Tag: San Diego

Photo by Joe WilcoxMay 27, 202310:07 pm

‘Feed Me! Please?’

The fine family that owns ginger cat Daniel Tiger also keeps three chickens. Typically, a jar of feed is placed in a caddy on the fence so that neighbors can greet and treat the birds. But, today, when my wife and I walked by, the glass wasn’t half full, so to speak, but empty. We had nothing to share, and, oh, did the hens want some.

When we slipped out of the apartment between loads of washed and drying laundry, I left behind Leica Q2. To capture the moment, I relied on Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, choosing the Portrait mode that creates bokeh—or the illusion of blurred background.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMay 26, 20238:43 pm

Urban Husky Revisited

The “Urban Husky” residence is no longer a construction site. I had wondered if the mural would be a casualty of the renovation, although the artwork might be because of it. During an impulsive change of direction while walking today, my wife and I passed by the property.

I couldn’t go on without grabbing a fresh capture. The Featured Image comes from Leica Q2. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/4, ISO 100, 1/1250 sec,, 28mm; 2:01 p.m. PDT.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMay 24, 20239:13 pm

For the Love of Ducks

I don’t know San Diego’s Balboa Park well enough to identify the Featured Image‘s exact location. Metadata and Google Maps indicate the Lily Pond, so let’s assume that to be correct.

The ducks made quite the splash when I came upon them on April 20, 2023. I used Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra to shoot the quackers. Vitals: f/2.4, ISO 50, 1/2000 sec, 70mm (film equivalent); 4:08 p.m. PDT.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMay 23, 20239:09 pm

Ramblin’ Rose

I may regret the Featured Image tomorrow, but it looks pretty good tonight. Admission: My judgement cannot be trusted. Today’s routine eye exam included the dreaded dilation, which blurs my vision. My ability to appropriately assess composition or image quality is unreliable.

The wicked, but temporary, enlargement of my pupils obliterated any meaningful outdoor routine until early evening under a Marine Layer that never lifted. By 7:32 p.m. PDT, with sunset officially 14 minutes away, deep dusk had already set in when, finally walking, I passed the white rose bushes.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMay 21, 20238:23 pm

The Golden Man

Following up yesterday’s “The Photobomber“, we come to the intended subject of that photo—the golden man in the Featured Image and two companions. When passing him in San Diego’s Balboa Park on April 20, 2023, I was puzzled. He hung so still to the lamppost, I wondered if he was some statue—which there are a few round about. Then he moved, startling me and breaking my stare.

In the first of the three shots—all from Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra—he looks at approaching people. Vitals: f/4.9, ISO 50, 1/310 sec, 230mm (film equivalent); 3:14 p.m. PDT; composed as shot. Unfortunately, none of the trio aptly captures just how gold painted is his face.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMay 20, 20238:40 pm

The Photobomber

Consider the Featured Image as start of a two-parter. The intended subject of the street shot is the big guy hanging on to a lamppost, and I had planned to close-crop on him. But just as I clicked Leica Q2 Monochrom‘s shutter, someone scooted into the frame. The unintentional photobomber instead makes the moment.

Vitals, aperture manually set: f/5.6, ISO 200, 1/1600 sec, 28mm; 3:11 p.m. PDT, April 20, 2023. Location: San Diego’s Balboa Park.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMay 19, 20237:50 pm

Audacious Advertising

While driving our car to the auto shop for routine maintenance, today, I passed an intriguing billboard along Adams Avenue in San Diego neighborhood Normal Heights. Sentiment “People Matter” makes perfect sense. But not too long ago, and perhaps still, “all lives matter” was taboo response to the “black lives matter” crowd. Does this advert push boundaries? Is “people matter” all that different from “all lives matter”—regardless the different context? You tell me.

I am a big fan of offending people, of pushing their buttons, so to speak. We all need to feel uncomfortable from time to time, so that we think. So if “people matter” offends you, good! And because everyone matters, why should inclusivity of all colors be bothersome? Now, let’s get to the context, which is nothing about race relations.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMay 17, 20239:10 pm

Parrot Love

I want you to click “Birds on a Wire” and compare to the Featured Image. See the differences between what a camera can produce versus that of a smartphone. The 2018 close crop comes from Leica M (Typ 262) and Summarit-M 1:2.4/50 lens. The newer shot, taken yesterday, is a product of Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra‘s 10x zoom. Vitals: f/4.9, ISO 50, 1/1250 sec, 230mm (film equivalent); 12:04 p.m. PDT; composed as captured.

If I had to choose, no brainer: 50mm cropped from the rangefinder versus 230mm from the mobile. The S23 Ultra’s tiny sensor, for all the software computational magic, can’t compete with the full-frame shooter—at least in a situation where I expected telephoto reach to be meaningful asset.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMay 16, 202310:42 pm

What’s the Lesson Here?

Not for the first time, car horn-honking, chanting, cheering, and clapping beckoned me to the administrative offices for San Diego Unified School District, which is but a few blocks from our University Heights apartment.

I came upon a sizable protest of people dressed in red T-Shirts. The number could have been in the thousands—size the Featured Image and companion don’t capture in part because the crowd spread out some distance. They jam-packed when marching, too. Vitals, aperture manually set for both: f/8, ISO 100, 1/250 sec, 28mm; 4:23 p.m. PDT; Leica Q2.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMay 14, 20239:29 pm

The Flower Lady

Let’s start with a Happy Mother’s Day to the moms. Some of you work the holiday, as does this woman at her gift stand set up in my San Diego neighborhood of University Heights. She and her husband greeted me yesterday, and I had every intention of returning to buy flowers for my wife. But I waited too long. The lady sold out, and they were packing up when I arrived this afternoon.

I used Leica Q2 to take the Featured Image, which (sigh) is presented as composed, because I could create no crop that wouldn’t take too much context from the photo. Maybe you see something that I don’t. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/5.6, ISO 100, 1/500 sec, 28mm; 12:36 p.m. PDT.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMay 13, 20239:00 pm

Bon Appétit!

In April 2016, I started to write “Why is Hollywood Obsessed with Viral Armageddon?” In June 2017, I shot a photo to illustrate the post, which wasn’t finally finished until March 2021—nearly a year after the World Health Organization declared SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2)/COVID-19 to be a pandemic.

San Diego’s Museum of Us exhibit “Cannibals: Myth & Reality” must be ongoing because I came upon the same sign still in place six years later—as you can see from the Featured Image, captured using Leica Q2 Monochrom, on April 20, 2023. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/5.6, ISO 200, 1/160 sec, 28mm; 3:23 p.m. PDT.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMay 12, 20239:29 pm

Where the Crane Flies

Remember this: “The Teardown“, from February 2022? Where was a home and a few trendy shops, another multi-unit monument to more unaffordable housing rises along Park Blvd between Howard and Polk. By the strictest map boundaries, the location is in the community of University Heights. But because of zip code, someone will claim San Diego’s Hillcrest.

Vantage for the Featured Image is parallel street Georgia. I count four stories and rising. Vitals: f/2.4, ISO 50, 1/8800 sec, 70mm; 2:22 p.m. PDT, today; Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.