What could be more appropriate for Halloween than a black cat—and a frightening closeup? Dino Quinzani used Canon EOS 400D and Sigma 150mm f/2.8 EX DG HSM APO Macro lens to capture self-titled “Devil’s Eye” […]
Flickr a Week 44: ‘Looking Out’
When choosing from the Photostream of Spiros Vathis, I considered four contenders—all captured using the (now) iconic Nikon Df: Self-titled “Dome” and “Obeliscus Aegyptiacus” for composition; “Piazza della Rotonda” for shooting style (getting down low); and the winner, “Looking Out“. Bokeh and composition are intriguing. My eye immediately goes to the larger blurred building, before refocusing on the other and then finding the gent gazing from a window. I like the visual foolery.
Spiros captured the moment on June 17, 2016, using an 85mm f/1.8 lens. Vitals: f/2.8, ISO 100, 1/320 sec, 85mm. Nikon Df has only appeared one other time in the series (so far)—”Superwoman Lost in London” for Week 4. Released in 2013, the full-frame dSLR features fully manual controls. Heck, I want one. The camera is a classic.
Look What Parked Next to Me at Costco
For cultural reasons that I don’t understand, Halloween is a big holiday in San Diego. Decorations are everywhere adorning homes and lawns. That’s not enough for some people, as this grim ghoulmobile demonstrates.
The thing spooked from the space adjacent to mine in the Mission Valley Costco parking lot. Proximity made no good way to photograph the entire machine. So I fumbled for composition and ambience, using iPhone XS.
Flickr a Week 43a: ‘Lunch, San Francisco 2018, GR II’
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 Cats of University Heights: Spirit
The main intersection on the neighborhood’s west side is a four-way with stop-signs at Cleveland and Meade. I meandered upon this kitty and the next one profiled on either side of Meade in the alley between Cleveland and Maryland—directions south and north, respectively.
I used iPhone XS to capture the Featured Image on Oct. 17, 2020. Vitals: f/2.4, ISO 16, 1/213 sec, 52mm (film equivalent); 10:21 a.m. PDT. Coincidentally, the day marked the series‘ fourth anniversary.
Flickr a Week 43: ‘Feel the Music’
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 […]
Delivery Door Art?
Surely you’ve come across something and wondered: “How long has that been there?” That is the question I asked on Oct. 6, 2020, while walking down the alley behind Kairoa Brewing Co., which is located along the main commercial area of San Diego’s University Heights neighborhood. The Featured Image is what I saw on the establishment’s rear door, where I presume supplies are unloaded. What does that image bring to your mind?
For me, the goats (or are they rams) immediately flash subliminal recollection, but not something precisely recalled. Looking at the beasts—bathed in blood red, so to speak, with their pointy horns—elicits creepy feeling that I have seen them before. In a horror movie perhaps—something like a “Constantine” or one of the three original “The Omen” films (1976, 1978, 1981). But somewhere. You do know that, biblically and mythologically, goats are associated with symbols of the devil?
Flickr a Week 42a: ‘Style Icon’
There is “no cuter bird than a puffin”, says Rob Oo, who captured self-titled “Style Icon” in Vestur-Bardastrandarsysla, Iceland, on July 21, 2018, using Pentax K-S2. Vitals: f/8, ISO 1600, 1/350 sec, 250mm. The bird […]
The Cats of University Heights: Sundown
Four years ago today, I started this series with a presumed stray, sighted only once, that I call Scruffy. Three-hundred-fifty-eight profiles later, the number of furballs to photograph is seemingly inexhaustible. At the start, I expected the series to progress a month, maybe a little longer. Foolish me. In autumn 2016, as explained in post “Why Cats?“, I worked with new eyes, so to speak, following multifocal intraocular lens replacement for cataracts and also ongoing treatment for macular edema—the latter of which is mostly now resolved. Feline field photography acted as a kind of visual therapy.
That brings us to our celebratory kitty, seen in the yard of the home where once lived Giotto and next-door to where you can find Petri (well, until his family moves sometime before Dec. 1, 2020). That makes the black the fifty-seventh putty-tat from Alabama between boundaries Adams and Lincoln. No other street comes close, and I cannot fathom why.
An Unexpected Request
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 Cats of University Heights: Pepto
On the same block where lives Daniel Tiger, whom I visited with today, incidentally, resides newcomer Pepto—and, yes, that’s his real name. Within furball spitting distance, you also could encounter: Fluffy, Darth Mew, Ginger, Huck, Jedi, Milo, and Princess Leia—or Snow and Stripe, looking out windows. The block bustles with frisky felines, and it’s a wonder they all tolerate one another so well.
I first saw two-year-old Pepto in early August 2020 and used iPhone XS to shoot a dozen portraits—none of which I would use unless compelled by lack of having anything better. Opportunity presented on September 8, when I lugged Leica Q2, seeking the orange and white for the umpteenth time. The Featured Image is a close crop. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/5.6, ISO 100, 1/125 sec, 28mm; 4:54 p.m. PDT.
Flickr a Week 42: ‘Shoed Attitude’
The most everyday thing can become a keeper shot, as Rick Harris demonstrates with “Shoed Attitude“, which he captured on May 26, 2010, using Canon EOS 40D and 10-20mm lens. Vitals: f/4.5, ISO 250, 1/40 […]