Melrose resident Matthew Lowery only came into possession of a camera recently, as an early birthday present from his wife, but you wouldn’t know it from looking at his Instagram (@heyjude31). A collection of finely textured, impeccably framed photos, many captured via cameraphone, Lowery’s account presents followers with a unique opportunity to see Boston at its most breathtaking.
Q. Your handle references your son, Jude. Does he ever play a role in your Instagram?
A. All the time. He goes out shooting with me; in a lot of my pictures, I like to take silhouettes, looking into the sun or a sunset with people in the frame, and a lot of times you’ll see a little person in the picture. That’s usually my little guy, Jude.
Q. What catches your eye as a photographer?
A. I always look for the light. If you can find the light, you can often find a good picture in there. Everybody loves sunrises and sunsets, but I love being in the city in the middle of the day, when the sunlight is bouncing and reflecting off buildings. I love to look for reflections, whether in glass or puddles. People’s silhouettes also tend to catch my eye, so I consciously look for those.
Q. How do you balance Instagram with working a full-time job?
A. I work for the Gentle Giant moving company, as an outside sales rep, so I go out to people’s homes and businesses, do walk-throughs, and give them the unfortunate news of how much it’s going to cost to move their stuff. [laughs] But that gives me an opportunity to be in the city a lot, so I’ll park my car and walk to appointments through the city, doing my job but also observing and taking pictures of stuff. Any chance I get just to walk through the Public Garden, for example, I take advantage of that. It’s just a magical place, and it’s coming alive right now too. Spring is like no other season in the Public Garden, because when those flowers, the tulips, the tourists, and swans start coming in, there are a lot of great photo opportunities.
Q. What advice would you give to young photographers searching for their style?
A. I think I do have my own style — it’s always evolving. The one thing about finding your own style and finding what interests you is that you need to just take pictures, every day. And edit them, re-edit them, recrop them — if you’re really serious about it, and you want it to look better, that’s how you can do it and find your own path through Instagram. Figure out what you like to shoot and what appeals to you. That’s sort of a life lesson; it’s the same way with everything. If you’re a baseball player and you want to be a better hitter, you go to the batting cages every day.
Interview was edited and condensed. Isaac Feldberg can be reached by e-mail at isaac.feldberg@globe.com, or on Twitter at @i_feldberg.
