Tag: Leica Q2 Mono

Photo by Joe Wilcox
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Storm Warning

They say it never rains in Southern California—until a thunderstorm rolls in without warning. This evening, I ventured out for a late-day walk and progressed one-and-a-half blocks from my apartment, when rain drops started falling. I had been looking West to mainly clear skies, where hung a crescent moon. A downpour commenced seconds later, and I took refuge in an apartment building carport. Meanwhile, lightning flashed and thunder roared.

I used Leica Q2 Monochrom to capture the Featured Image, looking out at the clear horizon while water pummeled everything about me. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/1.7, ISO 5000, 1/125 sec, 28mm; 7:33 p.m. PDT. The photo is cropped to remove building overhang but otherwise is presented as rendered RAW.

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Photo by Joe Wilcox
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I Don’t Miss Apple Watch

This evening, I turned on Apple Watch Series 5 for the purpose of making the Featured Image—captured using Leica Q2 Monochrom. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/4, ISO 800, 1/125 sec, 28mm; 6:22 p.m. PDT. I hadn’t touched the gadget since putting it in a drawer after taking it off for the last time, on May 31, 2021. The next day, I returned to wearing a mechanical watch—mainly the Luminox Automatic Sport Timer 0921.

I thought that perhaps I might miss the thing, but three months later not the least. Putting aside Apple Watch is a liberating experience. The device constantly distracts, which disrupts short-term memory. Still relevant enough, 11 years later, my missive “Internet Attention Deficit Disorder” is worth a look, on the topic of distraction. Even better, consider book The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr. Just my luck: I bought a digital edition in June 2010; the book was revised last year; and a free update isn’t available.

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Photo by Joe Wilcox
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They’re Ready for Picking

Perhaps you remember the green grapes from early July that had started ripening red and violet two weeks ago. On Aug. 16, 2021, they had turned deep purple, suggesting to my uniformed eye that they are of the Concord variety and ready to pick. I assume a neighbor planted the vine and that the many clusters won’t be wasted.

Three-quarters of the way through a 6.5-kilometer (4-mile) round-trip walk on an errand to nearby Hillcrest, and carrying Leica Q2 Monochrom, I decided to shoot with street settings rather than go Macro mode. Vitals for the Featured Image: f/5.6, ISO 200, 1/500 sec, 28mm; 3:52 p.m. PDT. I would have preferred color but black and white works, with the berries’ dark hue that also emphasizes dusty particles on the skin.

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Photo by Joe Wilcox
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Seagull Shopper

My wife and I drove down to Westfield Mission Valley today to take advantage of an expiring coupon: One free pastry from Panera. She chose the Kitchen Sink Cookie—so large two hands are required to hold it. Walking, while she consumed, we encountered a seagull so squawky that it more or less honked like a goose. The thing prattled about looking for food, presumably, making no attempt to fly off as shoppers passed by. I wondered if he might be wing-injured. Annie wanted to share some cookie but rightly worried that the one sweet thing wouldn’t be good food for the other sweet thing. Yeah, we found the bird endearing as it weaved about shoppers.

I brought Leica Q2 Monochrom to the mall and used the camera to capture the Featured Image. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/5.6, ISO 200, 1/320 sec, 28mm; 2:32 p.m. PDT. We briefly continued, then I stopped and asked Annie if she minded my going back for more photos. Happily munching, she motioned me on. As I approached, a couple with a stroller stopped to gawk at the bird, seemingly unaware that they had cornered the thing between a store’s window and sidewalk sign. The gull’s only escape route was inside the shop, and that is where it briefly fled.

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Photo by Joe Wilcox
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The Bug House

I don’t take out Leica Q Monochrom nearly often enough. Maybe intimidation is the reason—because black-and-white photography requires so much more attention to composition than perhaps my sensibilities seem capable of. But, this evening, with clouds covering the soon-to-setting sun, I hauled out the camera for a lower-light expedition.

Thing is, I didn’t get far before capturing the Featured Image; yes, dusk settled but nowhere near darkness. Vitals, aperture and shutter speed manually set: f/2, ISO 400, 1/125 sec, 28mm; 7:42 p.m. PDT, which was about 18 minutes before sunset.

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Photo by Joe Wilcox
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Be Ready for Face Mask Discrimination

Before the SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2)/COVID-19 lockdowns, my wife and I were devout Trader Joe’s shoppers. But we lost faith during the months when long lines of people waited to be blessed entrance into the small stores. Our attention turned to humbler grocery cathedrals Food4Less, Grocery Outlet, and Smart & Final, which welcomed our presence and provided as good (and often better) sustenance for considerably lower cost. But with California slowly reopening, we occasionally return to Trader Joe’s—more to reminisce while grabbing a couple bananas.

We also go there for rolls of quarters, as I did this morning. The previous two trips, when getting cash back and casually telling the cashier about my plans, I was told: “We no longer give out quarters”. But when I traipsed over to the service desk, the gracious employees willingly exchanged a Twenty for two rolls. Last time, the gentleman even opened their new cash storage safe—installed sometime during last year’s coin shortage and after the nearby Wells Fargo branch closed, and never reopened, because of the pandemic.

Something changed today.

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Photo by Joe Wilcox
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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).

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Photo by Joe Wilcox
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Day of the Dead Rabbits

Rushing out the door, on April 18, 2021, lugging Leica Q2 Monochrom, I stopped: suddenly seemed that our resin rabbits would look quite good in black and white. Hence the Featured Image. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/4, ISO 640, 1/125 sec, 28mm; 6:49 p.m. PDT.

On Halloween 2019, my wife repainted them in her version of a Day of the Dead motif. The cobwebs collected about them add ambience to the photo. Don’t you think? They are supposed to be creatures of the, ah, nice netherworld. Our bunnies were good and would never go to Hell. But they might stand guard.

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