San Diego’s got no culture. San Diego is a tourist town. San Diego is a nice place to retire.
Meanwhile cranking away under those well-worn clichés, the city’s creative edge is its best-kept secret. San Diego Magazine and Sony Electronics have partnered to tell the stories of the people building that culture from the ground up.
Episode 2: Iydeen Younis, Photographer
“English is my third language, so I’m not always comfortable expressing myself in words. Photography lets me communicate with everyone.”
Photography as a language, a universal translation. Iydeen Younis knows this well. Her family was relocated to San Diego when she was five years old after their village was destroyed. As a young kid who didn’t speak the language, the camera was how she spoke. She used it to document her family’s new life.
Iydeen’s parents wanted her to become a doctor, a lawyer, something big and stable and safe with some important-looking letters after it. But she felt the need to tell people’s stories, capture rare moments, document good work being done. Now she shoots in kitchens across the city, like @cicciaosteriasd, helping the people of the food and drink culture translate what they’ve created.
This is her story. Stay tuned for more. Shot On Sony FX6 and a7S III cameras at Ciccia Osteria in Barrio Logan.
To learn more about Sony’s Alpha 7 III full-frame hybrid camera, click here.#Shot On Sony #SonyCommunity
San Diego’s got no culture. San Diego is a tourist town. San Diego is a nice place to retire.
Meanwhile, cranking away under those well-worn clichés, the city’s creative edge is its best-kept secret. San Diego Magazine and Sony Electronics have partnered to tell the stories of the people building that culture from the ground up.
First up: Mike Lynch, founder of San Diego’s Imperfects
“San Diego is a cultural sleeping giant.”
Mike Lynch made a name for himself by finding the crook in the straight line. Born and raised in San Diego, he skated the beach town alleys, surfed his brains out. He rode the same boards we all did. But when you stare at something long enough, you see other potentials. So he set up in garages, strapped on the mask, and remixed the classic shape. His funky, asymmetrical boards looked like mistakes, and rode like a dream.
Mike’s imperfections grew beyond the board. He tweaked the surf and skate wear (shirts, jackets, pants, you name it). He just opened a showroom in one of the greatest, grittiest beach towns in the country: OB. He shapes and sketches in the back, hangs with new friends up front. It’s a creative space for local culture, created by a local.
This is his story. Shot on Sony FX6 and Alpha 7S III in Ocean Beach.
To learn more about Sony’s WH-1000XM5 Wireless Industry Leading Noise Canceling Headphones, click here.
Finding a gift that feels truly personal can be surprisingly difficult. In a sea of generic options — flowers, gift cards, candles, and the like — Xplosion Box offers something more lasting: a customized keepsake built around the photos, messages, and memories that matter most.
Founded by Southern California entrepreneur Jay Vijay, Xplosion Box LLC creates fully customized explosion gift boxes that arrive professionally designed, printed, assembled, and ready to gift. Each box opens layer by layer to reveal personal photos, heartfelt messages, pull-out albums, origami-style photo pockets, and hidden notes, turning a simple gift into an emotional reveal.
The brand was built for people who want to give something meaningful without spending hours printing photos, cutting paper, folding cardstock, or assembling a DIY project. Customers simply choose a box, upload their favorite photos, add personal messages, and the Xplosion Box team transforms those details into a polished keepsake that feels thoughtful, personal, and beautifully made.
Xplosion Box offers personalized gift boxes for birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, graduations, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Christmas, proposals, bridesmaid gifts, long-distance relationships, and thoughtful “just because” moments.
Customers can choose from flexible customization options starting at $27. The Mini Surprise Box includes 10 photos, three message cards, and one hidden secret note, while the Mega Surprise Box offers a fuller keepsake experience with 40 photos, three message cards, and one hidden secret note.
What sets Xplosion Box apart is its high level of customization combined with convenience. Filled with personal photos, custom text, decorative details, and layered surprises, each box gives customers the freedom to create a gift that feels one-of-a-kind — without having to make it themselves.
At its core, Xplosion Box helps people turn favorite photos, stories, and words into something tangible: a keepsake that can be opened, revisited, and remembered long after the occasion has passed. asion has passed.
You’ve Tracked Your Macros, Your Sleep, Your Steps. What About Your Drinking?
The Unconscious Moderation app is helping health-conscious professionals take an honest look at their drinking, without pressure, and without quitting as the only option.
San Diego runs on optimization. Early mornings, clean eating, training logs, sleep scores. The people here take their health seriously and the results usually show. Most of them also have two drinks most nights, not because anything is wrong, but because the day was long and the glass is right there and it has always been right there.
That routine doesn’t get the same scrutiny as the rest of the stack. It doesn’t feel like something to examine. It feels like a reward.
Which is exactly what your brain has decided it is. When something reliably moves you from one state to another, your brain files it under things to repeat. Do it consistently enough and the cue stops requiring a decision. It’s 6pm, the laptop is closed, and some part of your brain has already placed the order.
Most habit-change tools work on the number. They count drinks, set weekly targets, send check-in texts. That’s useful for seeing what the pattern looks like. It doesn’t tell you where the pattern came from, or change it at that level.
Unconscious Moderation works underneath the habit. The app uses guided hypnotherapy sessions, structured journaling, and daily movement to address the subconscious associations that make reaching for a drink feel like the obvious next thing. The journaling isn’t a diary. It’s built to surface what your brain is actually reaching for, so you can meet that need directly rather than through a substitute.
The program runs 90 days. At day 30, you choose your own direction: cut back, drink more intentionally, or stop altogether. The app treats both as equally valid outcomes. The point isn’t to follow a rule you set on a Sunday. It’s to understand the pattern well enough that whichever path you choose, you’re choosing it clearly.
The people who tend to get the most out of it are not in crisis. They’re the ones who have tried tracking apps and found the count drifting back up regardless. They know exactly how much they drink and why. The awareness just hasn’t moved the habit. At some point, the work needs to happen somewhere the count sheet can’t reach.
San Diego’s wellness culture already knows that surface numbers tell only part of the story. What you eat matters, but so does why. How much you sleep matters, but so does the quality. The same logic applies here.
