The start of November ends the obsession of carving pumpkins for Halloween and begins pie prepping for Thanksgiving. My local Trader Joe’s—at The Hub Plaza in San Diego neighborhood Hillcrest—is all-holiday ready.
Bored, while waiting for my wife as she shopped inside the grocery, I stooped down with Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra and captured the Featured Image. Vitals: f/2.2, ISO 50, 1/2900 sec, 13mm (film equivalent); 11:18 a.m., Oct. 27, 2023.
Welcome to another blast from the past. I captured the Feature Image on this date in 2012, using Galaxy Nexus, which was codeveloped by Google and Samsung and manufactured by the latter company. Vitals: f/2.75, ISO 50, 1/115 sec, 3.43mm; 3:40 p.m. PDT.
Location: Monroe, between Cleveland and Maryland, in University Heights. The property is good measurement of San Diego’s changing housing market. The place sold for $520,000 in June 2011. The family living there moved to a larger home and put this place on the market, where it went for $617,500 in September 2013.
We return to yesterday’s smirking Jack-O-Lantern grin to update on the devastating Hamas attack against Israel. Something about the wicked smile evokes those worn by terrorists as they paraded living, and deceased, civilians around Gaza. Call it Trick or Terror, if you like. Hence my choice of a second shot, but colorless.
Israel’s confirmed death toll is the largest ever in a single day—more than 600, as I write. Two-hundred-sixty bodies were recovered around and about the site of the Supernova music festival. Hostages, nearly none military, including women, children, and families were hauled off to Gaza.
I can’t say why this yard appeals to me—at least photographically. We journey there for our fourth visit; the other three, in order by sequential date: “Light the Way“, “Night Garden“, and “Oriental Garden“.
The Featured Image comes from Leica Q2, on this sullen Saturday. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/1.7, ISO 1600, 1/15 sec, 28mm; 8:43 p.m. PDT. I close-cropped and pushed blacks and highlights to create darkened mood.
Halloween is past, but remnants remain—and what’s better than pumpkins as Thanksgiving approaches. Already, my local Costco sells massive pumpkin pies. Why now, I cannot fathom. It’s not like they’ll keep.
Yesterday, I used Leica Q2 to capture the Featured Image and companion. The first is nearly a 100-percent crop, shot wider-open than the other to make some bokeh. Vitals, aperture manually set for both: f/2.8, ISO 100, 1/2000 sec, 28mm; 11:49 a.m. PDT. The second: f/5.6, ISO 100, 1/800 sec, 28mm; seven seconds earlier.
The iPhone 13 Pro camera system surprisingly satisfies—more than any other smartphone to bless my grubby fingers. I am loving the ultra-wide (13mm) and telephoto (77mm) lenses, along with RAW capture capabilities. Shots are sharper than I would ever expect from a device with relatively small sensor and which primary function is not photography.
All combined, the 13 Pro is creative fun—and that’s from my only surface skimming the sea of benefits. The Featured Image is example, with distortion from the ultra-wide lens adding character to an otherwise mundane scene. Vitals: f/1.8, ISO 50, 1/122 sec, 13mm; 1:01 p.m. PDT, yesterday.
Bokeh and rich color take the Day in a photo with shallow depth of field and the focus placed just right. Nicholas Erwin shot self-titled “Pumpkin Stem” on Oct. 6, 2014, using Nikon D610 and […]