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.

Clues that he's in a hurry.

Clue #1--he's jay-walking, on busy downtown SW 6th Avenue, the northbound leg of the Transit Mall. These blocks are only 200 feet long, y'all. I cannot imagine why would he take such a chance. But, there he goes, angling across all designated lanes--those for private-owner vehicles, TriMet MAX Light Rail trains, and buses from TriMet and C-TRAN (the Clark County Washington public transportation agency).



Clue #2--he's barely letting his feet stay on the pavement, striding out with purpose, using his arms efficiently despite the heavy-looking duffle bag in his right hand.



Clue #3--he's changing direction just enough now to make me certain that he's going to go west on SW Taylor. That bus, the #199, 99th St. Express, is a C-TRAN bus.



Clue #4--he's appears to confirm what I had guessed, going west on SW Taylor, towards wherever his bicycle waits patiently. Why do I think he continued left instead of crossing the Taylor and going south? Especially with the crossing signal on red? I don't know. He certainly had not paid any attention to other traffic signals in the time it took for him to jay-walk.

I wonder. Is this is a daily routine for this man, to throw caution to the wind after taking the time to don his bike helmet and shoes, secure his pants legs, throw his backpack onto his back, grab his duffle bag with his right hand, and his bicycle gloves with his left? I'm glad that his yellow sweater grabbed my attention so that I could get these four quick photos after work on April 2, 2014, as I waited for my second of the two buses I take on my homebound commute. The time on each photo is 5:17 p.m. I thoroughly enjoy my Nikon D5100, DSLR. Yes, I do.

Seen on the Hawthorne Bridge - don't blink, or you'll miss him!

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I've seen this man many times in the mornings before 8 a.m. while I wait to cross the intersection when the traffic signal changes. He pedals east on Hawthorne after he's come off the bridge that crosses the Willamette River. His slender legs quickly bend and straighten, and the recumbent bicycle skims the pavement at full speed. A tall flag attached to the back of the bicycle whips side-to-side, in unison with his pumping legs. There's a mouth-locked-open sort of a grimace/smile on his face, along with a look of concentration which reminds me of a man plotting his next move on a chessboard.  To change lanes, he uses side view mirrors with the certainty of a mongoose locked onto the movements of a cobra. Many days after 5 p.m. while I wait for the bus, I've seen him heading west at the intersection of SE Grand Avenue and SE Madison, looking just the same as he does in the morning. His energy level appears undiminished by however he spent the last nine hours.  

All of that is to say that it's fitting that the man on the bicycle is a blur in this photo. On January 8, as I stood enjoying the view at the railing near the bus stop on the bridge, I looked east and noticed him coming toward me. I knew he'd be on me before I could take a photo in that direction, so I put the camera up to my eye as I turned to wait for him and pushed the button as he blew by me. 

Now that I look at the photo on the iMac, I wonder where the bike's flag has gone.

Seen in downtown Portland

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After I had walked over the Hawthorne Bridge on January 8, I continued towards the bus stop at SW 2nd Avenue and SW Main so that I could catch my first bus of the two it takes me to get home. Before I got to that bus stop in the next block, I noticed the lights of a bus which had stopped behind this lady on the bicycle, shining on her. Naturally I had to take a photo, then when the light changed, I hot-footed it for the next corner because the bus behind her was the one I wanted to catch!

You can see how prepared she is for our usual rainy winter weather, with her hooded, bright green rain coat and her tall rubber boots. It alarms me that she doesn't have a helmet--mothers get alarmed by stuff like that. I'm glad to see that she has a light on the back of the bicycle--there near where her raincoat is reflected in the red bike's aluminum (I suppose) fender. What do you think about the angle of the handlebars? Pointed straight up, it seems to me. I hope I come across here again some time so that I can take another photo to compare with this one. 

Once I saw the photo on the iMac, I decided that it had turned out much better than I had expected. Here are the reasons I believe that to be true:

• The headlights shine into the intersection, making a slight shadow of the lady and her bicycle.
• The dashes that outline the bike lane follow the angle of SW Main as it departs the Hawthorne Bridge and continues westward up  the street. I'm usually up in a bus and don't get to see the street like this.
• Also, it's neat that the trees still have lights on them--something left over from the holidays.
• Finally, I like the pedestrians who've crossed at the intersection. I imagine each one feels as good as I remember feeling about no rain on that particular evening. The last woman in the group on the left of the intersection wears stiletto-style black boots. Amazing that anyone willingly puts those on their feet and heads out to work all day in them. Even when I was young and slim, I couldn't bear the thought of doing that to my feet. 

Seen from the Portland Streetcar

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Since the streetcar has a dedicated lane for its tracks right beside the sidewalk, taking photos through its windows can result in some good shots, unless the reflection overpowers what you're trying to photograph. Luck was with me when I took this photo on Saturday, September 29, 2012, while riding east over the Broadway Bridge on the Portland Streetcar's Central Line. 

Notice the bicyclist in the lower left? Many Portlanders commute across Portland's bridges, the ones which have bicycle lanes and/or sidewalks and are open to more than vehicles. Lots of folks ride on the weekends, too. And don't think they only ride in blue sky weather. Nope. I see them riding in the rainy, cold days throughout winter.

For me, a highlight of this photo is the 1896 Union Station and its recently renovated roof--an article in The Oregonian identified the work as an upgrade, pointing out that it was the first one since the 1930s and that it was needed because of the roof's condition which meant that buckets could be found here and there inside the station, filling up with dripping rain. 

The Big Pink, the tall building to the right of center, stands within walking distance of the railroad station--seven blocks--or a short ride on the MAX Yellow Line which is the MAX line that I take from downtown to the Portland Trail Blazer home NBA basketball games at the Rose Garden Arena--the MAX Yellow Line crosses the Willamette River on the Steel Bridge which is south of the Broadway Bridge and just out of sight to the left of this photo.

The curving street is NW Broadway, until it crosses West Burnside at about the vanishing point of the pavement in this photo, then it becomes SW Broadway. Burnside divides Portland into north and south, while the Willamette divides it into east and west. 

On the right edge of the photo, the building you see a portion of is the main US Post Office for Portland.