Tag: street photography

Photo by Joe Wilcox
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The Fiddler

The National Weather Service has issued Winter Storm Warnings for Boston and New York, with expected snow accumulations between 20 and 38 cm (8 and 15 inches). Washington, DC: Mixed perception, which if typical means freezing rain. Well, perhaps I don’t miss the East Coast as much on this fine Wednesday. The third season of the year, Late Summer, brought breezy air and blazing sunshine to San Diego for a high temperature of 22 degrees Celsius (72 F).

My wife and I spent much of the late morning through early afternoon in Ocean Beach, packing up our daughter’s apartment. Molly’s plan to vacate the place by the end of the month was interrupted last week by an emergency trip to the hospital, where she spent 24 hours on a ventilator (unbelievably not for COVID-19, which is caused by SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2).

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Photo by Joe Wilcox
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Flickr a Week 51: ‘La Orotava, Tenerife’

Expressing a sentiment that applies to most photos showcased in this series, Viktor Kirilko says about self-titled “La Orotava, Tenerife“: “Pre COVID-19 era”. No social distancing. No mandated mask wearing. We see life as it was—magnificently depicted, too—one year ago, when, already, SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2) silently spread. How dramatically—no, drastically—life has changed since.

Viktor captured the moment on Dec. 7, 2019, using Fujifilm X100. Vitals: f/16, ISO 200, 1/4000 sec, 23mm. Nearly a decade after its release, the X100 is still worthy in capable hands and eyes. The photo takes the week for clarity, color, contrast, sassy saturation, and three-dimensional depth. BTW, the yellow building to the right is a hardware store: Ferretería Orotava. The Novel Coronavirus hit Spain hard. Did, or will, the shop—and others around it—survive?

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Photo by Joe Wilcox
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California’s Christmas Coal Stocking Stuffer

For a state top-heavy with liberal-leaning Climate Change crazies cruising electric cars and demanding the end of carbon emissions, California sure loves coal—as in stuffed by the truckloads into Christmas stockings. Governor Gavin “Grinch” Newsom assures plenty of blackened lumps this holiday, following his most recent order that effectively shuts down most of California and demands that citizens stay home and embark on nothing more than “essential travel”; how odd that trips for alcohol and cannabis are allowed, although I’d like to think that Santa regards them as naughty and worthy of a sack of curbside coal—seeing as how the lockdown order permits deliveries but forbids visits from the likes of Old Saint Nick.

Today marks the first full day of shutdown misery, which will last until at least Dec. 27, 2020. Driving through Ocean Beach this morning, I was struck by how many eateries and pubs had set up outdoor dining areas—some costing tens of thousands of dollars to construct. Now they’re useless monuments to COVID-19, colossal wastes of capital, and resounding lessons that trying to do the right thing for public health is the wrong approach when Governor Newssolini keeps changing the rules by which businesses operate during the pandemic.

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Photo by Joe Wilcox
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The Cats of University Heights: Sundae

There is a pileup of unpublished furballs in the queue, and it’s long past time for you to meet each of them. We begin with the fifty-sixth beastie seen behind window or door—this one along Madison between Cleveland and Maryland. Candor, Pebbles, Sadie, Sentry, and Swirl live along the same stretch of street, while John Adams, Ludwig, and Snowy can be found closer to North Avenue.

The black and white earns nickname Sundae for appearance and to play on words—or their pronunciation: I captured the Featured Image on Nov. 29, 2020, which was a Sunday, using Leica Q2. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/5.6, ISO 100, 1/500 sec, 28mm; 9:53 a.m. PST.

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Photo by Joe Wilcox
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Let the People Eat

For what did Rudford’s have to be grateful for on Thanksgiving Day last week? I wonder, as the COVID-19 crackdown prohibits indoor dining and imposes a 10-p.m.-to-5-a.m. curfew that impinges on the 24-hour diner’s normal operations. Eateries across California—and the country—are beaten back because of rising confirmed SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2) infections, which are misidentified by politicians and the news media as cases. Most people testing positive are not sick nor will they be hospitalized.

In the weekly report released today: 81,084 people have tested positive (e.g., confirmed cases) for COVID-19 since San Diego County started tracking data in February. Median age: 35. Number of deaths: 997, with a median age of 76. No one died in the week ended Nov. 28, 2020. Case fatality rate: 1.2 percent. Stated differently, if you live in SDC and test positive your chance of surviving the Novel Coronavirus is 98.8 percent.

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Photo by Joe Wilcox
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The Cats of University Heights: Puss

How surprising: I am seeing some new kitties along North, where it intersects Madison, or in the alley between Campus. Four appeared today, but two vanished before I could close the distance for photos (you’ll see them soon). I encountered the series‘ newest addition, nicknamed Puss, for no particular reason, on Oct. 30, 2020. The Featured Image comes from iPhone XS. Vitals: f/2.4, ISO 40, 1/122 sec, 52mm (film equivalent); 9:16 a.m. PDT.

Somebody’s outdoor space is luxury. Look at the cat trees and surrounding plants. In perennially sunny San Diego, the cat can have indoor furniture outside for much of the year. What a habitat! My question: Does he (or she) spend time within the caretaker’s residence, too?

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Photo by Joe Wilcox
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The Cats of University Heights: Sadie

Meet the fifty-fourth meow-meow looking out from behind window or door. Sadie is a sweetie, living a less lonely life than in her previous residence. Sickness took Sadie’s owner away, and she stayed alone inside the house for about a year—tended to and fed twice daily by kindly neighbors. Eventually, he passed away, which is how she came to be taken into a new home not long later by a friend of the cat’s caretaker.

A few days ago, I got the full story from the friendly woman with whom Sadie now lives. But the Featured Image, captured along Madison beyond the West side of Cleveland, is from Sept. 28, 2020. I used Leica Q2 to make the moment. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/8, ISO 100, 1/320 sec, 28mm; 8:37 a.m. PDT.

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