'Go Figure' (Really!)

Sometimes a photo itself will defy description because of its

photographic technique or other photographic qualities. This is a simple

photographic, but of a rather unusual subject, -- and your interpretation

of what this subject is 'about' is invited and most welcome as well as

your ratings and critiques. If you rate harshly or very critically, please

submit a helpful and constructive rating; please share your superior

photographic knowledge to help improve my photography. Thanks!

Enjoy! John (and please, please let me know your interpretation of what

this guy is doing with this getup!!)

Please explain the headgear this man is wearing.

He has a blind cane. Only blind people are allowed to carry white canes, and he had on this headgear with no eye slits, when he crossed a street as I watched, thus catching my attention, as he pounded the end of his very strong white stick (cane?) on the pavement as he walked across the street, and then along this sidewalk.

Photo was taken from a car, with traffic behind, from driver's seat, across the passenger seat, through the open passenger window, with impatient drivers behind and 'no parking' at the right curb side, plus a cop a couple of cars behind, posing a very real chance of a very expensive ticket for 'failure to proceed' if I didn't take this photo FAST.

What is that headgear? Have you ever seen such headgear in your life -- it resembles a welder's mask, but it differs - it's much longer, and it also allows for open space to the bottom.

There are no eye slits or openings for even the most filtered light through special translucent eyepieces --heavily hazed as with a welder's mask.

Is he blind, or just trying out to be blind -- or maybe he's partially sighted?

The law requires that you be legally blind in California where this was taken,I believe, to use a white cane for navigating across streets . . . was he using it legally, or is he, perhaps, a performance artist who also is blind, and he's making a 'statement' about blindness?

Perhaps he is both blind and a performance artist?

One person has suggested he is very light sensitive and can see the pavement so the headgear is open to the bottom, yet I saw him stop in sunlight and doff the headgear (revealing blue wraparound sunglasses) but he was half in shade and half in sun.

Photo taken on shady side of street,though he walked across a sunny street between shady areas and stopped partly in a sunny area.

I was inadvertently stopping traffic, so I could not step out to ask him, plus I had driven 800 miles in the previous 24 hours and was in no shape to be running around, having been without sleep for two days.

Your educated surmises, speculations,guesses, and other answers - backed of course by supporting evidence, both in the photo, and outside the photo, (from your personal knowledge, professional knowledge, and other sources) are all most welcome.

Oh, and he wears a big wristwatch that does not appear to be braille. Download the photo and look at it blown up and disprove me. That might resolve the discussion.

Do blind people wear watches?

Hint: for very observant photo sleuths, the photo was taken about 2:36 p.m., in case you want to try to try to answer that question.

I have asked around, but this fellow does not seem to be well known in his community, whereas some people who dress strangely or do strange things sometimes are well known locally.

Anybody care to try?

Best wishes; I'll try to weigh in and help, as I have a few more details; I had a little time for direct observation before (and after) the photo was taken as I tried to maneuver without success to take another,(the cop car was following me through three turns around the block), but without success, and I also observed him before I pulled alongside to take this photo, one of two single shots.

(This one was chosen because it showed the stride better.).

Best of luck in your answers.

I don't pretend to have 'the answer' though I have an opinion that is supported by the photo and the evidence, but it may be just hogwash, compared to the 'truth'.

I hope you'll give it a try.

John (Crosley)

מעניין

"interesting". I'd guess "unstable" the gear he pulls is new looks like going camping. Why does he need a pick ax? The whitecane and the eye blinder are related/connected to some kind of statement....I do not understand the forest behind you on a city street.

- To "play blind" one doesn't need such a bulky apparatus, which looks more like a soldering mask;

- If he really was blind, he wouldn't need such an elaborated mask: he would not need any mask at all, but maybe just dark glasses;

- The stick is not necessarily a blind stick. It seems to me that they normally are thinner and definitely whiter, since they need to be very visible. It looks like a walking stick for outdoors, which matches the axe spotted by Meir;

- The guy has a lot of gear, including something like a refrigerated box.

He could be carrying out some sort of test or verification. I don't believe this is a happening, which would include some elements of irrationality: his equipment is definitely rational and aimed at some specific purpose.

So far so good.

John, you can enlighten us on how he behaved.

Best, Luca

You have a good eye. Better than I did when I took and even when I posted this photo.

This man definitely was 'playing blind' if he is not in fact blind.

That 'stick' is definitely not a 'blind cane' as they traditionally are sold and employed, but when I first spotted this man, he had the hood over his face, and the stick was tap, tap, tapping on the pavement, with a very, very loud sound, and it sounded (and looked) almost as large as an American broom handle, though not quite that thick, if truth be told.

He definitely could not see his way across the side street, he was walking across. I pulled ahead in traffic, none immediately behind me, and waited for him to pass, taking this photo as he passed on the next block (American streets in many Western cities are laid out on a 'grid' and the streets are measured in 'blocks').

He went to the end of this block, while I made a huge circle around about 12 blocks, and he came to rest in front of a community building, and literally stopped, removed his hood/helmet and I saw he was wearing blue, wrap-around sunglasses.

I had been driving for a day and a half, so I did not feel well enough to get out and just ask him; besides, I sort of liked the mystery. Sometimes mysteries are best when not explained . . . . the mystery can be better than the answer.

His movements as he crossed the second (or third) street, to the municipal building, which was set back from the street rather far, seemed to anticipate that the building had columns or supports, set quite back from the street on a sort of mini-plaza, in front of a public building, and that's where he came to rest.

He had walked mostly in afternoon on the shady side of the street, but in crossing streets, was exposed to the sun and as I recall when he came to rest, he was partially exposed to sun or brightness.

I'm pretty baffled, and suppose maybe he is a performance artist, or just experimenting with what it's like to be blind -- or in some way, he is partially blind, but he dresses up this way so EVERYBODY who sees him, motorists especially, will know precisely that he cannot see, and thus give him lots of room.

A white cane and a pedestrian on the narrow cross streets on this particular town, populated mainly by Hispanics, and with lots of teenage drivesrs and uninsured drivers, is a tricky place to be 'blind' with only a thin white blind stick for protection and help.

It may indeed be he could see somewhat downward - all blind people are not completely sightless -- only some of them -- they just cannot see very well at all -- and we classify them as 'blind' because of their extremely poor residual vision after attempts at correction.

Those are my observations, and a few thoughts. No eyeslits, semi-transparent or not, in the helmet, so it is not some sort of welder's helmet, though.

At least some have taken a stab at this, and it seems to be bearing fruit. It was a Saturday, and that is in keeping with his holiday/vacation/outing gear.

But it also was getting on into the afternoon. He might have been waiting for a ride when he stopped . . . . but that's frankly just about all I know. Nobody in the area who saw this photo seemed to recognize him; -- most local people know the local person who does 'strange things', so he may not be a regular.

Nice effort -- you added to my understanding.

John (Crosley)

is peculiar. It should allow him to see a narrow "frame" in front of him, as well as a large portion of the ground, but definitely not on the sides.It must be light, maybe of cardboard, since it is very long, but requires only a small neckstrap to stay in place and nothing above the head.

It looks like a device limiting the view of angle of the man.

And the bunch of gear is even stranger.

You are a very good observer.

Yes, very strange.

I think we will never know beyond what we 'see' in this photo.

Thanks for the aid.

John (Crosley)

Some random thoughts;

There appears to be an electronic aspect to his contraption. He has a wire coming out of his back pocket then going into and also exiting his front pocket further continuing up his torso beyond his neck and vanishing under his head gear. Perhaps some method to monitor and record information.

The device seems intended to limit and direct vision rather than eliminate vision, or else, as has been stated, a simple blindfold would suffice. As a guess I doubt he would have a view of the ground much beyond the end of the stick he is carrying. He would have no peripheral vision and obviously could not see upwards.

I agree with Luca that the head gear must be made of light material such as foam-core board or cardboard. The device extends well in front of the man's face yet he is walking with his neck level and his head facing straight ahead.

The stick which is tapered and looks a bit like a pool cue is not a conventional blind man's cane , although reading your description John, he seems to be employing it as such. Possibly to have some advanced notice of objects just beyond the impeded forward view the visor creates.

The gear he has in tow makes me think he intends to go mountain climbing. I see a cooler at the base along with a pillow and several bags presumably for tents, sleeping bags and similar gear. At the top of the pile it looks as if he has a ground sheet or tarp tucked under two metal poles with hand grips on the top. These ski poles are often used for balance during climbing on ice and in snow. In fact people in my area use them for hiking trails in the winter. The pick does not look like a gardening tool but more like a mountaineering tool.

My speculation is that he is on his way to go mountain climbing and the odd visor is some sort of device he intends to employ, perhaps experimentally, on his expedition. I get the feeling this is some sort of test run of a prototype device designed as part of an experiment. I realise this is a lot of speculation and supposition on my part.... a fun exercise in guess work all the same.

Your commentary is excellent and far exceeds both my understanding heretofore and my expectations.

I commend your comment to anyone interested in a job at photo interpretation at a police or spy agency.

This is within an hour's drive of Silicon Valley, lending credence to a premise that this may be some sort of test of an electronic device for personal navigation (and he's going mountain climbing).

I'm pretty flabbergasted.

Is there anything else left to say?

Thanks so much.

John (Crosley)

I believe, and  believe strongly, he  is  wearing  this  as an acoustic amplifier  for  navigating as a blind  person,  maybe  with a reduced  hearing too.  Most of  the  blind  people  navigate  acoustically.  Or! With  reducer view,  partly blind,  he  has  this  gadget  to  shade  all the light, except  the  light  in-front of  him.  Very interesting  shot.

Cheers;  Bela

I saw, photographed and viewed this guy and this device, then drove around the block again and found him with the hood off and apparently with some vision.

I think, and this is speculation, but this was taken in Santa Cruz County, California, and it is next to Santa Clara County, the home of Silicon Valley, where I lived a very long time.

At one time the founders of Apple Computer were neighbors, as well as a lot of others who got very wealthy very quickly (or slowly).

It was not uncommon for someone working in a garage one week, to have a tilt-up factory and angel financing and a hundred or so employees a year or year and a half later and then becoming multi-millionaires from an initial stock offering.

I suggest, based on what you said, this guy is an entrepreneur, testing the device, an acoustic amplifier, for just the reasons I describe above. If this were taken in the middle of Wyoming, or Nebraska, I'd have a different view, but this is within a 45-minute drive of the heart of Silicon Valley in an area where many electrical engineers and electronic entrepreneurs live.

Life and learn. 

It's a wonder what a posting on Photo.net sometimes will reveal, and how it teaches me.

Thanks for being my teacher.

john

John (Crosley)