Category: People

Photo by Joe WilcoxApr 25, 20239:21 pm

Balboa Buskers

We return to my most recent visit to San Diego’s Balboa Park—April 20, 2023. Busking can be friendly among musicians but competition for prime location leads to jockeying for position, too. Then there is the decibel factor, when one performer is so loud he or she drowns out and therefore drives away other buskers.

That’s the story behind the Featured Image. After shooting the companion photo—both with Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra—I came upon a flutist packing up and moving along. For good reason: The sax player bellowed with great gusto, such that no one could appreciate the higher register of the flute.

Photo by Joe WilcoxApr 23, 20238:07 pm

Just Fountain Around

Before taking stealth shots of a pair of content creators, I turned Leica Q2 Monochrom onto a skateboarder going around Bea Evenson Fountain in San Diego’s Balboa Park. Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra‘s 10x zoom lenses—that’s 230mm film equivalent—let me close the distance on the two women but the photo is muddy rather than sharp.

By contrast, the captures from the camera are richly detailed with great dynamic range, even close-cropped. The smartphone’s small sensor cannot compete with the Leica’s full frame. High IQ, meaning image quality, lets me crop in and get much the same benefit of the Samsung’s zoom caapability. That said, 230mm is huge reach and not to be easily dismissed because of its overall utility on a device carried in the pocket.

Photo by Joe WilcoxApr 22, 20239:18 pm

This is Not a Selfie

Google Photos presented a seemingly self-portrait taken eight years ago today. I was buying new eyeglasses and when trying on frames took pics to text my wife for her opinion. I wouldn’t have cataract surgery that replaced my natural lenses with implants for another year. Meaning: At the time of the Featured Image, I couldn’t see well without my spectacles. That explains why the smartphone is in focus, rather than me. I couldn’t tell the difference.

I really loved the Google-branded, Motorola-made Nexus 6. I still have one in the closet that belonged to Mom before she died. One of my sisters has another that belonged to her twin (also passed away). Yeah, both devices came from me.

Photo by Joe WilcoxApr 21, 20239:41 pm

Content Creators

Yesterday, I drove my daughter and her best friend to Balboa Park, where he pushed her around in a wheelchair. She will require rehabilitation, which starts next week, before being able to properly walk. Her left foot is painful and not fully functional, possibly from neurological damage. But her cognitive capabilities look good.

We are now on day 50 since she was found unconscious and suffered cardiac arrest. Our girl was released from an in-patient physical rehab facility on April 11, 2023. Being wheeled about the park was a big outing for her; meanwhile, I walked around, looking for photo ops. The young women in the Featured Image is one of them.

Photo by Joe WilcoxApr 11, 202310:33 pm

Miracle Molly

Today, an in-patient rehabilitation institute released our daughter into home care and continued treatment on an outpatient basis. We are not sure yet where she will go. The facility that the recovery physician recommends can’t do intake assessment until mid-May. Another brain injury hospital could take her this month, but there is an insurance hang up to get by. Assessment is scheduled for later this week.

She did suffer brain damage from the incident, which I won’t yet discuss specifically. While her cognitive capabilities are seemingly quite recovered, a neuropsychologist told me that she nevertheless shows deficiencies in the five categories assessed for measuring brain function. For example, the double stroke caused memory loss, diminished reasoning and spatial capabilities, affected some motor functions, and left behind lingering pain in one foot.

Photo by Joe WilcoxApr 9, 202310:27 pm

Canyon Zooming Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra

While walking along the Vermont Street Bridge, which separates San Diego neighborhoods Hillcrest and University Heights, I caught a flash of blue in the canyon below. Someone, presumably homeless, trudged through the foliage—lush and tall from heavy rains—towards a more protected space. Through the trees, I could make out red color that could be from a tent.

I whipped out Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra and captured the Featured Image using the smartphone’s amazing 10X optical zoom capability. The companion pic is 3X, which I chose after seeing that 1X, which is 23mm film equivalent, would barely show the subject. Vitals: f/4.9, ISO 50, 1/120 sec, 230mm (film equivalent); 10:15 a.m. PDT, today. The other: f/2.4, ISO 50, 1/522 sec, 70mm (film equivalent); 10:15 a.m.

Photo by Joe WilcoxApr 8, 202310:18 pm

Bob Dines Korean

I remember this meal. My father-in-law wanted to eat someplace different. We ended up at a Korean restaurant somewhere along Convoy Street in one of San Diego’s commercial Asian areas. But I don’t recall why we were thereabouts, being far from the places closer to his apartment and where he preferred to eat. Good guess: Tax preparation with his financial advisor, which office is located a short driving distance from where he ate.

The Featured Image—from Motorola-made, Google-branded Nexus 6—catches Bob as he looks up at some distraction. Seconds earlier, he was engrossed in the bowl’s contents. Vitals: f/2, ISO 310, 1/17 sec, 26.6mm (film equivalent); 2:54 p.m. PDT.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMar 30, 202310:11 pm

A Samsung Sentiment

I only vaguely remember being at the Galaxy Tab 10.1 launch event—looks like on June 3, 2011, based on the metadata of the two photos. These tech launches do blend together over time, after attending so many. I do recall being excited about the slate, which I called the “first true Honeycomb tablet”, referring to Android 3.1.

I am not yet a brand junkie, but could soon be, following my return to Samsung, switching from iPhone 13 Pro to Galaxy S22 Ultra in December 2022. Two months later, I traded that one in as part of my purchase of the S23 Ultra. My wife owns the S22, and I bought our daughter the S23 a few days ago. Yikes! The police took the 13 Pro, seeking evidence of a crime against her—and they’re not in any rush to give it back. Well, so much for the Fourth Amendment. Surely there are stranger paths from iOS to Android.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMar 6, 20239:41 pm

Natural Night Shots Feel the Heat

What about the Featured Image and companion appeals to me? The shimmering effect is something someone might add during post-production, but not here. What you see is authentic—heat-distorted air rising into the night sky.

Both photos come from Canon EOS 40D and attached EF28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM lens. Vitals: f/5.6, ISO 400, 1/60 sec, 115mm; 9:40 p.m. PDT. The other is same but 135mm, two minutes earlier.

Photo by Joe WilcoxFeb 26, 20239:33 pm

Better Than Mardi Gras

The days when rain isn’t falling, but the ground is wet and the air sweet Spring fresh and moist, are delightful. Over on Louisiana Street, some young men made festive the late afternoon of Feb. 22, 2023. They skateboarded to boombox rock, and I absolutely loved the spirit and ambiance they created. Why not bang on doors and have an impromptu block party?

Pepto, who is among the “Cats of University Heights” sauntered through the mayhem, taking up observant position by a car. That’s his block, baby.

Photo by Joe WilcoxFeb 7, 20239:57 pm

The Lost Dog and the Ukrainians

Rarely is the frequency with which I go to one of the local banks. But need pulled me across the bridge over Washington Street into San Diego neighborhood Hillcrest, where I and others looked on gasping at the most terrifying spectacle: A little dog frantically running up Vermont from Robinson and then zigzagging into moving traffic along University Avenue.

Cars braked, pulled to the side, and honked. I was sure the lost pup would get hit, but somehow he (or she) sprinted into the Hub plaza unharmed. I followed along, hoping to corral the animal to safety. The dog ran around the side of Ralph’s Supermarket and disappeared. As I pursued, a woman pulled her car alongside and asked about the animal. Was I following? She was late for an appointment but said she cried seeing the poor thing. I explained my intentions.

Photo by Joe WilcoxDec 22, 202210:51 pm

July in Christmas

Feel free to call me cruel, but gloating is not my intention so, please, don’t assign such motivation. The Christmas Day forecast for much of Southern California is unseasonably warm. Predicted San Diego weather is 25 Celsius (77 Fahrenheit) and 23 C (73 F) on both the preceding and following days. Break out T-shirt and shorts for summer remembrance.

Meanwhile, much of the rest of the country expects something colder, which already creeps Eastward. As I write, it’s -17 C (2 F) in Amarillo. Texas! Oh, that’s before the wind chill. For Christmas, randomly-selected highs: Atlanta, Ga., 1 C (34 F); Nashville, Tenn., -2 C (28 F); Newark, NJ, -3 C (27 F); Ocala, Fla., 7 C (45 F); Raleigh, NC, 2 C (35 F). For more of a sense of what’s more typical, for the cities, respectively, the following Sunday forecast: 19 C (66 F); 17 C (62 F); 15 C (59 F); 26 C (79 F); 22 C (71 F).