Welcome to the San Diego Housing Boom (I Mean Bubble)

Gulp. San Diego home prices are skyrocketing far worse than my recent essays report. For some unexplainable algorithmic reason, a short news clip from the local Fox affiliate popped up in my YouTube feed, reporting rapid rise in the median home price. One year ago: $671,000. One month ago: $800,000. Currently: $825,000. The clip doesn’t cite a source and my quick online news search didn’t find one. By my math, the annual increase is 22.9 percent. Yikes.

Let’s look at one property on North Avenue in my neighborhood of University Heights. On Dec. 29, 2019, I captured the Featured Image, which because of uncharacteristic underexposure by Leica Q required extensive post-production correction and refinement. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/5.6, ISO 100, 1/125 sec, 28mm; 10:21 a.m. PST.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMay 16, 20218:05 pm

Bezos Before

Now here is a candid shot that I surely recall taking but not why it was never posted here. The Featured Image, captured using Sigma DP1, catches Amazon head-honcho Jeff Bezos—when he looked more like […]

Photo by Joe WilcoxMay 15, 202110:06 pm

Pandemic Pollution

What a difference a year makes. In April 2020, when SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2), which causes COVID-19, seemed so dire and face masks were so difficult to find, I wrote about the perils of not wearing one—illustrated with a rare, discarded protective covering. Now the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises that vaccinated individuals no longer need to wear masks, or social distance, in most situations—meaning: “except where required by federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial laws, rules, and regulations, including local business and workplace guidance”.

Long before the unexpected change to pandemic public policy, just two days ago, face masks could be found littered all about the County. San Diego Union-Tribune spotlighted the debris along beaches in July 2020; early last month, ABC News reported that “discarded masks litter beaches worldwide, threaten sea life“; the local CBS affiliate, reporting about the April 24, 2021 “19th-annual ‘Creek to Bay Clean-up'”, explained that there has been a surge in ‘single-use plastics”— and the “biggest offender? PPE [Personal Protective Equipment], especially masks”.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMay 14, 202110:19 pm

The Cats of University Heights: Joy

While walking with my wife along Mission Ave. between Alabama and Mississippi, on May 12, 2021, I spotted a black bird-watching from the semi-seclusion of a home’s attached planter. I shot several portraits using iPhone XS and Leica Q2, and the Featured Image comes from the camera. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/5.6, ISO 100, 1/500 sec, 12:51 p.m. PDT.

Call me befuddled trying to come up with yet another nickname appropriate for a Halloween Cat. Let’s go with Joy, because the shorthair seemed so content where it relaxed and observed.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMay 13, 20219:43 pm

This Thing Creeps Me Out

Months ago, while walking along Alabama Street in my San Diego neighborhood, I came upon a lawn fixture from behind. The shape, which you don’t see in the Featured Image or companion, reminded me of a fetus—dare I say aborted—or not fully-formed infant. Then I moved past and saw the adult-child face, which gave me even more willies than the disturbing impression on approach.

Perhaps this thing doesn’t bother you, but it sure upends me. Zoom in and look at the two fangs for teeth exposed by the septic smile. This evening, I passed the creature while looking for kitty Annie‘s tiger-tabby housemate; she often is briefly let out after dawn or around dusk and I want to make a portrait for my “Cats of University Heights” series.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMay 12, 20218:18 pm

Tragedy Beneath the Golden Arches

Overnight, an assailant shot and killed a 59 year-old man in the parking lot outside the McDonald’s at El Cajon Blvd and Texas Street in University Heights. Shootings are rare, if ever, in my San Diego neighborhood, so the incident is shocking. As I write, little is publicly known—other than police seeking a white man in his 40’s driving a SUV. Given the number of traffic cams—at the least of surveillance—the vehicle’s license plate could be identified.

I know the McDonald’s well. When still alive, my father-in-law liked to eat lunch there—especially Fillet Fish Fridays, when sandwiches were discounted. My wife or I might drive him there two or three days a week. Before renovations that started around the time of his death in January 2017, I would see many regular customers, such as the three older gents gathered to gab—often for hours—or another man who religiously read his Bible. They vanished with the remodeling, which did away with the cozy booths and replaced them with trendy tables that encourage eating and leaving rather than hanging around.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMay 11, 20219:47 pm

Tipped Moon

How odd. I posted the Featured Image to my Flickr nearly 11 years ago but never here. The street shot harkens back to my first Leica, the X1—a fixed-lens digital compact that I could (barely) afford at the time. Vitals: f/5, ISO 100, 1/320 sec, 24mm; 7:05 p.m. PDT.

I purchased Leica X1 as a self-birthday present, and the camera arrived after on July 13, 2010. I captured the photo three days later. Manual controls and high IQ (image quality) beat my expectations. But with the economy in crisis, we had money troubles as Christmas approached—compelling me to sell the X1 and luckily for only a few hundred dollars less than I paid for it.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMay 10, 202110:26 pm

The Sedan of Many Colors

I see this car along streets all over University Heights—Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Monroe (East and West sides of Park Blvd.), among others. Finding parking spaces where you live can be challenging, and whoever drives this vehicle is willing to walk a fair number of blocks to secure a spot.

Surely other residents are compelled to park far and away, but I wouldn’t know since so many autos look alike. The Hummer first sighted in February 2021 (and many times in various places, since) is an example. Then we have this multi-colored sedan, which most distinctive hue (pink hood and trunk) my Featured Image only hints at. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/2, ISO 100, 1/6400 sec, 28mm; 2:23 p.m. PDT; Leica Q2.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMay 9, 202110:44 pm

Five Years Later

Eldest daughter. Second born. Older twin. There are many more appropriate ways to describe my sister Annette but none more than loss. She unexpectedly passed away five years ago today. Left behind: Three children. All adults and parents of their own. Must be mentioned being Mother’s Day.

I used Leica Q2 Monochrom to capture the Featured Image, made from a print. The copy can’t be better than the original, which isn’t sharp. Maybe soft focus was the photographer’s intention; he or she is unknown. The re-creation is edited with a fair amount of noise reduction applied (due to ambient overhead lighting ISO is 16000).

Photo by Joe WilcoxMay 8, 20218:03 pm

The Cats of University Heights: Smooth

What the whiskers? In the same second-floor window where I saw yesterday’s grey tiger-stripe, Suave, today an orange tabby looked out. Am I being gaslighted by frisky felines? If not for photographic evidence that the two are similar-looking but different colors, maybe would be the answer.

I used Leica Q2 to capture the Featured Image. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/5.6, ISO 100, 1/400 sec, 28mm; 9:53 a.m. PDT. The sixty-eighth cat behind door or window and the sixty-sixth seen along Alabama Street earns nickname Smooth. Think smooth operator for the tomfoolery.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMay 7, 20219:42 pm

The Cats of University Heights: Suave

The sixty-seventh feline found behind window or door is also the sixty-fifth Alabama Street cat—looking out from a second floor apartment located between El Cajon and Meade. I used Leica Q2 to capture the Featured Image, yesterday. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/5.6, ISO 100, 1/320 sec, 28mm; 9:15 a.m. PDT.

The tabby earns nickname Suave, for poise, posture, and presence.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMay 6, 20219:20 pm

Across the Way

Reviewing older photos, I decided to give the Featured Image another chance—pulling it from the reject pile, so to speak. I used Nikon D90 and 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR DX Zoom-Nikkor lens to […]