Polishing

A whole bunch of while ago, Richard (aka @acejet170) posted about the wonders of Instagram, and its ability to make even the most unremarkable of pictures look a bit nice. The polishing of turds was mentioned. I commented that the incessant filterfication of the images we capture today is getting out of hand, that a lot of it amounts to "polishing a perfectly good bit of stuff with a rag covered in turd residue" (I know, delightful – take that, Roland Barthes!), I didn't get the appeal of yet another social bloody network, moany moan moan, etc.

And then I gave it a go.

You know what? Instagram is brilliant. So the filters are a bit naff, but if they mean capturing beautiful mundane details of life and making them look even lovelier, I don't mind. The real attraction to it is that it makes you look at the world in a slightly different way, and take snaps of things that you would have otherwise ignored. Like tweeting, it's a micro-activity that passes the time when you're waiting for a bus or for Four In A Bed to start. Just look around and there'll always be something to shoot.

The social aspect is quite nice – I love seeing other people's weird little observations (and, increasingly, what they're about to eat) – but it's the diarising aspect that has really won me over. I'm really looking forward to looking back over my Instagram pics at the end of the year as a reminder of my adventures.

More pics here.