Bicyclist and pedestrian--interesting head-gear and hair-do choices

Once again at lunch time, someone, no, two someones, passed by and I took a photo that I like. One of the many things that I like about Portland is that you find it easy to be yourself. You can be a man and wear a colorful, striped bicycle helmet. You can be a man and wear your bleached hair, roots visible, in a topknot.

By the way, the last 10 days or so, my allergies have been hammering me, so much so that I've missed some sunny, blustery lunch hours and their attendant photo opportunities. Drat it. These allergies have been worse than any other year that I can remember in Portland, except for when we had just arrived in June, 2006.

The first of a few moments that I witnessed during the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon on May 20, 2012, at the intersection of NE Sandy Blvd. and NE 20th Avenue, right in my neighborhood!

A woman on a bicycle cautiously approached NE Sandy, heading north on NE 20th Avenue. Since there's a police officer stopping traffic from the center of the intersection so that runners in the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon can continue on their way, she crosses the street. I like how the red hand on the traffic signal looks as if it is attached to her bicycle helmet like the comb on a rooster!
 

Here comes the next bicyclist crossing Sandy behind her. I have to say that I am shocked somewhat to see that the two of them are bicycling the city streets in flip flops. Thank goodness they're wearing helmets. I'll bet they're together--the flip flops give them away.

 

The two of them wait patiently on the corner, searching for a break in the runners. You can tell how much rain the man's been riding in when you take a look at the discolored front of his shorts; her pants are wet, too, but the difference in color is not easy to discern unless you click on the huge original size of the photo which I cannot put here on the blog--sorry. On that original size, it's easy to see drops of rain here and there, too.



Just about made it, threading the needle all the way across NE 20th, heading west.
 

Yep, home free now. What cracks me up is that when I looked at this photo as I cropped it, I wondered what in the world is that woman doing with the toes of her left foot? The dark spot caught my eye, and I had to see for myself, so I clicked on the huge original size of the photo to take a look. She's got those two outer toes crooked upward like she's trying to keep them from hanging off the edge of her flip flop as she trots along beside her bicycle. How many of us do something similar, unconsciously? I used to do that back when I wore flip flops.

Neons are in! Street level matching colors, No. 1

April 20, 2012, outside the Rose Garden Arena, I noticed a colorful sight, this young woman on her Day-Glo orange bicycle which has buttery yellow sidewall tires and even brighter orange wheels. There's even a narrow, swooping orange stripe on her creamy white-colored bicycle seat. She's wearing a bright chartreuse green safety vest. Her bicycle helmet has a matching orange stripe, a matching green stripe, and a soft blue stripe on its creamy white surface.

I saw her outside the Rose Garden Arena, pedaling north at through the intersection of NE Wheeler and NE Multnomah. Just to the right of the street lamp, up that slope, lies I-5, the southbound side of it. NE Multnomah crosses beneath the interstate.

I had a good time looking photo, noticing street level matching colors. Shades of orange--a streak at the base of the street lamp, rust on the fence poles, some sort of flaking sherbet-colored paint on the concrete wall. Shades of green--the new grass, the trees and shrubs, the flaking mint-colored paint on the concrete wall. I can't get myself to count the green on the street signs, though--it's just too different to count.

Candid #2

On June 25, I ventured out for the second time that sunny Saturday, riding the bus to a stop atop the Burnside Bridge. I sauntered down the steps and headed to the Saturday Market. This man's bicycle helmet caught my eye as I watched people while sitting on a low concrete wall, the Willamette River to my back. It was the Transformer-looking angle of the helmet, to be exact, and the fact that his face had practically disappeared from sight which made him even more Transformer-looking to me. As I took the photo, I couldn't help but think, "I hope he pays much, much less attention to his phone once he mounts that bicycle."

I also couldn't help myself when it came to altering the image at Picnik. Cropped, focal zoom, Orton-ish. Seems like I used an additional effect, but I cannot remember for sure. Gettin' old over here!