Category: People

Photo by Joe WilcoxJun 30, 20239:44 pm

He Waits for What?

We end the month, and first half of the year, with a somber Featured Image captured tonight. I typically avoid taking photos of San Diego homeless, out of respect for them and their plight. With the high cost of housing, anyone could end up in their situation—particularly with the rising number of renovictions: landlord removes long-time tenants and makes upgrades to justify drastically raising rents.

According to the Regional Task Force on Homelessness, number of the city’s—what I will politely call—street dwellers is up 35 percent from 2022. Broadly, across San Diego County, people aged 55 or older make up 29 percent of the homeless population and about 46 percent are newly in this condition. That circles back to long-time tenants, sometimes for several decades, living in rentals they can manage but being evicted and unable to find affordable housing.

Photo by Joe WilcoxJun 25, 20238:38 pm

Remembering Something Special for Outdoor Readers

A decade ago, Amazon temporarily set up an outside reading lounge at Westfield UTC in La Jolla, Calif. The Featured Image is one of several that I captured using iPhone 5s on Nov. 9, 2013. […]

Photo by Joe WilcoxJun 14, 20238:54 pm

A Walk in the Park

This massively cropped composition catches walkers in San Diego’s Balboa Park, on April 20, 2023. I used Leica Q2 Monochrom to capture the Featured Image. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/11, ISO 200, 1/400 sec, 28mm; […]

Photo by Joe WilcoxMay 21, 20238:23 pm

The Golden Man

Following up yesterday’s “The Photobomber“, we come to the intended subject of that photo—the golden man in the Featured Image and two companions. When passing him in San Diego’s Balboa Park on April 20, 2023, I was puzzled. He hung so still to the lamppost, I wondered if he was some statue—which there are a few round about. Then he moved, startling me and breaking my stare.

In the first of the three shots—all from Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra—he looks at approaching people. Vitals: f/4.9, ISO 50, 1/310 sec, 230mm (film equivalent); 3:14 p.m. PDT; composed as shot. Unfortunately, none of the trio aptly captures just how gold painted is his face.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMay 20, 20238:40 pm

The Photobomber

Consider the Featured Image as start of a two-parter. The intended subject of the street shot is the big guy hanging on to a lamppost, and I had planned to close-crop on him. But just as I clicked Leica Q2 Monochrom‘s shutter, someone scooted into the frame. The unintentional photobomber instead makes the moment.

Vitals, aperture manually set: f/5.6, ISO 200, 1/1600 sec, 28mm; 3:11 p.m. PDT, April 20, 2023. Location: San Diego’s Balboa Park.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMay 16, 202310:42 pm

What’s the Lesson Here?

Not for the first time, car horn-honking, chanting, cheering, and clapping beckoned me to the administrative offices for San Diego Unified School District, which is but a few blocks from our University Heights apartment.

I came upon a sizable protest of people dressed in red T-Shirts. The number could have been in the thousands—size the Featured Image and companion don’t capture in part because the crowd spread out some distance. They jam-packed when marching, too. Vitals, aperture manually set for both: f/8, ISO 100, 1/250 sec, 28mm; 4:23 p.m. PDT; Leica Q2.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMay 14, 20239:29 pm

The Flower Lady

Let’s start with a Happy Mother’s Day to the moms. Some of you work the holiday, as does this woman at her gift stand set up in my San Diego neighborhood of University Heights. She and her husband greeted me yesterday, and I had every intention of returning to buy flowers for my wife. But I waited too long. The lady sold out, and they were packing up when I arrived this afternoon.

I used Leica Q2 to take the Featured Image, which (sigh) is presented as composed, because I could create no crop that wouldn’t take too much context from the photo. Maybe you see something that I don’t. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/5.6, ISO 100, 1/500 sec, 28mm; 12:36 p.m. PDT.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMay 3, 20239:35 pm

The Witnesses

While wandering around Balboa Park on April 20, 2023, I passed by several spots where people evangelized their religious faiths. Among them, Hare Krishna was one and Jehovah Witness was another. For the latter, I stopped to chat with a tall gent, wearing a broad smile, thick-frame eyeglasses, and straw-like hat.

He regularly comes down from Vista to San Diego to spread the good word about Jehovah. I didn’t think to mention that my apartment is located about three blocks from a Kingdom Hall. He graciously agreed to be photographed—and the woman, whom I believe was his wife, too. The Featured Image comes from Leica Q2 Monochrom. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/5.6, ISO 200, 1/1250 sec, 28mm; 3:16 p.m. PDT.

Photo by Joe WilcoxApr 30, 20239:57 pm

Power Outage!

Quite literally, as I hit the button to post about cats Firecracker and Dynamite, lights flickered and went out. That was 6:41 a.m. PDT today. Power would remain out for us and others in portions of San Diego neighborhoods Hillcrest, Normal Heights, and (here) in University Heights until 5 p.m. sharp.

The SDGE outage alert in my customer portal at first estimated utility restoration at 8 a.m., then 9 a.m., then 2 p.m., then 3 p.m., and finally 6 p.m. We prepared for an evening in darkness and possible food spoilage in the refrigerator and freezer.

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.