San Diego, CA
San Diego’s Photo Gem

Though San Diego is lower than three hours south of the place I reside, I go to there lower than I might have imagined, principally for lack of causes to take action.
Nonetheless, a latest invitation to go to the Museum of Photographic Arts (MOPA) in Balboa Park in San Diego launched me to a gem I had not appreciated earlier than.
Daybreak #2 by Ruud van Empel. Bequest of Dr. Larry Friedman
Photograph by Ruud van Empel, Courtesy of Museum of Photographic Arts
First, just a few phrases in regards to the Museum. The Museum grew out of a neighborhood group of pictures fans who, starting in 1972, operated the Heart for Images, a museum with out partitions. In 1983, MOPA opened in house donated by the Metropolis of San Diego. MOPA’s everlasting assortment consists of greater than 9,000 pictures and historic objects in addition to over 22,000 objects held inside the Edmund Okay. and Nancy J Dubois Library spanning the historical past of pictures and together with supplies associated to the historical past of pictures and its numerous image-making processes.
The night I visited, two new reveals opened, by Nick Brandt and Jed Fielding, in addition to an set up from the everlasting assortment of works donated by late MOPA board member Dr. Larry Freidman.
Nick Brandt, Charcoal Burning with Giraffe and Employee, 2019, archival pigment print.
Photograph by Nick Brandt, Courtesy of the Baty Assortment
Nick Brandt: This Empty World (on exhibit till October 7) is a powerful set up of labor meant to boost consciousness of environmental degradation and its influence. Brandt is an English photographer, a graduate of St, Martin’s Faculty of Artwork, who started his profession as a profitable music video director for such artists as Michael Jackson, Jewel, Moby and XTC.
Whereas in East Africa, Brandt was struck by the vanishing great thing about the animals and the pure panorama, threatened by human encroachment, environmental destruction, and local weather change. Brandt turned to pictures to specific our human connection to the animal realm and the pure atmosphere, and the way the degradation of 1 impacts the opposite, in addition to a method for Brandt to specific his sturdy emotions on the topic.
“Individuals nonetheless suppose the key concern with the destruction of wildlife in Africa is poaching, however particularly in East Africa it is now not the largest downside,” Brandt mentioned. “The most important downside is the inhabitants explosion that’s occurring. With that comes an invasion of humanity and improvement into what was not so way back wildlife habitat.”
Brandt’s giant format photos (60 X 130 inches) are conceptual works staged by Brandt which are every a significant endeavor. Places are scouted that mirror the place each animal life existed and the place people now encroach. The world to be photographed is made prepared for the animals who’re led there in an natural trend. Brandt permits them to develop into acclimated to the terrain after which shoots photos of them there. The animals depart and the employees or people return. Brandt pictures them after which photo-composites are made that handle, in Brandt’s phrases, “the escalating destruction of the African pure world by the hands of people, displaying a world the place, overwhelmed by runaway improvement, there is no such thing as a longer house for animals to outlive. The folks within the pictures additionally usually helplessly swept alongside by the relentless tide of ‘progress.’”
The size of Brandt’s work and the surreal juxtaposition of untamed animals resembling elephants, tigers or giraffes, and people in industrial trying places make seeing Brandt’s work memorable – and really a lot make the argument for restoring the steadiness between people, the pure world, and the animal realm. Nonetheless, the staged nature of the images, for me, detracted from their influence as artworks at the same time as they continue to be compelling statements of advocacy.
Jed Fielding, Naples #33, 1992, archival inkjet print. Present of Emanuel and Edithann M. Gerard.
© Jed Fielding, 2021.
In contrast, Encounter: Images by Jed Fielding (on view via September 25, 2022) showcases the work of Fielding, a road photographer who has spent greater than 40 years photographing the folks of Naples, on black and white movie (digitally printed however he makes no digital alterations to the pictures). Fielding, who was additionally current at MOPA, defined he at all times asks for permission to {photograph} somebody, and he generally poses them to seize the kinetic high quality of their presence. Nonetheless, what he snaps is what we see. And what we see is a deeply empathetic portrait of humanity.
“I need guests to go away feeling in another way than they felt after they walked into the exhibition,” Fielding mentioned. “I’d just like the viewers to really feel that it is a new kind of encounter for them. I hope that they may depart pondering that they’ve not seen pictures fairly like this earlier than.”
Seaweed Farms by Michael Kenna. Bequest of Dr. Larry Friedman
Photograph by Michael Kenna, Courtesy of Museum of Photographic Arts
Final, however under no circumstances least, Legacy: Larry Friedman Assortment (on view via September 11, 2022) displays highlights from the gathering that the late Dr. Friedman bequeathed to the Museum, consisting of works of latest pictures that, as MOPA’s web site says, “challenged the notion of what pictures will be.” This contains works by Michael Kenna, resembling Seaweed Farms (2010) which look extra like a Van Gogh drawing than {a photograph} and works by David Maisel that might simply be seen as trying like a Richard Diebenkorn print.
Seems MOPA is much more particular than I imagined. Impartial museums solely dedicated to Images are rarities. There are just a few within the US; and in June 2020 The Annenberg Area for Images in Los Angeles closed completely. MOPA jogged my memory of the myriad methods this “lens-based medium,” whether or not journalistic and real looking, or summary and inventive, can educated, inform, problem, and carry our spirits as an expression of the imaginative and prescient of those that see the pictures of our world.

San Diego, CA
How to buy 2025 San Diego Padres MLB playoff tickets, Padres postseason scenarios

With one week remaining in the regular season, San Diego Padres fans are hoping 2025 is the year the team finally wins a World Series.
After an 85-plus win season, the Padres clinched a spot in the National League Playoffs for the fourth time in the last six seasons.
With Padres fans hopeful for another deep postseason run, the time is now to secure playoff tickets. Check back as San Diego’s playoff scenarios, and ticket prices continue to update during the final week of the MLB season.
Shop 2025 SD Padres MLB Playoff tickets
San Diego Padres 2025 MLB playoff tickets
Padres postseason tickets are available for every scenario. If you purchase a ticket and San Diego doesn’t play in that round, tickets will be refunded. See below for all the potential Padres playoff scenarios.
San Diego Padres 2025 MLB playoff scenarios
The Padres have already clinched a playoff spot, but could still end the season as the No. 3, No. 4 or No. 5 seed. If San Diego overtakes Los Angeles for the NL West crown and the No. 3 seed, they will earn homefield for at least the Wild Card round. If the team ends as the No. 5 seed, they will play the No. 4 seed and be the road team in the best-of-3 Wild Card series and beyond.
San Diego Padres 2025 Wild Card Tickets
The Padres’ most likely scenario is to finish as the No. 5 seed and play on the road for the Wild Card round, but if they rise to the No. 3 or No. 4 seed in the National League, they will host all three potential games in a Wild Card series. Here are the ticketing options for each Wild Card home game:
San Diego Padres 2025 NLDS Tickets
Should the Padres win their Wild Card matchup, they would advance to the National League Divisional Series. If the With San Diego entering as the lower seed, they would host Game 3 and a hypothetical Game 4 as long as the series doesn’t end in a sweep.
San Diego Padres NLCS Tickets
If the Padres advance to the National League Championship Series, it becomes a best-of-seven game series with the winner heading to the World Series. If the Padres are the favorite, they will host Games 1, 2, 5 and 7. In the more likely scenario that the Padres are the lower seed, they will start the series on the road and would host Games 3, 4 and 6.
San Diego Padres World Series tickets
Should the Padres make the World Series, homefield advantage goes to the team with the better regular-season record. While that’s not a likely scenario given the team’s current record, it’s not out of the question. If the Padres did have the better regular-season record, they would host Games 1, 2 and hypothetical Games 5 and 7. If not, they would host Games 3, 4 and then Game 6 should the series require it.
*= if necessary
Shop SD Padres MLB Playoff tickets
San Diego, CA
Helen Woodward’s kid-focused Humane Education Campus opens

This spring, Helen Woodward Animal Center Education Center opened the doors on its new Sharron Lee MacDonald Humane Education Campus, named for MacDonald, a Rancho Santa Fe philanthropist. The $7.5 million project in Rancho Santa Fe features classrooms, animal enclosures and playgrounds, a special place for the more than 13,000 children that visit the center each year to learn and foster a forever love for animals.
The new center, which encompasses two buildings totaling 10,500 square feet with 20,000 square feet of accompanying outdoor space is the new home for Critter Camps, interactive exposure with animal ambassadors, educational programs with schools and Scouts and even birthday parties.
Haylee Blake, the center’s associate director of education, said what she loves most about the new facility is “just having a really intentional space for the kids”. From the floor to ceiling, whimsical wooden tree sprouting in the corner of the lobby to the playful classroom spaces and many opportunities to get up close and personal with an animal, she said they wanted to create a space that was inspirational, fun and engaging, a place to spark curiosity and empathy for animals and the natural world.
Humane education has always been a focus for Helen Woodward, teaching compassion and care for all animals. Blake said the new center will continue to be a place for kids to encounter animals, learn about science and debunk myths about certain animals that they may be fearful of.
When kids are able to interact hands-on with an animal, learn its name and personality, they might become interested in learning more and about how to protect it—even the less cuddly animals like insects and snakes: “They all matter when it comes to a good, healthy ecosystem,” Blake said. “We believe strongly that having live animal presentations is important….It creates a personalized experience.”
It took a long time for this dream campus to come to life.
In 1972, Helen Woodward, a native Californian and Del Mar resident for 40 years, bought a 12-acre farm in Rancho Santa Fe that was covered with weeds, a little house and a falling-down barn to establish what was then known as the San Dieguito Animal Care and Education Center. Many of the center’s structures were built after her death in 1983 and the center was renamed in her honor in 1986.
For many years, the old house on the property was used for the children’s education programs. When construction on the new and improved adoptions center started in 2018, the education program moved into trailers under the covered riding pavilion. Their old stomping grounds became the temporary “Adoptions Village,” and the center’s therapeutic riding program moved to an arena on the back of the property.
Planning for the new humane education campus started at the end of 2019 and was slowed by the pandemic. After breaking ground in the fall of 2023, construction took a little longer than expected to get going, after months of moving dirt around to lift the property out of the flood plain. During the year-long construction, the educational programming didn’t miss a beat. As soon as they snipped the ribbon at an opening ceremony in May, summer camps started rolling in the next week.
While funding for the project came mainly from MacDonald, the Jack and Marilyn McManama Charitable Trust, the Selander Foundation and the LaureL Foundation, donors contributed to the project in a variety of ways, from pitching in $5,000 to pledging $25,000. Throughout the new center, donors and supporters are recognized with names on features of the building or on colorful, animal-shaped donor plaques.
One of Blake’s favorite donor features is the concrete dog on the playground, which was auctioned off at their annual Spring Fling fundraiser. The winning bidder, the Viterbis, were able to get the dog painted to look like their beloved dog Lou—the climbing feature that sits sweetly on the playground even has a dog tag with his name on it.
Making it even more special, Lou was a Helen Woodward alumni: “Now he has been immortalized and will provide a lot of fun for kids,” Blake said.
The education center now has six classrooms for programming, all meant to be very fun and immersive spaces, themed around different animal habitats including the Desert Room, the Jungle and Woodland Room ( a larger room that can be split in two), Ocean Room, Tundra Room and Pets Room.
Graphic artist Brise Birdsong created all of the art in the rooms digitally—about 220 different are animals are depicted all of them native to the habitat featured, including the polar bear in the Tundra Room and the California mule deer in the Woodland Room, based on the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The Pets Room features more domestic animals in a park and home environment—dogs and cats, a bearded dragon and goldfish. Birdsong painted one dog in memory of her dog Pepper who passed away at the end of the project.
As the focus of the classrooms was on making them easy to clean, there are a lot of hard surfaces which Blake can create a lot of echoing, not conducive to instruction or lots of excited talking. The acoustic panels were incorporated into the design—in the Pets Room they are clouds and in the Ocean Room it’s as if you’re submerged underwater with a whale swimming overhead. The constellation painted on the ceiling panels in the Desert Room is based on the actual constellations in the night sky on the day the center was founded on August 8, 1972.
Inside, all of animal ambassadors, from the bunnies to the birds to the lizards and snakes, all have new safe and spacious enclosures with lots of enrichment. New outside enclosures currently house chickens, goats and the newest arrival, an adorably fuzzy baby doll harlequin sheep yet to be named. One enclosure is currently vacant with plans for possibly a mini cow or alpacas—Blake said it’s all about finding animals with the right temperament for the educational programming.
Outside, two animal enrichment patios include bleacher seating with enclosures to keep larger animals like horses during an outdoor presentation.
The center’s outdoor space also features two new playgrounds, which they never had before beyond some bean bags, hula hoops, balls and donated playhouses. Now the younger kids ages 2-5 have a woodsy, nature-themed playground with logs for kids to climb on and through, with animals scattered throughout including a raccoon, bear, the beloved dog Lou and an eagle perched up high.
The playground for ages 5-12 on the other side of the center has a pollinator theme—the play structure is topped by a monarch butterfly and one of the climbing obstacles mimics a giant spider web. There’s a giant beehive and bee to climb, and a pretty hummingbird slide.
Each playground is connected to a large room specifically designed to host birthday parties, craft activities or camp lunches, each outfitted with two long tables.
The new building also includes offices for the staff and spaces for instructors and volunteers to work and collaborate, with room to grow.
Future phases of work at Helen Woodward Animal Center could include remodeling of the center’s equine hospital and the Club Pet boarding facility. Plans are still up the air for the old covered pavilion, it may revert back to therapeutic riding program or converted to parking.
To learn more about the education campus offerings or more at Helen Woodward, visit animalcenter.org
San Diego, CA
Crusaders Soccer Club highlights captains for program’s 40 top teams

Overview: Crusaders Soccer Club
Director of Coaching Victor Melendez noted, “Between our competitive and recreational teams, we have nearly 1,500 players wearing Crusaders uniforms. Of those players, 483 are on one of our 40 competitive teams, and 12 of those teams are now playing at a national level.”
On Sept. 2, the Crusaders Soccer Club held our annual Competitive Team Captains ceremony in the sanctuary of the Mission Trails Church.
The sanctuary was packed with the families of the players as they received their official team captain arm bands for the 2025/26 season.
Assistant Director of Coaching for the soccer club’s Competitive Program, Seth Tunick, was the master of ceremonies and coordinated this special event.
Tunick commented, “Each of our 40 competitive teams has two captains. This is a significant reward for these players. These players continually show dedication to the game of soccer and their team, while maintaining a positive attitude and, of course, demonstrating their leadership qualities. These young men and women are now responsible for demonstrating these abilities throughout the season for their team and the club.”
Director of Coaching Victor Melendez noted, “Between our competitive and recreational teams, we have nearly 1,500 players wearing Crusaders uniforms. Of those players, 483 are on one of our 40 competitive teams, and 12 of those teams are now playing at a national level.”
The first games of the 2025/26 were played Sept. 6-7. Among the competitive and recreational divisions, there were 64 games that weekend.
Nearly 1,000 recreational players on 88 teams also played the first of their 11 Saturday games that weekend. The slate continues through Nov. 16.
“Because of the advanced level of play of our recreational division, our competitive coaches will be scouting our recreational teams, looking for the next group of competitive-level players for future teams,” said Director of Coaching for the Recreational Program, Modesto Gardiniello.
He also wished “to sincerely thank all our volunteer recreational team coaches and coordinators, who ensure the complicated puzzle of assembling teams and ensuring everything goes smoothly throughout the 11-week season. Come out and watch a game. Our teams will be playing. Stop by just about any grass field on a Saturday in the Navajo area and enjoy a soccer game.”
-
Finance1 week ago
Reimagining Finance: Derek Kudsee on Coda’s AI-Powered Future
-
World1 week ago
Syria’s new president takes center stage at UNGA as concerns linger over terrorist past
-
North Dakota1 week ago
Board approves Brent Sanford as new ‘commissioner’ of North Dakota University System
-
Technology1 week ago
These earbuds include a tiny wired microphone you can hold
-
Culture1 week ago
Test Your Memory of These Classic Books for Young Readers
-
Crypto1 week ago
Texas brothers charged in cryptocurrency kidnapping, robbery in MN
-
Crypto1 week ago
EU Enforcers Arrest 5 Over €100M Cryptocurrency Scam – Law360
-
Rhode Island1 week ago
The Ocean State’s Bond With Robert Redford