Old State House, Boston.

I’m going to put out a photo book called “Places Without People.”

As the local flora has bloomed during the past few weeks I’ve gotten into the habit of walking along the bike path in late afternoon and looking straight up to take photos of the tops of trees as they catch the last rays of sunset. And more often than not I use my phone.

Instagram catches a lot of grief for being a fad, but when used in moderation its filters can offer a quick way to improve a photo before posting it. Not all filters produce the faded Polaroid look.

I’ve attached a small version of my original shot for comparison.

The purple flowers were much brighter in person, but for some reason the camera couldn’t capture the light. I didn’t care about the photo being poorly composed and otherwise unremarkable because the roughly circular opening in the center and the green leaves along the right edge of it had caught my eye. Instagram’s Rise filter somehow brightened the flowers to resemble the scene in front of me, and after zooming in to crop out the parts of the image that didn’t interest me I had my photo.

A friend on Facebook tells me this tree is a dogwood because of the indentation at the tip of each petal.

The sky above my apartment can’t make up its mind this morning.

Our family’s Easter Egg contest last Sunday. It was the brainchild of my nine year old niece, who also happens to be one of the most adorable girls on the planet.

It’s crocus season in New England.

View from the Tufts Steps. Medford, MA.

A photo I took way back in 1998 of a father and his son at the Grand Canyon. I’m still jealous of the boy’s fashion sense.

I dug out my SLR after setting it aside for a year and a half. This can only lead to good things.

Waitsfield Covered Bridge, the oldest covered bridge in Vermont, getting some love after Hurricane Irene.

Fluorescent ceiling lights at the NERD Center.