Here goes with my diatribe about Instagram.

I am what is know as a photography snob.  I mean not an uber snob.  I don’t exclusively shoot film anymore.  I know people who do who believe that is better saturated than digital photography.  I happen to love digital photography.  It allows you to get photos out to people much quicker than film.  I like the altering aspect, but that is kind of secondary.  Digital also allows a greater number of people to see your photos with the speed you take them at.

Enter Instagram.  Where do I even start?  Some of the photos on Instagram are lovely, beautiful in fact but other times I see bad composition compensated for by “filters.”  God, I hate that word when applied to a phone.  Can’t they just call it “effect” because that is what it is.  A filter is something you put on the front of a camera lens to alter the look of a picture.  No one using Instagram is putting a filter on anything.  They are using an effect.  Believe me, there is a big difference between the two.  Considering the explosion in the number of Instagram photos and how it has taken over pop culture, it shows no signs of stopping.

Now let’s get to my photos.  I got a new camera recently, a little Olympus cutie that does well underwater and features “filters” or effects.  One “filter” I can use is called “dramatic.”  I have to admit I have developed a bit of a crush on this “filter.”  I’ve started to use it and I like it.

Let’s see the results:

I still won’t go over to Instagram.

 

The fun is over everyone.  The aliens are here.

Ok, Ok, Ok,  please do not email me and tell me that Massachusetts is not socialist or communist.  I know that full well.  However, whenever I pass city hall I feel as though it may be slightly influenced by some of the architecture of the Soviet Union.  Where do I get these ideas from?  Well, I visited Russia, albeit a long time ago and I saw the kinds of things that they had around their country and it bring to mind the City Hall concrete behemoth.

The other thing is that next to the Old State House, Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market, the Soviet-style city hall just looks out of place and like a sore thumb.  And kind of like the Millennium Falcon.  No, I am not a Star Wars fan, but this thing also reminds me of that.

This picture I believe illustrates how all Bostonians see City Hall:

I love the way in the first picture the leg of the person who stepped into the photo looks about a mile long:

 

And this one with just the two trains arriving:

Having a lot of fun with my new fish eye effect on the camera.  It doesn’t exactly apply to every single situation, but it applies in many situations and it makes the photos look weird.  And I love that.

First up, the classic perspective shot.  Add a little fish eye, and you get this:

 

 

Next up something I have been trying to take photo of for quite a while.  The fish eye improves it:

 

A little hudsucker proxy style photo:

 

And finally, just a little mural work:

And I am an expert.  After exactly one afternoon of using that effect on my camera:

 

As is usually the way, my photos are inspired by movies.  In a lot of movies, I’m watching the production design and the cinematography as much or even more than the contents of the movie itself.  One of these movies is one called the Hudsucker Proxy, from about 1994.  I recall actually watching it after some kind of particularly bad breakup.  Interestingly enough, now I remember the movie more than the breakup.  HA.

Anyway, the background of the Hudsucker Proxy was all of these buildings with straight up and down lines.  Those buildings formed these kind of overbearing lines.  They all kind of looked like old Wall Street buildings.  It was kind of amazing.

Again experimenting with the fish eye, I took a stab at the Hudsucker Proxy look:

 

 

 

Oh hi.  The ostrich is here to greet you, but as you noticed the ostrich looks a little bit different.  A little fat in the middle, eh?  Well, the ostrich isn’t actually fat.  I made the animal look  that way by using a new effect on my brand new camera.  No, no, no the Canon EOS has not disappeared or been eaten by a sea creature.  I bought a second, auxiliary camera for ski slopes, rain and underwater adventures.

The new camera has all kinds of cool effects, like fish eye.  I have always loved fish eye, but when I first used the fish eye, I discovered I was bad at it.  Horrible in fact.  I decided I had to set up some kind of small project to hone my fish eye skills and when the opportunity to go to the zoo came up, I thought why not.  The animals certainly won’t mind and maybe I can bring back some weirdo stuff.  Weird.  Yeah.  Love that.

The ostrich was the first sort of success.  Sure the animal ran away from me quite a few times, but this one capture the fun house wildness of the creature.  I think.

Then I got to the zebra.  Distorted, sort of looking like it is in the middle of some parentheses:

 

Nice kitties:

 

And yet it gets better.  This gorilla knows I am up to no good:

 

Now we get to the lemurs.  Isn’t this another example of an animal that God must have said HA when he created?  Well on today’s visit one of the lemurs fell in love with my friend and kept trying to jump on her.  Never mind he was behind a pane of glass that could probably withstand a bullet.  Try he did.  But he kept falling.  Here he is in peaceful repose:

 

And last but certainly not least, the baboon, in all of its red butted glory.  No, I didn’t get that end, but these are red butted baboons.  I know that is not the actual name:

Today I made the acquaintance of a black labrador retriever named Gaetano.  He belongs to a friend and is very exotic.  He hails from Italy and only speaks Italian.  In speaks, I mean (sometimes) obeys commands in Italian.  Gaetano came along with us to the excursion to the Japanese festival.  By the end we all knew “seduto” which at certain times, when said by certain people, means sit.  I didn’t say everyone.

Gaetano proved to be great company.  Sure, he nearly tore my arm off when I was holding his leash when chasing after a dog.  He barked at every dog that went by, yanked the leash.  But who cares.  He’s sweet and lovely and that is all you need in life.

First, his Roman profile:

 

Second, this dog is a giant.  I mean an absolute giant.  I managed to take a photo.  Like the post if you agree that he looks like the dog that crushed the city:

 

With one of his owners.  Or in his eyes, one of the ones who provides the food and the walks:

 

And Gaetano’s favorite thing.  Making every dog nearby look like a pygmy: