It’s no secret I’m a fan of Instagram. Although I love the challenge of photographing with my DSLR and love the images I can capture with it, taking photos with my smartphone has become my new favorite thing. I always have the phone with me, and there is something to be said for capturing glimpses of beauty and quirkiness and rough edges right now, in the moment, as they strike me.
So when I heard about an InstaWalk happening in Hamburg — my first German home and still one of my favorite cities ever — I was immediately on board. Basically a group of Instagrammers get together at a certain location in their city and take photos. I’ve gone on photowalks before — in Hamburg, actually! — but there is something very appealing about being able to instantly upload and share your photos with others on Instagram.
And indeed, it was awesome. Instagrammers Hamburg organized a photowalk through some of HH’s loveliest U-Bahn stations. We met at Baumwall on Hamburg’s waterfront and rode the U-Bahn from there. At the designated stations, all 20+ of us would step out of the train to take photographs for about 10-15 minutes before getting back on and riding to our next station. I found it to be usually just enough time to search for a few shots, choose my favorite to edit, and then upload before getting back on the train.
I also found it pretty entertaining to watch where others searched for and found their inspiration. Plus, using the hashtag #igmeethh16 , I could immediately see the results of our InstaWalk efforts. Although we were all presented with the same scenes, I loved the variety of creative interpretation in everyone’s photos.
It was definitely an entertaining challenge and a fun afternoon — I took a few photos that I liked, met some fun people, and now have a bunch of new photographers to follow on Instagram! If I can swing the travel to Hamburg, I’ll definitely take part in future InstaWalks. And maybe I can try to convince Instagrammers Bremen to become more active…
Have you ever joined in on an InstaMeet or Instawalk? What did you think? Would you do it again?
That sounds like fun!
I love instagram. I wish my old iPhone 3GS didn’t crash so much while using it.
It’s hard to choose a favorite, but I really love the one at Sierichstraße! (And of course the views of the Baumwall station near the harbor are unbeatable!)
I think you’d love it! I think the Hamburg Instagrammers are pretty active — you should follow them on Facebook or Twitter for more infos about future walks. :)
Yes we are pretty active :) The next InstaWalk or Meet is already in planning. Normally we do a Walk every 6-8 weeks. Hope you all will attend the next one :)
Oliver (Founder of IgersHamburg)
An Instagram photwalk sounds like a really neat idea! I think this would be fun. Great pics!
Thanks, Steven! I think you’d definitely enjoy an InstaWalk.