Passenger Pandas

Have you heard of "Panda Shots?" Photographs taken from astride a bike. Apparently, they don't need to feature pandas, which as you know is getting harder and harder to pull off these days. The panda shots I've seen have all been either self portraits a la' this handsome devil here:

heeey!

Or else cockpit shots, views of the handlebars and the road beyond from rider's POV.

nice bell. yeah, that's shellac'd cotton bartape. any questions?

metapanda.

Family Cyclists! Members of Totcycle's High Occupancy Velo Movement! I propose to you a new challenge, the Passenger Panda! Getcher camera and, whilst moving, snap a good shot of your little copilot or copilots. By the way, if its two passengers? Good job!

The transitional style may feature both Captain and Cargo:

what's that she's eating?

But the true Passenger Panda must be a portrait of your tiny toted toddler or 'tween, taken while you manage to safely keep the ride rolling!

I know, I know, I know, you are worried about falling down. Well, be careful! My first attempts had me thrusting the camera into the air like I had a question and shooting downward. This proved difficult as the apple was more interesting than the camera and Lil' Oil just ignored my pleas to look up. Also, really wobbly to ride like that.

mmm. apple.

Slightly more successful has been to hold the camera upside down and position it in the center of my back, facing up at Little Oil. As if I am offering her an apple, like so:

no thanks, I'm already eating one.

bad apple?

So please, take some Passenger Panda shots and post 'em up some place on the nets! Drop us a comment and share a link. I'll try to set up a flickr group when I manage to recover my password.

Thanks for reading! Kids on bikes are cute, Nice Pandas!