Over the last one year, a Mumbai-centered Instagram page InstaMumbai has attracted the fancy of professional, as well as, amateur city photographers
There is no denying that Mumbai is quite the sight to behold. Despite its overtly rising urban persona, the city has always been an open field for photographers of every kind. From professional camera persons to the young hipster with their fancy DSLRs to even those armed with just their phone cameras, they've all pointed their lenses to the city's changing skyline, at some point. And be it the endless shots of the sea-link, or those of the sun setting (or rising), many of these pictures have graced the pages of social media, especially the photography app, Instagram.
And that is exactly how and why InstaMumbai was born. “We are a community group of passionate and enthusiastic photographers,” explains Gaurav Kamboj, who is one of the founding members and managers of the page. “Despite vast talents, we observed there was very little exposure to photographers from Mumbai. We decided to bridge the gap and act as a platform to showcase city photographers on Instagram,” adds the engineer in transition.
The page that was created about a year ago, has received a tremendous response from Mumbaikars, having grown organically to over 15,000 followers in the first six months. It is primarily handled by Kamboj and co-founders Vijal Jain and Ambika Dhonde.
A select few photographs by city instagrammers are featured every week; usually those depicting the dynamic rhythm of Mumbai. Special attention is also paid to the highlight events in the city, such as Ganesh Chaturthi, or Kala Ghoda festival, during which InstaMumbai featured a series of pictures capturing the changing moods of the festivals.
So how does one get featured on InstaMumbai?
“We ask our fellow IGers to tag their images of/from the city with #InstaMumbai. We constantly monitor this hash-tag-feed and pick the best pictures for the page,” Kamboj explains.
“A featured photo can be any photo of exceptional quality and aesthetics, is creative, thought provoking, makes a statement, and/or any number of other attributes like emotion, style, context, meaning, feeling and photographic vision,” he elaborates.
Going offline
Apart from activities on Instagram, the increasingly popular social group is also known for its on-ground events. “We organise photo-walks and instameets every month in collaboration with Mumbai Instagrammers. Meet-ups are held once every month to visit unexplored/ heritage location in Mumbai. These are led by marketing professional Meghna Girohtra who is our captain and chief coordinator for all the events. These field excursions are immensely popular among their followers. “In the past, we’ve organised photowalks to Juhu Beach, Sanjay Gandhi National Park, around Bandra, heritage walks in South Bombay, which have great response,” he elaborates.
The team is definitely overwhelmed and overjoyed by the response. “We are amazed by the way people have supported the initiative. Even local photo gallery studios and café shops have approached us to promote their business or contest,” he quips. “People now have bigger expectations from us. Earlier it didn't matter what picture we featured, no one would raise any question. But now we get feedback if we don’t choose the photos carefully,” he explains.
What more?
With over 22,000 followers and counting, this social community of Mumbai photographers is now reaching across city borders to similar online groups. “We are regularly in touch with similar Instagram groups from other cities and share contest and meet-ups ideas with each other. We are also looking to collaborate with other groups like IG Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Delhi to organise events,” he reveals.
Also watch: Thomas Jullien creates must watch viral video compiled solely of Instagram pictures
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