Tag: landscape photography

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Stormy Sky

Another day, another cloud formation looms. Because of forecast Santa Ana winds blowing from the East and bringing warmer temperatures, I started the morning wearing shorts. One walk later, and I had donned blue jeans. Brrr. Yes, wind whipped but chilly.

Mid-afternoon, unforecasted heavy rain—and hail—fell with a vengeance. Sitting in the cozy, comfortable backseat of our car, reading, I enjoyed the fierce torrent from Mother Nature. (What was she so mad about?) You wonder: Why use the vehicle like a public library? Warmth and quiet.

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Sunset Sky

This evening, I turned Leica Q2 Monochrom West to catch the setting sun sky. I wondered what would come out of a black-and-white shot and what could be made during post-production. The Featured Image is the result. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/8, ISO 200, 1/100 sec, 28mm; 6:49 p.m. PDT.

I am no landscape photographer, just someone having fun with a camera—and marking a personally meaningful moment. The view is from the front steps to our apartment building and the sky visible from my home office.

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A Maine Reflection

The weekend trip to Aroostook County, Maine, ended Feb. 19, 2024, when my sister and I joined a full flight of passengers flying from Presque Isle. Scheduled for 6:15 a.m. EST, the jet took off late due to deicing of the wings. Travel to Maine had been sudden, and unplanned; the ravages of old age accelerate, and we can’t know how long Dad will last.

As the aircraft lifted off the ground, I wondered about the abnormally low amount of snowfall; chuckled thinking about my father’s absolutely adorable and friendly Shih Tzu dogs; and longed to see more wildlife outside the Solarium windows.

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Alpha Rises

The best camera is the one with you—and that proved true tonight with Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. As I walked down Monroe Ave. in my San Diego neighborhood of University Heights, something odd caught my attention in the sky.

I spent too much time trying to make sense of the oddity and as such missed the best shot—of continuous cloud trail. I mistakenly thought that the setting sun illuminated the exhaust of an airplane. Then the notion clicked, examining the trailing bloom, that I watched a rocket launch in the far distance.

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Scarred Treeline

I am not much of a landscape photographer—lack of interest being one reason and negligible skill the other. The Featured Image won’t win awards, therefore, but it does capture what many Californians fear most: wildfires.

The burned out trees in the foreground are inside Cuyamaca Rancho State Park, where I have been to once—Nov. 28, 2008. The scorching may be from wildfires that raged across San Diego County about a year earlier. I don’t know, just guessing.

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For the Survivors

While driving through Escondido, Calif., I came upon the most unusual sight: A vast garden of kids’ windmills—pinwheels, if you prefer—planted upon a grassy enclave. Later, I walked over to the intersection, where they were: Citracado Parkway and Autopark Way.

What were they for? I wondered. The answer is on the sign that is more readable in the second photo: “April is child abuse prevention & sexual assault awareness month. These pinwheels represent each survivor Palomar Health served last year”.

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Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra Near and Far

The immense amount of precipitation pummeling California this year makes for uncharacteristically lush landscape—as can be seen from the Cleveland Avenue overlook in San Diego neighborhood of University Heights. During our more than 15 years living here, I have never seen so much green growth.

Some Spring seasons, heavy rains mean crane flies cling to exterior walls of the apartment building outside the laundry room. Our cats, Cali and Neko, love to chase (and eat) them. I really should start looking evenings for the insects, which often are mistaken for mosquitos.

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A Solemn Story

Sometimes the best photo isn’t the best shot but the one you need. The Featured Image won’t flatter my photographic skills—or entice you to do the same. But the serene view, overlooking the stairs going down to Swami’s Beach in Encinitas means to soften today’s grim story.

In the hospital where our daughter recuperates, the woman in the room’s other bed isn’t so fortunate. She has moaned in pain, for several days now, and a mass of relatives has come to see her. The lady looks to be quite large, and because she suffers from failing kidneys, I assumed she must be diabetic. I was mistaken. Grossly.

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The Last Resort

A dozen years later, I still marvel at the retro-styled camera that launched Fujifilm into the digital mirrorless era. The X100 became an instant classic, with its fixed lens, leaf shutter, large sensor (for the time), dual digital and optical viewfinders, manual controls, and rangefinder-likeness (with respect to design). Four iterations to date—and removal of FinePix branding after the first generation—no other shooter in the series quite matches the magic and novelty of the original. Using the X100 was like that first love; none other is quite as exciting, or as intoxicating.

The photos hold up, too, as I’d like to think that the Featured Image indicates. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/8, ISO 200, 1/640 sec, 23mm (35mm film equivalent); 4:02 p.m. PDT, May 29, 2011.

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The Fiery Sky

I am not a big fan of sunset snaps, simply because they’re so cliché. But this one, from Aug. 22, 2008, brings back memories of bonfires on Mission Bay Park. I used Canon EOS 40D to take the Featured Image. Vitals: f/1.8, ISO 800, 1/200 sec, 85mm; 7:57 p.m. PDT.

We had only lived in San Diego for about 10 months. So much about the city and region seemed so exotic. In the weeks following, our innocence disappeared, along with that of many other people, as financial dominoes rapidly fell, leading to global economic crisis, which somebody coined the econolypse.

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The Overlook Remembered

Twice we have shared the view from the Madison Avenue overlook in University Heights—2017 and 2021. The Featured Image gives glimpse from 2013. Yep, 10 years ago. Click the links to the two other musings; do compare the photo from the more recent of the pair with the one above.

You will see: Where once was a college is now a massive condominium complex. San Diego politicians can’t authorize the building of enough unaffordable housing. Why is that? Homeless encampments bear too much resemblance to refugee temporary housing—tent upon tent upon tent—seen in (other) countries besieged by natural disaster or war. Well, they give high-rise tenants living in high-cost flats something outside the window to look at.