My wife interrupted our walk on Feb. 28, 2025 to point out “cute” birds in a tree ahead of us. I pulled out Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra for a couple of quick captures. The Featured Image is best of six. Vitals: f/3.4, ISO 32, 1/250 sec, (synthetic) 230mm (digital and optical zoom); 4:16 p.m. PST.
I am not a bird watcher, so identification is a bit tricky. My guess, with a little Google Lens assistance, is American Goldfinch. I dunno. Meaningful 10x zoom fully made this moment.
For days upon days, I passed by these boots left out for someone—anyone—to take. San Diego isn’t known for rain, but a storm pelted them sometime after I shot the Featured Image on Feb. 11, 2025. I might have grabbed them, but they weren’t my size and need for work boots is zero.
But I liked looking at them—well-worn and broken in. They’ likely have many more years of wear than what appearances might suggest. They’re rugged, and I hope enough that they survived the rain. Someone took them the next day of sun, or so it seems. They disappeared.
Eleven days ago, I shared a short homage to the Barber of Seville, who retired at the end of the year. He cut hair for about half a century and kept at it past age 80. George clearly wanted to keep going, but he ached and tired too easily. Time had come to close a career that defined the man and the customer social circle built up over decades. Surely, he is lonelier for the retirement. He will be missed.
Today, I walked up Monroe Street to Park Blvd, in my San Diego neighborhood of University Heights. Across the way, a worker prepared to remove the business sign hanging over the door. He had already detached the thing from the building. Sometime later, I passed again. The smaller barber’s sign had been removed, too.
While walking with my wife, today, I saw a fairly large group of people overflowing the sidewalk at Florida and Monroe in my neighborhood of University Heights. Initially, I wondered if they gathered to protest, perhaps against Donald Trump or for Palestine—either or both likely given the mood across Liberal San Diego County. Recent group gatherings closed down one or more local highways during rush hour.
But as we approached, I could see no placards and heard loads of laughing. Then my eyes turned to someone bent over marking the street with chalk. He continued until out of sight. As Annie and I resumed, a look over my shoulder revealed the group moving away. Later, when we returned to our street, I continued in the direction they had taken.
What’s going on with the Featured Image? Well, as my wife and I walked by TapRoom Beer Company, something strange caught my attention. Inside, an art class appeared to be underway. Seriously. A bunch a folks gathered around at least one table, and they sketched and watercolored.
I turned back, pulled out Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, and stealthily snapped a fast photo, which would be rather meaningless without explanation. Hence the reason you are getting it. I wanted to capture more of the group but there wasn’t good way without being too obvious and coming off as an annoying Peeping Tom.
While walking about our neighborhood of University Heights, today, my wife and I spontaneously decided to get in the car and drive to Ocean Beach; an errand beckoned us. Once completed, we continued onwards to Sunset Cliffs.
I already carried Nikon Zf with NIKKOR 40mm f/2 (SE) lens attached. However, what was needed: NIKKOR Z 24-200mm f/4-6.3 VR. So Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra pinch-hit for the long shots.
I am nowhere ready to officially review the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, even though my preorder arrived on Jan. 30, 2025—way early. The smartphone started selling in stores and online today. If you are considering moving from, say, either the S23 Ultra or S24 Ultra, don’t delay. The new model is surprisingly affordable, for a limited time.
Samsung typically offers magnanimously generous launch deals, particularly the value given for trade-in of older devices. To my surprise, Samsung hasn’t yet replaced the fantastic opportunity presented during the preorder period. Free storage upgrade is still available, and your S23 Ultra or S24 Ultra is worth $750 or $900, respectively, against purchase of the newer smartphone.
The Featured Image isn’t award-winning photography, but it turns out to be a good quick test of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra‘s main camera—and it’s the first taken, too. Vitals: f/1.7, ISO 80, 1/5000 sec, 23mm (film equivalent); 10:55 a.m. PST. Composed as shot; no edits.
This morning, I sat in a North Park laundry waiting for Pizza Hut to open when the idea of shooting the window got me. The reversed letters are excellent point of focus, while the overall scene presented the smartphone camera with varying, contrasting areas of dark and light.
The new Samsung smartphones ship, officially, on Feb. 7, 2025, so I was quite surprised to receive email that ours would arrive today. They did—the S25 for my wife and the Ultra for me.
The company makes yearly upgrades too easy, with launch trade-in and other offers. My S25 Ultra is the 1TB model, for which Samsung shaved $1,140 off the price, bringing the total to less than what I paid for the same capacity S24 a year ago. The same goes for the S25: Less than the S24, with $550 discounted. Annie has the model with 256GB storage, which is the maximum available.