The flow around two circular cylinders of equal diameter, arranged in a staggered configuration, was investigated using flow visualization and particle image velocimetry for centre-to-centre pitch ratio P/D = 1[ratio ]0 to 5.0 and angle of incidence. α = 0° to 90°. Experiments were conducted within the low subcritical Reynolds number regime, from Re = 850 to 1900. Nine flow patterns were identified, and processes of shear layer reattachment, induced separation, vortex pairing and synchronization, and vortex impingement, were observed. New insight was gained into previously published Strouhal number data, by considering the flow patterns involved. The study revealed that vortex shedding frequencies are more properly associated with individual shear layers than with individual cylinders; more specifically, the two shear layers from the downstream cylinder often shed vortices at different frequencies.