Observational Walk

I feel at one with nightime walking, there is something peaceful and tranquil about it. So I thought my observation filled walk should be on a quiet night to allow me to gain a little more insight into one of my favourite pastimes. This presented challenges mainly due to the nature of taking pictures in the dark, hence why some of the photos look overexposed, wobbly or exeedingly bright. My walk took me on a fairly basic route, out around a school local to my area, around some backstreets, to a highway and then back home. But I was able to get a few good shots as well as some interesting observations:

Observations

- Everything is very still, little to no wind (At least when I went out)
- Cockroaches are much more active and scurry into view with surprising frequency
- I met only 3 other people and a dog on my journey

- The surroundings were relatively clean from what I could see

- Lights are either harsh white light or warm orange/yellow light
- White light producing lampposts are generally smaller and have a circular case protecting the globe

- Orange light producing lampposts are generally larger, have an oval shaped case protecting the globe and can be seen with two heads (Normally line the freeway/highway)

- The orange light will give the surroundings an orange hue, unlike the white light which just illuminates
- Lampposts are not tube shaped, but are actually octangular (As in they have 8 sides)
- When light is seen through objects (Such as tree leaves) the objects make the light source seem to glow more
- The road glistens in the light due to the refractive nature of the gravel

- Shadows produced can stretch on for meters if uninterrupted by a harsh light source, even able to cross an oval length and still be seen on tree trunks

- Shadows also have varying degrees of intensity as in they vary in darkness depending on the strength of the light source creating them

- Shadows are not extremely defined but have more of a softer outline

- When light is absent and looking at something far away, the eye can see little but pitch black in the shadows
- The sky is not pitch black, large light sources (such as from the city) produce enough light to illuminate the sky and make it more of a grey colour. This effect is called light pollution
- Trees silhouette against the sky
- Signs refract light. Lampposts are positioned in a way not to allow the sign to reflect their light. The white light lampposts also seem to reflect less
- People also tend to obey the road rules less at night
- It is easy to walk into spider webs

Sound Observations:

- Sounds include cars heard driving/speeding in the distance, the docile hum of sprinklers and naturally a chorus of crickets
- There are two aspects to the cricket chorus. A long, singular note drone generally heard in the distance. And the constant, repeating chirp of those crickets more nearby.