
Hello! I'm Halsted, also known as Cygnoir, the latter being a portmanteau of the French words for "swan" and "black", i.e. the black swan. I live in San Francisco, write prose and poetry, and work at the public library. And last but never least, I am savoring every moment of a real-life love story with this man.
I discovered Flickr as Game Neverending was dying, and so joined because I didn't want to lose touch with my GNE peeps. Although I hadn't given much thought to taking photographs before, I have obviously changed my mind since then. I am learning so much about photography from my fellow Flickrers, especially from the astounding human beings I have met through SFlickr, the San Francisco Flickr users' group.
I love lists, and keep them of my things to do, places to visit, people to meet, music to enjoy, sites to bookmark, media to consume, and of course my personal library. You may find me online in #flickr, where I occasionally unidle long enough to waddle around the outer edges of mayhem.
My user icon is a logo created by Mike Jeung.

Photos of cygnoir (239)
cygnoir's favorite photos from other Flickr members (577)
Contacts (561)
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Mako Kungfu
Mako Kungfu
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rosecolette
No real name given
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Luce Portland
Luce Portland
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Lillian Shippe
Lillian Shippe
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diastema
No real name given
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fivecats
Five Cats
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jtrummer
No real name given
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beez kneez
beez kneez
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Freeze Time...
No real name given
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rosellaphoto
No real name given
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Andrew Ng Images
Andrew Ng
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WarzauWynn
Daniel Hoherd
Groups (50)
- [CameraBag] 15288 photos, 1652 members
- Virtual Trivia 291 photos, 14 members
- Buccaneer Bowl 68 photos, 5 members
- Utata 306608 photos, 17947 members
- Lensbaby Composer 5090 photos, 651 members
- Closer and Closer Macro Photography 622123 photos, 44059 members
- Sushi - Sushi and Sashimi! ™ 11571 photos, 2348 members
- "Mein lieber Schwan!" 497 photos, 153 members
- Insect Macro Photography 163149 photos, 15926 members
- I Love Passionfish! 18 photos, 3 members
- Great Job, Flickr! 17 photos, 18 members
- Luck 906 photos, 306 members
- iPhone Cubism 606 photos, 549 members
- US Election 2008 1057 photos, 599 members
- LolZoo !!!!! 105 photos, 59 members
- Flickr 888 5445 photos, 11494 members
- cement mix up 838 photos, 120 members
- 90-Second Stories 35 photos, 490 members
- Dynamophone 7 photos, 3 members
- Libraries and Librarians - Please tag the images you add! 29955 photos, 3158 members
- Lost on The WELL 1778 photos, 76 members
- 365 Days 903869 photos, 16384 members
- "Quotation Mark" Abuse 965 photos, 988 members
- nanowrimo 4852 photos, 1945 members
- Fog and Rain 101040 photos, 23217 members
- Fray Quarterly: Issue 3: Sex & Death 147 photos, 667 members
- Fashionable Fishnets (non trashy) 271 photos, 182 members
- passion flowers only 515 photos, 176 members
- Pittsburgh Food 583 photos, 175 members
- 24 hours of Flickr 5922 photos, 18871 members
- suicide plushies 20 photos, 33 members
- Self Portraits 76936 photos, 7517 members
- tantannoodles.com WordPress Flickr Plugins 21 photos, 1694 members
- Orton 22608 photos, 4214 members
- Gorillasutra 239 photos, 111 members
- Canon DSLR User Group 751206 photos, 54808 members
- rawk 44 photos, 31 members
- Flying Spaghetti Monster 432 photos, 384 members
- MOO (MiniCards, Business Cards & More, Printed by MOO) 12874 photos, 10779 members
- Contribute to UGLYDOTCOM.COM 89 photos, 30 members
- Ubiquitous aluminium chairs 34 photos, 27 members
- Sign City 92378 photos, 7752 members
- F'N Metal 352 photos, 63 members
- Flickr Camp 1 photo, 34 members
- Urban scrawl 2147 photos, 455 members
- Pan con tomate - Pa amb tomaquet 172 photos, 126 members
- Handwriting Meme 382 photos, 1289 members
- Cats Cats Cats 196379 photos, 13619 members
- Sidewalk Art Party 835 photos, 193 members
- Droplets on leaves 3971 photos, 1072 members
Testimonials (15)
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cirocco says:
"Whether her chosen medium is words or imagery, all Halsted's work is infused with a sense of the divine. It is a great privilege to be her friend."
23rd April, 2008
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styler* says:
"cygnoir is one of those those wonderful people you can never spend enough time with. Plus she has superbly fantastic taste in lipstick."
2nd January, 2007
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Plurp says:
"It was early evening on a day at the beginning of November. It was almost at the end of the hour, though the minute itself had just begun. She couldn't help notice the oscillation and wondered if that one moment would have interesting patterns in other ways of marking time."
23rd June, 2006
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'SeraphimC says:
"I have no idea who Cygnoir is or whether she puts her shoes on one at a time like the rest of us. However, hers was the very first picture I randomly clicked on the very first time I visited Flickr oh so long ago(October 2005 -this will be less funny as time goes on. Actually, it wasn't so funny to begin with), and I must say I wasn't disappointed.
Not only are her pictures a wonderful farrago of random & beautiful(and sometimes yummy) moments in her life which spark the need for a camera, she also has one of the best profiles on flickr with lots of hyperlinked goodness."5th March, 2006
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Sylph* says:
"Gorgeous and electric in body, mind and spirit, Cygnoir softly energizes all around her.
She tempers her blazing power with warmth and whimsy, and playfully captures what she loves with a light touch.
I love her floral macro work, and delight in her food porn!
www.flickr.com/ph...
Combining literary wit and dramatic style makes her a force to be reckoned with, but it's her playfulness and presence that leave a lasting impression!"6th July, 2005
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wirehead says:
"Cygnoir is the -OM
Cygnoir is revolution
Cygnoir is the tapeworm
In the bottle of cheap tequila
That comes alive at night
And sneaks up
And bites your nipple
(with appologies to Lard)
Cygnoir is a very sweet geek-who-doesn't-program who knows about things that most folks don't and has been doing a good job exploring her photographic sense."30th June, 2005
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sawall says:
"cygnoir creates great macro shots with a camera that by all rights shouldn't be able to produce them. she has an admirable appreciation for the little things in life, both photographically and otherwise.
∞"7th May, 2005
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wootam! says:
"let it be known that cyggie would never defile METAL by referring to people doing it with non-true statements.. she is a lady, and always uses a respectable phrase such as 'sticking your clouded frost-spire into the gates of attrition.'"
3rd May, 2005
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underbunny says:
"...when next you feel out of sorts, cover your eyes & imagine yourself gathered up gently by a great black wing. With the world shut out, all you can feel are feathers, all you can see is nothing, all you can hear is the thumping of a kind heart."
24th April, 2005
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Mark Interrante (aka pinhole) says:
"Cygnoir is funny, smart and if you think she is amazing on IRC, you need to meet her. She lit up the room, I couldn't stop taking pictures of her. If I knew librarians could be like her, I'd have spent soo much more of my Catholic school upbringing in the library. Listen, I could keep writing about her, Zen, and the food; but I need to get back to that finishing that time machine ."
24th April, 2005
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Broken Haiku says:
"cygnoir likes to take casual pictures without making them look sloppy for it, and has held on to what most grown ups have forgotten - the art of appreciating the little things in life. She's an eloquent coolheaded and snickering storyteller and well...aesthetically pleasing to look at, not to mention sit on.
- But don't tell her lest she gets way too cocky."24th April, 2005
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Trinity says:
"I like to make cygnoir laugh out loud while she's at work, because then people turn to look at her and this makes me giggle more. Librarians aren't supposed to laugh at work! ;)"
24th April, 2005
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emily ann says:
"cygnoir is the hottest of the hot librarians and one of my favoritest people to find in #flickr. she also takes cloud pictures that do not bother me... which for the record, is a pretty big deal."
24th April, 2005
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woesis says:
"Z0wrkr0wt!
i have laughed long and hard with 'sted on many occasions. Sadly, those days seem so long ago.
'sted and i once created a cooking show featuring Peter Lorre and Britney Spears (haven't heard 'sted's Britney impression? you're missing out!). i swear, i've never had so much fun making cake..."8th April, 2005
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Arya says:
"Few people look as hot as Cygnoir with that many holes in their head. Rawr."
28th May, 2004























