View From the Hotel Window, Old Timey Edition
Posted on June 5, 2013 Posted by John Scalzi 23 Comments
Lexington is full of sepia today. It might be a serious condition. It should get that checked into.
In other news, hello, I am in Kentucky. Hope to see some of you tonight at seven at Joseph-Beth Booksellers here in Lexington. Dress in modern attire if you wish!
Am I the only one who’s getting tired of all the pictures taken with modern digital cameras or phones and given an “effect” to make them look “old-timey”? Isn’t that a bit atavistic?
Sorry to stomp on your post, John, but it’s been bugging me.
I TOOK THIS WITH A VINTAGE 1865 CAMERA. IT TOOK ME FIVE MINUTES TO MAKE THE EXPOSURE.
Also, meh. Filters can be fun, as long as you don’t confuse what you’re doing with art.
Sepia is the greek word for cuttlefish. If Lexington is full of sepia this may be the start of a horror movie involving the invasion of mollusks.
Or just some sort of cuttlefish fanciers convention.
Personally I like the “bad 70s Polaroid instant camera” effect with extra red- and glow-eye.
I think it’s a lovely picture, I don’t care what anyone else says.
The right filter can compliment a picture, like this one does. It’s just when people feel they have to make every picture look like it was taken with a Holga that it drives me nuts.
Is Kentucky as beautiful as I hear? Neighbors have family there; they say it’s absolutely gorgeous.
As a Lexington resident (transplanted from growing up in Florida) I can say that it is actually really beautiful. Especially if you get out of the city and visit some of the hiking trails or a good Bourbon distillery! :-)
Also, I could probably pinpoint your hotel and room by using that photo. So if someone starts stalking you, I’m sorry, I’m really nice, I promise.
I hope you will verify whether Lexington is full of cuttlefish. The possibilities intrigue me…
(As they did on my trip to the grocery store this morning, where I wound up parking between the van with the “Got True Blood” and “Vampire Girl” bumper stickers and the car with the “Miskatonic University” bumper sticker.)
I was a little annoyed by the filter effect, but hey, I’m just a crabby old guy. (Crabs AND cuttlefish! Poor Lexington just gets no break today.)
“Get off my lawn, you Dageurreotypists!“
The sepia, is okay, I guess, but are we still taking landscape photos in portrait orientation? Tsk…
21 Jump Street. I could not resist Johnny Depp even then.
Wow, people are being very nit-picky today. I think the pic is lovely and the sepia effect very appropriate given the old fashioned, Main Street, USA view from the window.
Well, it’s much nicer than the view from my hotel window, which is a dumpster and New Circle Road. I rather like Mr. Scalzi’s view better.
John can’t help it if the hotel window is in portrait orientation.
What you need is a filter to turn those cars to horse-drawn buggies.
I momentarily thought it was an old or reproduction postcard, but then noticed the modern vehicles.
The reading tonight was great! My husband, who tagged along to humor me, enjoyed it immensely. I think you have a new fan.
Thank you for the wonderful appearance! My son and I enjoyed ourselves; well worth the drive from Louisville. As I mentioned to you if you ever make it back to Louisville please don’t miss the LVL1 hackerspace; we’re a community of makers, artists, scientists, students, nerds, geeks, and more that come together to build an open space for people to collaborate and make cool stuff. This ranges from serious science-missions like robotic balloon payloads with satellite data connections, GPS tracking, and sensors to more silly things like Butterscoth, the fire-breathing robotic pony of doom or the Mind Over Melon project which allows you to explode a melon with the power of your mind! I think you’d fit right in; we have at least 4 of your books in our library and we’re mostly nerds. Anyone interested in checking us out can learn more at lvl1.org.
It would be more convincingly old timey without the utility van parked on modern pavement…and modern roofing materials…and what appears to be a boom antenna…and an improbable sharpness for chemically processed photos. But hey, at least you scrubbed the EXIF data with the date taken.
…stomp, stomp, stomp!
As long as you get the lighting rod on the old clock tower before midnight so you can get BACK TO THE FUTURE!!!
Let us know if you run into Henry Earl.
The Cuttlefish Invasion of Lexington.
There’s a movie in there somewhere.