Tag: Pacific Beach

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The (Honorary) Cats of University Heights: Comber

For the first Christmas in years, our daughter wasn’t in crisis. She started living in a woman’s group house and finally appeared on an upward trajectory. To celebrate her progress, my wife and I prepared a lovely assortment of meaningful gifts, which we dropped off before continuing on to the ocean and one of our more memorable holidays since the last decade. Then, unexpectedly, daughter left the residence and program on her 28th day—not thirty or the recommended sixty. Another year ends in uncertainty, with devastating foreshadowing.

Trying to revive some good feeling from Christmas Day, I present a most remarkable ginger kitty seen during our Pacific Beach adventure. He hunched in the sand alongside the paved path, mostly unfettered by bikers, runners, skaters, and walkers whizzing by.

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A Very SoCal Christmas

Christmas Day assumed various nuances that made memories for the Wilcox family and others. For starters, we could celebrate free of SARS-CoV-2(severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2)/COVID-19 lockdowns and mandates that oppressed the previous two years’ holidays. Summer suddenly reappeared in a magnificently mild and sunny day, with the temperature reaching 25.6 degrees Celsius (78 Fahrenheit). Even as I write, temp is unseasonably 19 C (66 F). Tomorrow is supposed to be nearly as warm as today.

As I will more fully explain in a few days, my wife and I have changed computing platforms—PCs and smartphones. At 12:30 p.m. PST, I met parents and their adult age college student to buy Annie’s 13.3-inch MacBook Pro M1 (16GB RAM, 1TB SSD). I have yet to find a buyer for my 16.2-inch MBP M1, which is a monster configuration that only a crazy man would let go—or swap for something seemingly less. All will be revealed soon enough. There are reasons.

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Surfers in Black and White

The Fujifilm X100F is, conceptually, little different from the original that released in early 2011. Refinements are plenty, reaching the fourth generation (hence the F): focusing is way faster; sensor packs more megapixels (24 vs 12); and controls are more sensibly placed and functional, for example. But largely the same: overall retro-rangefinder styling; shape and size; emphasis on manual dial controls; leaf shutter; ND filter; dual optical and electronic viewfinders; and fixed f/2 lens, among others. Why change what is classic, and clever, from the start?

The Prime lens, matched with the 24.3-megapixel X-Trans CMOS III sensor, delivers fantastic IQ (e.g., image quality). Surprisingly, the X100F is more an action-cam that conceptually is in league with interchangeable siblings X-Pro2 and X-T2. Focus finally is fast enough. I got a good taste of both qualities while shooting surfers from Pacific Beach pier. Some of the best captures are black and white, applying Acros film simulation in camera. The Featured Image and two crops following below the fold demonstrate. 

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A Day at the (Pacific) Beach

My wife and I hauled off to the closest tourist beach earlier today; one of her favorite bead stores had advertised a sale. While she shopped, I walked down the Pacific Beach boardwalk. At 11:11 a.m. PDT, I came upon a blonde, back turned, tapping on a smartphone. Her shapely thighs, wavy hair, and posture beckoned for a spontaneous, stealth shot (no face). I grabbed the Fujifilm X100F, right-shoulder slung on the ONA Lima strap, and framed the moment—when she shifted position and turned to face me just as I clicked the shutter. Did she psychically feel the camera?

The close-cropped “Accidental Portrait” is the result. That’s the PB pier off to the right, BTW. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/11, ISO 200, +0.33 ev, 1/250 sec, 23mm. All color photos in this post were purposely shot with Classic Chrome film simulation but accidentally with the positive value exposure compensation.