@ZachDriftwood’s #Petheadz

Some say pets look like their owners, but one Canadian photographer has taken it to a new and creative extreme. In his series, #petheadz, Zachary Rose (@zachdriftwood) takes DSLR portraits of people’s pets and mashes them up with portraits of their owners by cleverly holding the camera in the foreground.

The series started as an exercise in creativity with his two roommates but quickly caught on. To date, Zach has taken 18 #petheadz portraits of people all over Toronto. (His mom even posed for a photo with her German shepherd.) The project is still on-going with a lengthy wait-list, and Zach is excited to continue meeting people—and pets—around the city as he keeps shooting.

Protecting Rome’s Ancient Architecture, with @saverome

Modern Rome is built atop a layer of ancient ruins, many of which are still standing and accessible today. Having worked in Rome as a preservationist and teacher for the last 15 years, archaeologist Darius Arya (@saverome) has a keen knowledge of the city’s rich structural history. Through Instagram, he takes followers along for an up-close, educational look at Rome’s ruins. “I love being able to reveal a lot of information on a well-known structure like the Pantheon or discuss a structure or issue in the shadow of something so well known, like the barely-known Saepta Julia resting against the Pantheon,” he says. “Instagram has helped me focus my message and deliver a variety of styles, from a simple photo to intensely dense informative material.”

In his self-proclaimed quest to make #culturalheritage cool, Darius has opened up a global dialogue about the Roman ruins on Instagram. “I find the feedback from people is great. People are learning, hungry for more. I really enjoy being able to get into the conversation and spur on interest.”

To get your daily dose of Rome’s #culturalheritage, and to follow along as Darius embarks on a 3-year excavation in Ostia Antica this June and July, be sure to follow him on Instagram @saverome!

In the Artist’s Studio with @Adam5100

There’s attention to detail, there’s obsessive attention to detail, and then there’s Adam Feibelman.

If you’ve never seen Adam’s Instagram feed, @adam5100, you’d probably never be able to tell that his exquisitely detailed paintings were actually produced with stencils. But as Feibelman’s photos make clear, every painting requires numerous stencil layers, each requiring an abundance of patience, precision, and X-Acto knife blades.

Feibelman brings his Instagram followers into his San Francisco, California studio, not only documenting progress made on his larger fine art works, but also sharing photos of his free-form daily warmups.

“Instagram is like the chapter marker of the day. I start in the morning with doing a single free hand papercut to loosen the brain, and when that’s done I post it,” Adam says. “Then it’s on to much harder stuff. If I finish another layer that day, I post it. Instagram is like a little reward for completing a step when it comes to my art.”

Posting photos from his studio helps keep friends and fans up to speed on his work. “Your friends can’t always be with you to share in seeing something crazy or making something fun. Instagram is all about the opportunity to open up a window into your life.”

Follow Adam’s artistic undertakings on Instagram at @adam5100.

Indonesian Instagrammers Meet at Mount Bromo, East Java

This weekend (April 6-7), we’re challenging people around the globe to host their very own photo walk or InstaMeet, just like this Indonesian crew. Organizing is easy: grab some Instagram friends, pick a location and add a hashtag to the photos that you share that’s unique to your InstaMeet! Learn more here.

Inspired by the @pilgramers, Indonesian Instagrammers Ernanda Putra (@ernandaputra) and Jagat Natha (@jagatnatha) hosted their own InstaMeet in Jakarta in January. They were amazed by the success. “18 people came from all around the country. We had so much fun that day and got lots of feedback and requests to do it again.” So Ernanda and Jagat, along with Dicky Irman Nassa (@anomalu) from Jakarta and Sigit Hartanto (@sigithartanto) and Arie Novwan (@konservatif) from Bandung, began planning their next InstaMeet at Mount Bromo, an active volcano in East Java.

The game plan was simple: the five organizers announced the InstaMeet on their Instagram accounts and invited anyone to participate, so long as they could arrange their own transportation to Mount Bromo and pay for lodging.

23 Instagrammers made the trip, many of whom met for the first time at the three-day event. They spent most of the first day on the road together, splitting three cars en route to Bromo. On the second day, the group summited the mountain at 3:00AM to see the sun rise, and later explored Bromo’s “green savana” and “whispering sands.” Each night, they returned to their shared lodging, a local villager’s house, and got to know one another better. “For me this small event was really special,” Ernanda says. “Instagram actually brings me exciting new experiences— meeting new people, exploring new places—and this was a truly unforgettable experience.”

To view more photos from the Mount Bromo InstaMeet, visit the hashtag #instameetbromo and follow @ernandaputra and @jagatnatha on Instagram!

Hashtag Highlight: #followmeto with @muradosmann and @yourleo

Russian photographer Murad Osmann (@muradosmann) and his girlfriend Nataly Zakharova (@yourleo) travel constantly for work and they’ve come up with a unique and romantic perspective for sharing their experiences around the globe on Instagram that has caught the attention of publications like the Daily Mail and the Huffington Post. The entire project actually started as an accident: “I was taking pictures of everything and Nataly got annoyed, so she dragged me forward to move on. That’s how the first #followmeto was taken, and I quite liked the result so we have continued the series ever since.” Murad started using the hashtag #followmeto to catalog photos of Nataly leading him to landmarks and exotic places.

Be sure to follow Murad (@muradosmann) and Nataly (@yourleo) on Instagram for more of their around-the-world photos and a behind-the-scenes look at how to take them yourself!

@joemcnallyphoto’s #fromwhereistand Atop the Burj Khalifa

Photographer Joe McNally (@joemcnallyphoto) has climbed the antenna of the World Trade Center and all over the Empire State Building on assignments, but two days ago he reached his greatest height yet: summiting the tip-top of the world’s tallest building, Dubai’s Burj Khalifa.

The climb took three years to plan and just three hours to complete. Joe’s route took him approximately 450 feet straight up a combination of steps and rung ladders. “The portholes and grating access points are small, so you have to climb and then stop and rope up your gear which has been stuffed into climbing bags.”

Once at the top, Joe calmly snapped a #fromwhereistand photo with his iPhone and shared the image on Instagram. “It was wonderful being up there. A thrilling view, and certainly a bit of a sense of accomplishment,” he says. “I told folks I would send out a picture from the top, which seemed like a fun thing to do in these days of connectivity and instant visual delivery. Of course, I had to be very careful handling the iPhone at that height!”

To see more of Joe’s photos, be sure to follow him on Instagram @joemcnallyphoto and through National Geographic’s account, @natgeo, to which he’s a regular contributor.

Photographer @BrandenHarvey Turns Instagram Followers Into Friends

Branden Harvey (@brandenharvey) is passionate about community. As the Portland, Oregon-based photographer states on his profile, “I believe your story matters,” and as one of Oregon’s top InstaMeet organizers and the creator of the #storyportrait hashtag, he means it. So far over 1,000 photos have been submitted to the #storyportrait tag, which Branden created to encourage people to “share the stories of the people in your life. Authentically. Genuinely. Lovingly.”

Whether he’s exploring with other Instagrammers he just met, or traveling to India on a trip partly funded by his Instagram connections, Branden’s perfected the art of turning Instagram connections into real-life friends. Check out his top tips for how to follow suit below and be sure to follow him at @brandenharvey.

• Take genuine interest in people and ask solid questions. Learn about pasts: where people are coming from. Learn about futures: what they’re hopeful about. Then find out how they’re going to get from point A to point B.
• Don’t be afraid to meet in real life. Get coffee, visit bookstores, attend Instameets or get lost taking photos in a forest.
• Be the most encouraging person you know. Look for awesome ways to compliment people’s work that you admire.
• Cultivate your sense of adventure. Take risks and step outside of your comfort zone. Crash on people’s couches, buy plane tickets and plan road trips with people you’ve never met before. (But use common sense when possible)

No Passport Required: @passionpassport Travels the World

Many people dream of travelling the world, and while most of those dreamers struggle to act on the desire to explore, others simply can’t ignore the pull of wanderlust and embark on worldly adventures. That’s exactly what Zach Glassman (@passionpassport) did during a journey he called “Passion Passport.”

Recently, Zach completed his “Wanderlust Year” across 18 countries and five continents in 10 months, all of which he documented through Instagram. “I began using Instagram because it allowed me to instantaneously share my travels with my friends and family,” he says. “As my trip began, the collaborative spirit within Instagram became apparent. Instagrammers were contacting me from places as far away as China, Morocco and Sub-Saharan Africa.” As a result of the overwhelming support he’s received, the next part of Zach’s journey is to inspire others to follow their own travel dreams by sharing stories of traveling Instragrammers through his website, passionpassport.com.

Along the way, Zach shared some particularly incredible experiences—from spending time with his mother in Portugal to adventuring over Victoria Falls. “One moment that sticks out most in my mind was when I reached the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and snapped a photo in the middle of a snowstorm and -20˚C weather.”

Be sure to follow Zach on Instagram at @passionpassport as the second part of his journey begins!