Anne challenges me to take a lens for a walk. Yes, choose a lens and walk. You can also use your cell phone or point-and-shoot camera and see what you can do with it. Another trick when using a zoom lens is to pick an aperture and stay with it. I accept this challenge.
My photography friends and I headed out of town Sunday. Our destination – Vacaville. I brought along my Fuji xt4 with my 18-55mm lens and my iPhone 13 pro. In my first group of photographs, I kept my aperture set at f 8.
Aperture f 8
This sign probably wouldn’t help muchGetting ready for more springlike weatherPeeking
Lone Lady Bug
Most Used Focal Length
Most used focal length surprised me – 18mm.
Meet Xinea
Two Cameras
iPhone 13 proFuji xt4 Which do you prefer?
Taken with iPhone 13 max
Wren’s Cafe in Vacaville
So ends my photographic look on my one lens walk. Looking forward to continued sunshine this coming week, at least. Gives the gardens and dog parks time to dry out. My Moxie wants to run and play outdoors.
Sofia’s challenge is about time, and how things evolve.
Medical Advances
My first photographs were taken at the Museum of Medical History. A couple of years ago I visited this little out-of-the-way museum when Sacramento was hosting Museum Day. Once a year, the public is invited to visit and learn about all the local museums. This little gem is just fascinating, but do not visit if you are about to have a medical procedure.
Iron Lung used during the polio epidemic
Forceps were used in my first delivery. (1975)QuinineAnesthetic Machine 1960’s
This technology continues to develop into smaller devices. Yeah!
With the use of digital equipment, disposables, and computers the look of hospitals is quite different.
Nurses duties before disposablesMedical mannequin for practice
My grandson meets the computer age.
Dimise of the Telephone Booth
My next set of photographs has to do with the slow disappearance of the telephone booth. With the advent of the pocketable cell phone, the public telephone is a rare find. I wonder where Clark Kent will go to change into Superman?
These booths had doors. This allowed for more private conversations. None of these are working telephone booths. The bottom image is from the Roseville Telephone Museum.
Somewhere along the evolution, the door is eliminated. And then the booth altogether. The dial is gone, and now there are buttons to press.
This image was taken in 2008. I wonder if this bank of shiny working pay phones is still in service the Phoenix Airport? Where or when did you last see a working pay phone?
One of my early jobs, while I was in college, was that of a long-distance telephone operator. And one of my least favorite part of the job was to connect someone from a pay phone. I had to listen for the coins to drop, connect the call, monitor, and ask for additional money after 3 minutes. Often the person would just walk away without paying. I was also the person who took the many complaints if they lost money on a non-working phone. I really don’t know how the phone call is paid for now. I bought my first cell phone in 1997 (25 years ago), and that took care of my use of pay phones. And that phone did not fit into my pocket or do what my iPhone 13 pro can do.
Siri is questioning me
Thank you Sofia for giving me a chance to look back. 25 years of cell phones. Wow, I just can’t believe that. Oh well, time flies.
The holidays are winding down. Presents have been opened. Returns are in full force. Expectations have been met. And some are left wanting. There are very special gifts purchased to honor that special person, and then there are gifts given to show that services are recognized. Gifts are exchanged with friends, and gifts are exchanged with acquaintances.
The following photographs were taken on other occasions I attended as a guest.
Presents that I did not receive!
But this time I received a Christmas gift from a neighbor two houses down from me. They moved into the small court of 6 houses about 8 months ago. I had only spoken to the neighbor two or three times when I was out with my dog, and I never met his wife. Various cars come and go for a time, and this was explained to me that they provide housing for traveling nurses. Back to my gift. The day after Christmas on my doorstep I found an unwrapped gift with a piece of paper taped on it with our names. It was a plain brown set of blackout drapes.
Blackout drapes. My windows all have very visible wooden shutters. I am seriously stumped by this gesture. All I know of this neighbor is that he has two little white dogs that he says are barkers. I never see or hear the dogs. I didn’t even know his wife’s name. I’m surprised they knew my husband’s name
What am I to do? Send a thank you card for the blackout drapes. Wait till I see someone from the house out and about and thank him for the gift. I walk past the house to get my mail. Usually, my dog Moxie joins me but it is rare to see them.
The mystery still remains in my mind. Maybe the husband was told to deliver presents, and now the wife is searching for the drapes to hang in the bedroom. Maybe the husband didn’t want or like the plain brown design and rather than hang them up he got rid of them. Maybe he thought the gift was something else entirely. Or maybe they intended for me to have this pair of blackout drapes. Did they just finish watching “The Watchers” on Netflix, and they wanted me to be safe? But why a set of blackout drapes? Or maybe they wanted me to have something to write about in my blog about gifts?
Happy Holidays and a very Happy, Healthy, Peaceful New Year 2023!
A Photo's Worth 