Tag: photography

Photo by Joe WilcoxNov 1, 202012:02 am

Flickr a Week 44b: ‘Storm Coming’

I agonized choosing today’s entry like no other in the series. The United States is two days away from a potentially transformative Presidential election. I reviewed hundreds of photos, finding none available with Creative Commons license that truly captured the right sentiment. At one point, to commemorate Day of the Dead and to punctuate how we all might be living the Zombie Apocalypse as the votes are tallied, and thereafter, I considered choosing something like “It’s Almost Time for Day of the Dead” by Richard Cawood.

Instead, the Sunday spot goes to the more foreboding, and location appropriate, self-titled “Storm Coming“, which Mike Maguire captured on July 1, 2017, using Sony α7S II. Vitals: aperture unknown, ISO 100, 1/2000 sec. Mike says about the moment: “About 30 minutes before heavy rain hit Washington, DC.” I picked the photo for metaphorical topicality, film-like graininess that adds character, and punchy black-and-white contrast that amplifies the atmosphere.

Photo by Joe WilcoxOct 31, 202010:37 pm

The Cats of University Heights: Prowler

Like Spirit, this fine feline appeared in the alley between Cleveland and Maryland on one side of Meade—not far from our old apartment, actually. Our long, lost Maine Coon-mix Kuma hung out in the same area, favoring his ledge. Real name unknown, I dub the shorthair Prowler, for its cunning, slinky movements.

Unfortunately, I carried along iPhone XS and not trusty Leica Q2. The Featured Image, which is cropped a little more than 100-percent, is good enough from the smartphone but would be great from the camera. Vitals: f/2.4, ISO 16, 1/489 sec, 52mm (film equivalent); 9:15 a.m. PDT; Oct. 5, 2020.

Photo by Joe WilcoxOct 31, 20205:10 pm

Dead Men Don’t Swing

As I explained five days ago, San Diegans are fiendishly obsessed with Halloween. Outside the home where lives Carl, who was featured in my “Cats of University Heights” series in January 2018, is a fine […]

Photo by Joe WilcoxOct 31, 202012:06 am

Flickr a Week 44a: ‘Devil’s Eye’

What could be more appropriate for Halloween than a black cat—and a frightening closeup? Dino Quinzani used Canon EOS 400D and Sigma 150mm f/2.8 EX DG HSM APO Macro lens to capture self-titled “Devil’s Eye” […]

Photo by Joe WilcoxOct 28, 202012:05 am

Flickr a Week 44: ‘Looking Out’

When choosing from the Photostream of Spiros Vathis, I considered four contenders—all captured using the (now) iconic Nikon Df: Self-titled “Dome” and “Obeliscus Aegyptiacus” for composition; “Piazza della Rotonda” for shooting style (getting down low); and the winner, “Looking Out“. Bokeh and composition are intriguing. My eye immediately goes to the larger blurred building, before refocusing on the other and then finding the gent gazing from a window. I like the visual foolery.

Spiros captured the moment on June 17, 2016, using an 85mm f/1.8 lens. Vitals: f/2.8, ISO 100, 1/320 sec, 85mm. Nikon Df has only appeared one other time in the series (so far)—”Superwoman Lost in London” for Week 4. Released in 2013, the full-frame dSLR features fully manual controls. Heck, I want one. The camera is a classic.

Photo by Joe WilcoxOct 26, 20207:46 pm

Look What Parked Next to Me at Costco

For cultural reasons that I don’t understand, Halloween is a big holiday in San Diego. Decorations are everywhere adorning homes and lawns. That’s not enough for some people, as this grim ghoulmobile demonstrates.

The thing spooked from the space adjacent to mine in the Mission Valley Costco parking lot. Proximity made no good way to photograph the entire machine. So I fumbled for composition and ambience, using iPhone XS.

Photo by Joe WilcoxOct 25, 202012:23 am

Flickr a Week 43a: ‘Lunch, San Francisco 2018, GR II’

I accidentally came to the Photostream of Greg Parish by way of his compelling portrait “7“, which would have taken the Sunday spot if not for my discovering “Lunch, San Francisco 2018, GR II“; the self-title identifies year and make of the Ricoh camera. Vitals: f/8, ISO 800, 1/2500 sec, 18.3mm; April 16.

What’s not to like? Clarity, color, composition, contrast, graininess, light, shadows, texture, and tilt are recipe for a street shot that’s as tasty as the noodles the subject soon will eat. Yummy.

Photo by Joe WilcoxOct 24, 202011:14 pm

The Cats of University Heights: Spirit

The main intersection on the neighborhood’s west side is a four-way with stop-signs at Cleveland and Meade. I meandered upon this kitty and the next one profiled on either side of Meade in the alley between Cleveland and Maryland—directions south and north, respectively.

I used iPhone XS to capture the Featured Image on Oct. 17, 2020. Vitals: f/2.4, ISO 16, 1/213 sec, 52mm (film equivalent); 10:21 a.m. PDT. Coincidentally, the day marked the series‘ fourth anniversary.

Photo by Joe WilcoxOct 21, 202012:15 am

Flickr a Week 43: ‘Feel the Music’

The week goes to Leon Hernandez for self-titled “Feel the Music“, which he made on Jan. 14, 2017, using Pentax K-50 and smc Pentax-DA 35mm F2.4 AL lens. The portrait is irresistible for: bokeh that […]

Photo by Joe WilcoxOct 20, 20209:40 pm

Delivery Door Art?

Surely you’ve come across something and wondered: “How long has that been there?” That is the question I asked on Oct. 6, 2020, while walking down the alley behind Kairoa Brewing Co., which is located along the main commercial area of San Diego’s University Heights neighborhood. The Featured Image is what I saw on the establishment’s rear door, where I presume supplies are unloaded. What does that image bring to your mind?

For me, the goats (or are they rams) immediately flash subliminal recollection, but not something precisely recalled. Looking at the beasts—bathed in blood red, so to speak, with their pointy horns—elicits creepy feeling that I have seen them before. In a horror movie perhaps—something like a “Constantine” or one of the three original “The Omen” films (1976, 1978, 1981). But somewhere. You do know that, biblically and mythologically, goats are associated with symbols of the devil?

Photo by Joe WilcoxOct 18, 202012:02 am

Flickr a Week 42a: ‘Style Icon’

There is “no cuter bird than a puffin”, says Rob Oo, who captured self-titled “Style Icon” in Vestur-Bardastrandarsysla, Iceland, on July 21, 2018, using Pentax K-S2. Vitals: f/8, ISO 1600, 1/350 sec, 250mm. The bird […]

Photo by Joe WilcoxOct 17, 20209:08 pm

The Cats of University Heights: Sundown

Four years ago today, I started this series with a presumed stray, sighted only once, that I call Scruffy. Three-hundred-fifty-eight profiles later, the number of furballs to photograph is seemingly inexhaustible. At the start, I expected the series to progress a month, maybe a little longer. Foolish me. In autumn 2016, as explained in post “Why Cats?“, I worked with new eyes, so to speak, following multifocal intraocular lens replacement for cataracts and also ongoing treatment for macular edema—the latter of which is mostly now resolved. Feline field photography acted as a kind of visual therapy.

That brings us to our celebratory kitty, seen in the yard of the home where once lived Giotto and next-door to where you can find Petri (well, until his family moves sometime before Dec. 1, 2020). That makes the black the fifty-seventh putty-tat from Alabama between boundaries Adams and Lincoln. No other street comes close, and I cannot fathom why.