Photo by Joe Wilcox
Read More

The Urban Pumpkin

Now here’s something you don’t see every day: A pumpkin growing among the decorative greenery-space separating sidewalk and street. My wife and I first came upon the thing sometime last week, while walking home from the grocery store (Smart and Final). Making the same journey today, we were surprised to see the odd round of orange undisturbed. Amazing.

What may not be apparent from the Featured Image (warning: 24MB file), which I captured using Leica Q2: The pumpkin grows precariously close to the street and entrance to a parking lot—on Alabama Street across from the BLVD North Park, which is really located in the less-trendy San Diego neighborhood of University Heights. But, hey, anyone living nearby Smart and Finally can claim to rightly be in North Park. Blvd is real-estate marketing fiction.

Continue reading The Urban Pumpkin
Photo by Joe Wilcox
Read More

The Cats of University Heights: Hope

SInce shooting the Featured Image and its companion on Oct. 3, 2017, I have long considered adding the tabby to the series but refrained. The mesh on the patio that turned it into a catio obscured too much, particularly given distance away. But like Candor, the kitty earns a place, on reconsideration; he (or she) is the third presented catio cat (King and Jester are the others).

The furball earns nickname Hope, for longing look and my hoping that the beastie still lives in the apartment (unlikely), which is along Carmelina Drive and behind Old Trolley Barn Park. I used Leica Q and iPhone 7 Plus to capture both portraits, respectively. Vitals for the first: f/5.6, ISO 100, 1/250 sec, 28mm; 10:08 a.m. PDT. The other: f/2.8, ISO 20, 1/297 sec, 6.6mm; 10:04 a.m.

Continue reading The Cats of University Heights: Hope
Photo by Joe Wilcox
Read More

Flickr a Week 27c: ‘Lost’

If you don’t know where you’re going, neither does she. Linus Ho presents self-titled “Lost“, which he captured on July 25, 2012 using Canon EOS 5D Mark II and EF 17-40mm f/4L USM lens. Vitals: f/22, ISO 250, 1/60 sec, 17mmm.

Many of his photos are composites, and I cannot say whether or not this one is an authentic moment. But the elements (such as lantern and seagull), composition, and storytelling make the posed portrait a keeper.

Continue reading Flickr a Week 27c: ‘Lost’
Photo by Joe Wilcox
Read More

The Cats of University Heights: Candor

To the present, we bring the past—and a portrait taken about three-and-a-half months after the series began, in October 2016. I am reviewing and reconsidering discarded kitty pics. The Featured Image, captured on Jan. 31, 2017 using iPhone 7 Plus, is among them. Vitals: f/2.8, ISO 20, 1/1808 sec, 6.6mm; 1:31 p.m. PST.

I saw the feline, nicknamed Candor for no particular reason, once and never again—along Madison between Campus and North. He (or she) is the fifty-second profiled furball seen behind either window or door.

Continue reading The Cats of University Heights: Candor
Photo by Joe Wilcox
Read More

Flickr a Week 26a: ‘Purple Fields–Hitchin Lavender, Cadwell Farm, Hertfordshire’

First-half of turbulent 2020 ends with soothing self-titled “Purple Fields—Hitchin Lavender, Cadwell Farm, Hertfordshire“, which Barbara Asboth captured on Aug. 22, 2015 using Canon EOS 5D Mark III and 28-75mm lens.

“This lady was dressed as the perfect subject in orange against the sea of purple”, Barbara says of the moment. “Processed to have a magical feel to it, just like I felt in person. They were already harvesting the lavender that day, though, so if you want to go see this, you will have to wait until next year for the most beautiful views. It’s worth it, though”. Lovely composition and stunning ethereal feeling take the Sunday spot—and oh, so well-deserved.

Continue reading Flickr a Week 26a: ‘Purple Fields–Hitchin Lavender, Cadwell Farm, Hertfordshire’
Photo by Joe Wilcox
Read More

The Cats of University Heights: Friday

Fifty-one: The number of felines found on Alabama between boundaries Adams and Lincoln, since the first three—Anthony, Goldie, and Itchy Valentino—appeared along a single block on the same day: Sept. 5, 2017. The black also is sixty-third seen behind door or window, since the series started in October 2016. Confession: This handsome shorthair lives in a house that, being a whisk beyond Lincoln going towards University Ave., could classify as North Park. Welcome to boundary-bending Caturday!

Not very original, Friday is the beastie’s nickname—chosen for the day of the week for June 19, 2020. I captured portraits using Leica Q2 and iPhone XS but chose the Featured Image from the smartphone shots rather than the camera. Better composition, aided from the secondary lens, is main reason. Vitals: f/2.4, ISO 16, 1/232 sec, 52mm (film equivalent); 9:20 a.m. PDT.

Continue reading The Cats of University Heights: Friday