Category: Albums

Photos shared during UCSD PhIG monthly meetings

UCSD Photography Interest Group > Blog > Albums

17 Dec 2025 Holidays, Weather, Portraits: Jim

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Jim was unable to get out in December so most of the images he shared this month were photos from the Nov 27 2025 Oceanside Annual Thanksgiving Holiday Turkey Trot . This is a tradition in Oceanside on Thanksgiving morning. This year’s course was 5k starting by the Oceanside Library and ending at the beach south of the pier. Thousands participated, groups, families, young & old. There are staggered starts (“heats”?) often separated by speed or group characteristics like strollers or walkers (non-runners). The 4 and under kids have a shorter course (1/5mi) down by the beach. Their enthusiasm was wonderful to capture.
The other holiday image was from a 2019/2020 trip to Italy at New Years he hadn’t processed. His single b&w portrait was a homage to photographer Diane Arbus’s “Child with a toy grenade in NYC Central Park“.

17 Dec 2025 Holidays, Weather, Portraits: Mikky

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Mikky visits India frequently and his portraits capture the warmth of his subjects & the culture. One of the motivations for the Portraits theme this month was his excellent “passion-project” portfolio of portraits from Jan 2025. But the majority of this month’s photos were black & white seascapes (SIO “ScrippsHenge”) & Bryce Canyon landscapes. A style of photography he hasn’t shared before so the group may be influencing his photography. I know the shared photos have inspired mine.

17 Dec 2025 Holidays, Weather, Portraits: Heather

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Heather loves her compact (micro-four-thirds) Panasonic GX85 and never ceases to amaze us with the quality of her images. She has a great eye and timing especially with people photos. Her Do Dah Parade portrait is particularly strong and we think worthy of submission to the SD Fair. She proposes a Pasadena meetup in Nov 2026 for the parade. Her other portrait was from our Dios de los Muertos meetup Nov 1st. Other images were weather-themed and had great depth. Her backup camera is an iPhone proving the best camera is the one you have handy.

17 Dec 2025 Holidays, Weather, Portraits: Gary

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Gary shared a recent moonrise photo taken earlier this month on his latest trip to Yosemite. Planning his shot using Photopills, he captured the moon rising in Yosemite Valley. He also shared some portraits from our Nov meetup at Old Town for Dios de los Muertos. Gary had some spectacular surf crashing against the coast from November’s King Tides event. Big waves combined with King Tides are the optimal conditions for showing the power of this event. Gary uses a Nikon Z7 with his favorite 100-400mm lens, plus a 24-70mm for people, and an iPhone when kayaking.

17 Dec 2025 Holidays; Weather; Portraits: Cathy

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Cathy gets inspiration from multiple sources and is continually challenging herself. She’s been sharing images from her recent photography trip to Arizona & Utah. This month she shared an amazing double-rainbow taken over AZ’s Horseshoe Bend during a rain storm. An iphone is perfect for when it’s raining and you want to protect your bigger camera. She uses a Canon R6m2 mirrorless camera, Canon Rebel APS-C and an iPhone. A long exposure Christmas-themed ocean & pier shot at blue hour was a particular favorite. Plus a Christmas tree ICM (intentional camera movement) photo shows her creativity.

17 Dec 2025 Holidays; Weather; Portraits: Barb D

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Barb has recently “upgraded” from iPhone photography to a compact but very capable Sony RX100VII. It has a 1″ sensor with a 24-200mm fixed zoom lens. It squeezes all of Sony’s bigger camera features into a tiny point-n-shoot. She recently returned from a month-long trip to Japan and shared a variety of wonderful images taken with this pocketable camera. Her images of fog (weather) in Kyoto and Cabrillo Beach coastline during King Tides show off this camera’s output.

17 Dec 2025 Holidays; Weather; Portraits: Barbara

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Barbara went to Ocean Beach during Dec 5th’s King Tide and the small surf was perfect for surfers shots but not dramatic high-tide waves crashing. She makes great use of her OM System camera and lens for sports, birds, insects and wildlife. But tempted by the Black Friday sales and the group’s persistent full-frame gear-talk. She was inspired to buy a new full-frame Nikon Zf camera with 40mm lens. We look forward to seeing images from her new camera soon.

19 Nov 2025 Themes Moonrise/Sunset; Dios de los Muertos: John

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John shared some great images taken during our Nov 1st Old Town Dios de los Muertos meetup. Although four of us participated in the festival photography, John manage to capture some unique portraits of the costume celebrators. He found & photographed some of the best head-dresses I’ve seen. John visited the venue a week earlier (Oct 25th) when it was just setup and less crowded than the Nov festival weekend.
For moonrise, John photographed the moon in and above Junipero Sierra church at Presidio Park San Diego. The framing of the moonrise in the church window is another unique perspective vs the moon over the foreground feature we typically compose.

19 Nov 2025 Themes: Nifty-Fifty; Dios de los Muertos: Barb

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Barb shared photos taken at the Oct 26th Dios de los Muertos festival in Oceanside. She’s got a great eye for interesting detail and color. Using her Sony RX100M7 in great light, the 1″ sensor point-n-shoot tiny travel camera generated some incredibly detailed photos. Some of us (especially me) get so caught up in gear specs. We can forget the best camera for the job doesn’t always mean megapixels. It’s the photographer’s eye that is the best tool at creating interesting photos with whatever camera you are carrying. I hope she’ll share photos from her recent 1mo trip to Japan.