I don’t much love San Diego neighborhood Hillcrest, so much that if need demands going there, I typically carry Leica Q2 Monochrom—because the dinge, grime, and rainbow flags are better in black and white.
An errand compelled a walk through, ah, Hellcrest on Jan. 24, 2024. Along the way, I passed a discarded Croc shoe lying on University Ave. You would think that with the large number of shoeless homeless, somebody would claim the footwear and its companion, too—not that I saw it nearby.
Well, turns out Buchi isn’t the last photo from Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra after all. You get one more. While we walked after sunset on Jan. 26, 2024, my wife spotted a kitty looking out a second floor window onto an alley somewhere separating Alabama and Mississippi. UPS delivered S24 Ultra earlier that day, but I hadn’t yet time to set up the newer smartphone.
I turned the S23 Ultra skyward and used the 10x optical zoom lens for the Featured Image. My longstanding gripe: focal length undermines the utility of the telephoto in low light, as is so clearly demonstrated here. Vitals: f/4.9, ISO 4000, 1/30 sec, 230mm (film equivalent); 5:36 p.m. PST.
The Featured Image might seem to you an odd choice for this post’s title but I must disagree. Suddenly, on my walks, I see many more American flags displayed—and in places that are new to my eyes, like this one outside a North Park market. Makes me wonder: Are some San Diegans quietly, but affirmatively, expressing their patriotic support for Texas’ standoff with the Federal government?
Under a program called “Operation Lone Star“, Texas seeks to “hold the line to defend the Southern border”. Bolstering that effort, Governor Greg Abbott has mobilized state national guard units as part of a vanguard laying razor wire and blocking U.S. Border Patrol agents from processing immigrants. A Supreme Court ruling favors Federal efforts to cut (and remove) the razor wire. Abbott and his attorney general are defiant.
Address undisclosed, I spotted this fine feline, seemingly somewhat forlorn. Perhaps its owner stepped out for awhile. The cat tree is more typically unoccupied whenever I walk by, so finding a resident was quite the treat, today.
The Featured Image could be the last photo taken with Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. Its successor is scheduled for delivery tomorrow. Vitals: f/4.9, ISO 125, 1/60 sec, 230mm (film equivalent); 4:30 p.m. PST.
Nothing about the Featured Image really works. Depth of field is too shallow. Overall quality is too noisy. Composition is cluttered. Light and shadows contrast too much.
But busyness also shows off Southern California climate and diversity: The funny spiked thing, maple leaves, palm trees, sunny skies and wide street—on Dec. 17, 2023. The photo also reminds that even a premiere full-frame camera, Leica Q2, will produce a shot someone might presume comes from a smartphone’s small sensor.
We have a winner—or would if there was a contest for the neighborhood’s most gorgeous kitty. My wife and I walk along Mississippi less than other streets, which explains why we hadn’t seen this beauty—unless she is a newcomer, which is possible. For fluffy fur, Puff is our nickname.
The Featured Image marks the first sighting, on Nov. 19, 2023. All the portraits come from Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. Vitals: f/4.9, ISO 64, 1/60 sec, 230mm (film equivalent); 9:55 a.m. PDT.
Hillcrest is San Diego’s gay neighborhood—and I don’t mean happy. Judging by the many miserable-looking homeless folks sprawled across sidewalks, gay describes something other than disposition.
Rainbow flags are everywhere. During June, some fire hydrants are similarly repainted. An inclusive church presents each color on its own door. So I shouldn’t have been so surprised, today, to find a new manifestation: Rainbow crosswalk—and more. There are two. In succession. One is the straight color motif, and the other adds the trans flag. Depending on your opinion about this kind of thing, the colored crosswalks are either appropriately, or ironically, placed at Normal Street.
Identification can be tricky, particularly when kitties roam. This fine feline could be Peek-a-Boo, who joined the series on Jan. 10, 2021. Similarities are striking but differences matter, too. The previously-seen shorthair was quite dirty and wore a collar. This one is clean and wears nothing but fur.
I certainly have observed cats from the same litter, or completely unrelated, that could be anything from twins to doppelgangers. I spotted this one on Howard, which intersects Florida—where was Peek-a-Boo three years ago.
Christmas may be oh-so last year, but some of my San Diego neighbors let the holiday spirit linger on their lawns. Today, I came across some inflatables that are familiar and memorable—from stop-motion special “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”, which first aired on television in December 1964.
Abominable looms large over a collection of misfit toys; somewhat cut-off, gold-digger Yukon Cornelius stands behind the snow monster. Creatures, people, and things that don’t fit in is the underlying theme of the perennially-broadcast holiday classic. Festive decorations are misfit, too, with Christmas past and their summer-like setting. Nuclear winter would have to come before snow fell in this part of Southern California.
We start the new year with not one but two additions to the series. Because I am displeased with the amount of apartment interior seen in the Featured Image, location is withheld (privacy protection). But names are accurate for the tiger tabby and coal black, which came to the window as their owner exited and drove away.
Once again, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra‘s 10x-optical zoom lens demonstrates its worthwhile. Vitals: f/4.9, ISO 50, 1/420 sec, 230mm (film equivalent); 10:10 a.m. PST, Dec. 26, 2023.
As my wife and I walked along Panorama Drive in San Diego neighborhood University Heights, she pointed out mourning doves gathered to feed. I stopped, pulled out Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, and captured the Featured Image. Vitals: f/4.9, ISO 50, 1/640 sec, 230mm (film equivalent); 9:27 a.m. PST, today.
The shot demonstrates some of the benefits and limitations of the smartphone’s 10x-optical zoom lens. Having such capability and reach in a device carried in the pocket is amazingly convenient. That said, image quality is nothing close to what a real camera produces. So, please, no pixel-peeping. You will be disappointed.
Okay, so as I post, Christmas Day is still officially about 90 minutes away. But why wait? I used Leica Q2 to capture the Featured Image, along Campus Avenue between Meade and Monroe in San Diego neighborhood University Heights.
Vitals, aperture manually set: f/5.6, ISO 100, 1/320 sec, 28mm; 9:35 a.m. PST, Dec. 17, 2023. Composed as shot.