About a month ago, I observed something odd while waiting in line at the pharmacy. The gentlemen standing at the counter, who looked worse for wear, had come to pick up a prescription. But he met an obstacle. The druggist asked for identification, which the customer didn’t have and he was confused why any would be needed. “It’s a controlled substance”, the pharmacist explained. But in a sad and naively poignant regard, the gent didn’t understand. The medicine had been prescribed for him, but he didn’t possess any kind of identity card. Please, could he have his medicine?
Unkempt, and likely a recovering addict who belonged to San Diego’s ever-growing homeless population, the guy was plaintive rather than abusive—as someone else might have been. “Come back when you have ID”, the druggist informed. The fellow stepped back from the window and approached me, waiting next in line: “Do you have ID I can borrow?”
The first selection of October is the oddly-formatted, self-titled “Poverty without the Face“, which Wayne S. Grazio captured on June 3, 2015. Camera and vitals are not available in the metadata. “I chose to crop […]
Self-titled “Full Circle” marks the return of Risto Kuulasmaa for a second profile; his amazingly lucky and appropriately named “Photo Bomber” was “Flickr a Day 183” in my 2015 series.
Risto captured what I anticipate will be the only nude contribution before we wrap up things at the end of December. He used Canon EOS 5D Mark II and EF 17-40mm f/4L USM lens to make the moment, on May 2, 2013. Additional equipment, he explains: “430EX soft box from upper right corner” and “Hähnel Tuff TTL transmitter”. Vitals: f/4, ISO 800, 1/60 sec, 19mm.
Our Sunday selection goes to Susan Jane Golding, who snapped this street shot on May 10, 2018, using Fujifilm X-Pro2 and Fujinon XF35mmF2 R WR lens. Vitals are unknown because the metadata is absent. Self-titled “No […]