Verbal snapshots

[magid]

A few portraits from yesterday.

- A man carrying a little boy (age 4, maybe?) on his shoulders, the handle of the umbrella the boy is holding right in front of the dad's face. He holds up a camera, telling his son to say cheese, which he doesn't realize is completely unnecessary given the boy's amazing grin, proud to be holding the umbrella.

- An armless woman sitting on a low wall, cross-legged, the foot off the ground shoeless, with a cigarette between the two biggest toes. I wonder how difficult it is for her to take smoke breaks in winter.

- A bicyclist with strange lighting, a large fuzzy circle of light on his torso. I thought he had a light under his windbreaker until he got closer, when I realized he had his headlight facing himself, the light reflecting off his silvery jacket. Not so good for seeing, but much more noticeable for being seen.

Comments

[queue.livejournal.com]

That bike light setup makes it seem like a back-to-back headlight might be a good idea, partly pointing ahead and partly lighting up the driver. Maybe something similar (but with different angles) for the rear.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Possibly. There are technical issues with the headlights (bike headlights last 3-4 hours, so running more lights off the same battery would mean shorter time between recharging; getting the angles right so the street is illuminated and the torso is illuminated, but there's not light in the eyes), and rear lights are supposed to be red, so it would be rather different. I suspect I'd also have difficulties remembering where not to look to avoid getting momentarily blinded while riding, but that's likely just me.

Another option would be to make a nice something-or-other out of EL wire that would be visible front and back. It has the advantage of running off separate batteries, and the flexibility of different colors, which are visible but not as intense as legal bike lights.

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure I've gotten much more than 3-4 hours out of my headlight, since I only just had to replace the batteries in mine, and the previous set had been in there for two years, and 3-4 hours would mean I'd have to change them about every 4-6 weeks in the winter. Which just hasn't happened. Granted, this is an LED headlight, not one of the really powerful, actually lights the road up, headlights. More for helping other people see me, than to help me see the road (anyway, streetlights light the road for most of my commute).

[magid.livejournal.com]

I've got a headlight that illuminates the road, not LED-based, and they have less time between charging than the LED kind.

(I've been out on streets around here that aren't lit by streetlights; I was very glad to have more light with me then.)

[gothtique.livejournal.com]

I went to art school with a kid who had no arms...
painting major
he used to sit outside and smoke with his toes... slip on shoes.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Wow. I wondered how flexible this woman must be to smoke, but painting would require a whole 'nother layer of control, at a pretty impressive angle.