He bought Dino, a green Brachiosaurus, at a flea market in La Paz, Bolivia. As he continued traveling, he found Dino some dinosaur friends: Dina the Stegosaurus, Spiny the Spinosaurus, and Brachy, a brown Brachiosaurus (she is Dino's girlfriend).
Unfortunately, his Saenz's instagram is now private- but you can search the hashtag #dinodinaseries and find some more picturesque shots. Some of my favorites are below:
Jorge Saenz (@jorgesaenzpy) has unusual travel companions: a gang of plastic toy dinosaurs. The Argentine photojournalist imagines names and distinct personalities for the creatures who lead adventurous lives as the subjects of his #dinodinaseries. "Dina (the big green Stegosaurus) is more aggressive and instinctive; Spiny (Spinosaurus) is mostly ironic; Brachy (a brown Brachiosaurus) is the romantic girlfriend of Dino, but very critical of male behavior," says Jorge. His captions, written from the dinosaurs' point of view, reveal an alien perspective of humans and Earth- as if the toys time traveled from prehistory. As his dinosaurs explore our world, even Jorge isn't always in control of their fate. "Dinoldo, a very intellectual one, for example, sought refuge in Cuba...And a beautiful Velociraptor was lost in an avalanche of sand."
Right before spring break, our professor had us design our own pet rocks and take them with us to wherever we were going. We were instructed to name our rocks, introduce them to someone, and take pictures to show if they were having fun. This process was important because self-extension is enhanced if an object is (1) owned and (2) personalized. In this case, we were to keep our decorated rocks in our possession for the whole week; when we returned, we would test the concept.
Our professor made sure to remind us NOT to lose our rocks- which I did almost immediately! Right as we were leaving, he slipped somewhere into the cracks of the couches in the classroom. I eventually found him hiding next to a table leg on the floor. My pet rock, named Juniper (or JuJu for short) came along with me to Portugal and Spain :)
Juju had a great trip in Europe. He tagged along on a train ride with me to a little town outside of Lisbon, Portugal, named Sintra. It's a beautiful place to explore with many historic castles, waterfalls, grottos, and gardens. Juniper climbed with me all the way to the top of site where we had a spectacular view of Portugal while standing between a Moorish castle and the Disney-like National Palace. He also sunbathed with me in Plaza de España, getting so tan that some of his markings started to rub off. Another exciting experience for JuJu was attending a flamenco show with some of my new friends.
When we returned to Boston after break, we were asked to prepare our rocks to be sold as part of a product line of pet rocks. Juniper was to be one of many? His individuality and uniqueness stripped away? Hell no! Juniper symbolized my own sense of self at this point, and I wasn't too into the idea of having my identity packaged and sold for fun. I rejected the idea, and JuJu is now sitting on my dresser in my room.
It was really interesting in class to dig deeper into the mechanics of what was happening in this case, as well as what the brain was thinking/feeling/doing. I won't go into that right now, as it would take forever, but I just want to say- have a little fun when you travel!
~burn bright~
Jess