This summer I started a daily walking ritual—typically in the morning before beginning to meet the day’s demands. Recently, I often will see a black cat in the yard next to the Butterfly House, which […]
Tag: photography
The Cats of University Heights: Woo
Woo, who resides among apartments off Park Blvd. near Meade, is a fixture. I’ve seen her, and a littermate, around the same courtyard for years. Not nearly as long as I have lived in University Heights but definitely for a good half-decade. But this summer into autumn, though, she is alone—and I wonder about the other. (I later learned that Woo’s sister was mauled by a dog, leading to her death.)
Google’s Android auto-upload photo feature saved these captures; I can find no digital hard copies anywhere. For about 28 days in autumn 2013, I owned the Moto X Developer Edition before returning for refund. I praised the camera for shooting what the eye sees, which wasn’t enough to offset huge variances in image quality, depending on lighting. I captured the calico using Moto X on October 15th three years ago. If not for Cloud backup, the pics would be lost.
The Cats of University Heights: Roly Poly
Meet the second feline featured in this limited series. From Scruffy we go to Roly Poly (real name unknown). He and I first crossed paths on July 8, 2016 at 6:20 p.m. PDT a few meters onto Cleveland Ave. where it meets Monroe. He couldn’t stay still for long—moving from rolling around on the sidewalk to pestering a black cat meowing and growling on the other side of a hedge to lying flat. He preoccupied most of the time tormenting the hidden beast that I occasionally could see behind the brush.
I shot Roly’s portrait, the Featured Image, using iPhone 6s Plus. Vitals: f/2.2, ISO 32, 1/120 sec, 4.15mm.
The Cats of University Heights: Scruffy
I begin a new series that ends when the photos are all used: The Cats of University Heights. The number of feline sightings in my San Diego neighborhood is quite surprising, and I shoot them […]
Halloween Cat
I sighted the same cat sitting in the same place two nights in a row—second time with enough light to capture meaningful pics with iPhone 7 Plus. The candid presented opportunity to use the dual-camera’s zoom feature. Image on right is standard, and the other is 2X. The collage editor cropped, so for reference I provide the originals separately.
The captures are from Oct. 12, 2016, at 5:36 p.m. PDT. Vitals for the first: f/1.8, ISO 20, 1/399 sec, 3.99mm. The second: f/2.8, ISO 20, 1/129 sec, 6.6mm. I shot the pics quick, fully auto. Activating the optical zoom was one-touch easy.
iPhone 7 Plus First Photo
My daughter’s cat Cali sleeps on the desk from where I type this post. I couldn’t resist giving iPhone 7 Plus a quick, point-and-click camera test. She is too cute. Except for the slightest straightening, […]
Can You Say Cat Contact Lenses?
On October 15th, we will be living in the same San Diego apartment for nine years—and not since the first with a lease. But as of the 1st, we must abandon month-to-month living or pay […]
Where No Artifact Has Gone Before
What a difference 12 years and an anniversary makes. Here is the Starship Enterprise on display in the Air and Space Museum, October 2004. In celebration of the TV show’s 50th airdate—Sept. 8, 1966—celebration. the […]
My New Specs
Today, I shot a new profile pic, cropped from the selfie original that you see. Last month, the local LensCrafters unbelievably broke my Oliver Peoples Gregory Peck frames, which the shop doesn’t sell. Strange, since […]
What Would You Add?
Walking through San Diego’s Hillcrest neighborhood earlier this evening, I spotted something new—or at least to me. The “Before I Die…” wall has been there since June 2012. Clearly, I don’t get to that side of University Ave. often enough.
There’s something morbid about the giant chalkboard compared to aspirational “The Courage Wall”, which was my Flickr-a-Day-231 selection last year. Both fixtures provide space for passersby to express something longed to do; one is about overcoming something to achieve something more, while the other is wished for far less earnestly. Compare the aspirations to see the differences.
Peek-a-Neko
Our handsome ginger poses for your late-Caturday amusement, between new sleeping bags. The green is Annie’s—the Marmot Trestles 30, purchased during REI’s big sale a few weeks back. The blue arrived today, and rather quickly […]
Cat Cuddles
Rarely do Cali and Neko sleep together like this, but the Tortoiseshell is having an off 7 days or so. She seems unsettled. Yesterday, the petite feline watched the Apple TV Aerial screensaver for the longest time. I do mean attentively watched.
Perhaps she longs for the outdoors, which was a major part of her habitat before joining our household in October 2014. On June 5 of the same year, Cali adopted our daughter. I met Molly’s new companion the previous evening on the street.