Boston Baby Mama's Guide to Winning Instagram

some of my favorite IG accounts - see details below!

So you joined Instagram...what now?

Are you using it to share family photos with friends? Good for you! Have fun! This post is not for you.

Are you into taking creative photos that you want the world to see? Do you want thousands of followers? Lots of likes? Tons of comments? Features (more on what this means in the IG community in a bit) galore? Please, sit back and continue reading, because I have a surefire way to make you popular on Instagram.

Let me start off this post by saying this - I am not popular on Instagram, but I could be if I wanted to be. I have a little over 1600 followers, which by IG standards means I am a "math club dork." I share a mixture of family, every day and creative photos on my feed, and that is my downfall.

I know what it takes to be a varsity football QB of IG, but I don't have the time, nor do I have the energy to put in the effort to be more popular. If that is your goal in life, to have 50k followers or more on IG (let me also mention that I am talking Average American IG status, and not celebrity status), I can get you there with the following guidelines...

1. Consistency. It is all about consistency. The most popular people (that I follow) on IG post photos that all have something in common. Some have galleries that have a consistent color scheme. My friend Kim, @runnerkimhall, posts photos only of her dog, flat lays (which means photos taken of something arranged on a piece of paper and then photographed from above) or of herself in the distance (never up close). All of them are pastel-hued photos, therefore they all look amazing and very appealing in her gallery.

@runnerkimhall' s fabulous IG gallery

Another one of my friends that does this well is Jo from Perth, Australia aka @sayhellojo. She is known for photos of her dear son in front of vibrant walls, colorful minimal shots, and for holding objects in front of bright colored walls. All of which make for a tremendous IG gallery!

@sayhellojo's vibrant IG gallery

Another friend of mine, Julie from Quebec or @julie_audet has a breathtaking gallery full of animals and nature. She finds consistency in her color composition, but at the other end of the spectrum. Her photos are all serenely edited to have the same neutral tones. 

@julie_audet's serene IG gallery

Another way to be consistent on IG is to have a recurring theme in your photos. My dear friend, and creative inspiration, Carolyn from Miami, aka @carolyn_mara, photographs herself most of the time. No, I don't mean she has a gallery full of selfies, but she takes artistic and envelope pushing portraits of herself, which you would be shocked to know are mostly taken with her iPhone! Here are some of my favorites from her gallery...

some of my favorites from @carolyn_mara's awe-inspiring gallery

Another good example of a consistent theme is my friend Laurie, also from the Boston area, aka @lauries_little_ones. She burst onto the IG scene in the last couple years with her stunning, natural light filled photos of her little beauties. Most of the photos she takes are in front of a window or door, as you can see in her gallery. 

@lauries_little_one's precious family gallery

You could focus on taking photos of your city, like my friend Smita aka @hoggerandco, who is also from Boston. She has a growing love affair with our historical city, and magically captures it's beauty and lifestyle on a day to day basis. 

@hoggerandco's city lifestyle gallery

My final example is my deeply talented friend Mari aka @meandering_mari, who is a former chemist turned artist. She showcases her colorful works, as well as creates what she calls #meanderinghearts, which are flat lays that all have a heart in the center of them. 

@meandering_mari's creative IG gallery

So what am I getting at? All of these IG superstars have one thing in common - consistency. They have a theme to their gallery. They aren't posting vacation photos, they aren't posting selfies or date-night photos, they all have a theme and have stuck to it, and have become wildly successful. If you decide you want to only take photos of puddles, and create a gallery full of puddles all over the world, I bet you could be successful. Or take photos of your breakfast every day, but have it always on the same blue plate. I kid you not, you could have 10k followers in a year. But now the question is, how do people find you??

2. My second bit of advice is to tag, or hashtag, feature pages, and hashtag a ton of them. 

What is a feature page? A feature page is an IG account that doesn't post their own photos, but re-posts photos that have been tagged to the feature page's hashtags. Still confused? Stay with me. 

I run a feature account on IG called Nothing Is Ordinary (@nothingisordinary). Myself, along with 5 other ladies, literally from around the world, choose daily themes and create a unique hashtag for people to "tag" their photos to. Each day we go through about 1000 photos that have been tagged and pick our favorites to be featured on the @nothingisordinary account. These featured photos are seen by almost 80k IG users worldwide, and will now have people following their accounts. The more features you get, the more exposed to the IG community you are, and in turn, the more followers you will have. 

some feature pages for your tagging pleasure

3. Post often, but not too often. You need to be posting a photo a day, at least. You don't want to be filling up people's feeds with your photos, but you want to keep your account fresh in your followers' minds.

So you have picked out a theme for your IG account - let's say "Dogs in Wigs" (because that sounds amazing and I would follow the crap out of your account!) Now you open up your account, @dogsinwigz on IG (because I just checked IG and @dogsinwigs exists so you have to change the s to a z, because that is what you do, right?) You've got a consistent color palette in all your photos (all the dogs are photographed in front of a solid pink background), and your feed is looking great. Every day you are posting a new photo of a dog in a wig, and maybe you have branched out to dogs in glasses too, but you are keeping the editing and composition of the photos fairly the same. You have been tagging your photos to feature pages, and your follower base is growing. Now what? 

4. Now you need to establish a relationship with our followers. Those kind people who like your photos all the time, and even take the time to comment? You need to respond to them. Thank them for liking your photos. Check out their feeds, and possibly follow them. Like some of their photos. A little IG love goes a long way. Being friendly and sharing the love will make your followers more likely to suggest your account to other IG users, in turn getting you more followers. Also, it is just nice to be nice!

I know what you are thinking - @bostonbabymama, why don't you follow your own guidelines and become a successful IGer? Well, for one, I don't have the time or energy. It takes a lot of effort to create the beautiful works of art on the accounts I featured above, and right now I just don't have the focus to do it. I have the ideas (I still want to have an account that recreates daily activities, but only with toys - check out #bbmtoys for some of my past photos like this) but I have too many ideas and can't concentrate on one. 

Right now my feed consists of photos of my girls, some portraits of myself, flat lay photos, things held up against bright walls, artsy photos, lifestyle shots, vacation shots...you name it, I have it on there and none of it is edited consistently. They are all great photos, or so I have been told, but my feed is not generally appealing at first glance. I am like a combination of all the feeds above, and that does not make a popular IG account. 

To sum up this novel of a post...

To become an uber successful Instagrammer you must:

1. Have a consistent theme to your posts, therefore a visually consistent gallery

2. Tag your photos to feature pages and other hashtags

3. Post at least once a day, but don't fill up your followers feeds!

4. Share the love with your followers

Seems simple, and it truly is, but it is time consuming. I challenge you to give it a try though! I call "Dogs with Wigs" though...you can have "Bacon Man," the account where a piece of Bacon comes to life, marries a human and leads an average American lifestyle. Actually, I don't know if I would follow that...yeah, probably not. 

Now if it was a family of Bacon people....

Where I Find "My People"

Being a stay at home mom can be lonely, especially when both your kids are in school. You get them up, get them dressed, feed them, pack their lunches, argue with them about not watching tv before school, get their school stuff together, bundle them up, strap them in the car, drop them off at their respective schools...and then you are by yourself. 

You have responsibilities, like errands and things around the house, but you don't have a job to go to and a boss to whom you report. If I wanted, I guess I could sit on the couch all day and watch tv and eat Bon Bons. But I don't, and I don't know another stay at home mom who does.

So as not to feel so lonely you are pushed over the edge, it is important for someone like me to be part of a community, It is important to surround yourself with likeminded individuals, who share the same interests. Some people do this through church. Some people have weekly book clubs. Some people do this through mom groups. Some people get very involved in their kid's school. Some people do this through exercise classes (I had my first experience with SoulCycle last week and I have words...but that is for another post).

My community is a little unconventional.

Sure I have the people I see at the gym every morning, and I have mom friends that I meet for lunch, and play dates, as well as being an active parent at both of my children's school, but I tend to find my peace and "my people" through a different, more convenient, outlet.

I am a very creative person - I need to do something creative every day or I feel funny, or empty. Whether it is taking photos, writing, playing the piano, making dolls in my studio, decorating my house, arranging flowers - something needs to stimulate the right side of my brain on a daily basis. To satisfy this creative need, and my need for a creative community, I take online photography classes. I know this sounds strange, but through The Define School of online photography I have met some amazing, creative, similar individuals. By "met" I mean I met the online - I have never actually met these people in real life. That alone sounds really weird, especially to my parents generation I am sure.

Each of the classes I have taken (I think I have 6 under my belt - each 4 weeks) are led by the most ridiculously talented and inspiring women, who have pushed my creative boundaries and made me the "Unapologetic Artist" (also the name of my favorite class I have taken at Define, taught by my dear friend Carolyn Mara Harris, who is also the most bold and brilliant artist I have ever come across - check her out on Instagram @carolyn_mara) that I am today.

one of my shots from my Unapologetic Artist Class

Each time I take class there I am giddy with excitement when it starts, and teary-eyed when it ends. If you are like me and want to be part of something amazing with creative women and men all over the world, please check out The Define School.

Now, this second place I find "my people" is a place that I never thought I would EVER touch with a ten foot pole. I am not one for spiritual thoughts or beliefs. I am fine with others believing and practicing their religions, but I don't believe that there is an almighty being who is watching us and judging us and responsible for our behavior and whatnot. I don't believe the words in the bible should be taken as law, but rather a bunch of stories, some with valuable lessons and themes, others just pure crazy fiction.

With that said, I do feel that we all have an energy around and in us, and that there are certain things we can do to shift and move that energy for the positive.

Last year was a tough one for my family, with losses on both sides, illnesses, injuries and just over all bad luck. A friend of mine, and past teacher at Define, happen to post something on Facebook that a friend of her's commented on. That friend happen to be the actress Carrie-Anne Moss of Matrix (and now Jessica Jones) fame. I inquired how they knew each other and my friend pointed me to Carrie-Anne's website, Annapurnaliving.com. At the time Annapurna was offering a 10-day simple meditation course.

Meditation? Chanting and humming and that baloney? Not for me...or is it?

I needed something calming and positive in my life. I needed way to control the stress and anxiety I was starting to feel. I needed a little quiet in my life. I am not one to shy away from trying new things, so I signed up. And boy am I glad I did.

Carrie-Anne is this magical human being. The kind of human being that I wish I was. She is so at peace in her life, and so deep in her thoughts and just the type of person that I really want to be. Every day she would send us a video with some inspirational words, and every day I would anxiously await the ding from my computer telling me I had new mail, hoping it was from Carrie-Anne. I couldn't wait for my kids to go to school and husband to go to work so I could sit on my sheepskin and just "tune in."

This month Carrie-Anne launched The Fierce Grace Collective. As soon as the first email announcing this community/collective (whatever you want to call it) was sent out, I knew I had to be a part of it. For a tiny monthly fee, you join an online community of like-minded women, seeking spiritual support and calming guidance, led by the ethereal Carrie-Anne. We practice our mediation daily (a new one each week), have creative prompts (things to write in a journal about, or even something you can photograph and share) and nightly visualizations (this is where you lay down and listen to Carrie-Anne's calming voice share some of her wisdom and guidance).

At the moment there are about 200 of us, literally all over the globe. There is an online community where we are able to share thoughts and feelings with each other too...and you know I have thoughts and feelings!

Many of these women are stay at home moms like me, looking for some direction in their lives, trying to figure out what is next, so I am excited to get to know them and be on this journey with them.

"My people" might not be able to meet me for tea, as they are scattered all over the globe, and I have never met most of them in person, but we share common interests and passions and are like-minded individuals, and that is all that matters to me. I have real friends in my life, people I see on a daily basis, and talk to on the phone, but I just so happens to have a lot of friends that I can only communicate with through a screen! Welcome to 2016!

Where do you find your people???

Photo-a-day, Journaling and Snail Mail, oh my!

Six months ago I thought Instagram was just some silly app where you put old-timey filters on your photos and made them look like Polaroids from the 70s. Oh, friends, how wrong I was. Through Instagram I have connected with people all over the world - Dubai, South Africa, Tokyo, Australia and Amsterdam to name a few - who share my love (more like obsession) of photography and my passion for documenting my life in photos.

It was through Instagram that I was reconnected with old friends who started an online iPhoneography school this year. The iArtist Collective is one of the main reasons I have this burning passion to document my families doings. As I wrote about on the blog last year, I was lucky enough to take a class with the brilliant Carolyn Mara and she awoke my inner artist like I never thought she could. The iArtist Collective is offering up their second round of classes in February - if you are looking for a creative challenge you should definitely check them out! 

FMS Photo a day prompt list for January

I also participate in photo-a-day challenges - and you should join me!

For the past six months I have done the Fat Mum Slim's Photo-a-day challenge (the most popular on IG - and the most creative I think). Everyday you are given a prompt or subject and you take a photo that you think best represents that prompt and share it with the IG community. This year I am also taking on two other photo-a-day challenges - the Sunny Pic Challenge and #365_today (there is also another called #my_365 - so many!). Why? Because I am crazy and it is an excuse to take even more silly photos of me in wigs or my kids dancing around.

#snailmailrevival package
courtesy of @traciling

And through IG I met an amazing group of ladies who have started a project called Snail Mail Revival.  They pair you up with a pen pal from all over the world and you exchange fun little quirky gifts and trinkets with them from your neck of the woods. Such an amazing and simple concept. I am already getting my first package for my pen plan in Texas together. Who doesn't love getting mail? Check out The Multi Task Mom's blog for more details. 

Through Day One I am keeping
a journal alongside my daily
photos on IG

And my last undertaking this year will be to keep a daily journal via the Day One app on both my iPad and iPhone. In addition to taking all these photos of my daily life, I want to remember little things...like that Val calls pizza "pete-zy" and that M started talking with an English accent today totally out of the blue. Crazy kids.

Are you starting any fun little projects this year? Be sure to check out all of mine above and follow me on Instagram @bostonbabymama.

Happy New Year!

My Creative Makeover: Self + Art Class at the iArtist Collective

Some of my favorite shots from Self + Art class

You've seen it a million times. The mother getting a makeover on TV after spending so many years putting her children first, and letting herself go. She hasn't bought new clothes in years, and her hair is an unruly mess. For a few moments she is the center of attention. She is pampered and plucked and made to feel like queen for a day. She once agains feels like her old self.

Not too long ago I let my inner-artist go. I used to design jewelry for a living (and I was good at it) so my work day would be spent doing something creative that I loved to do. Once kids came into the picture I no longer had the time to dedicate to jewelry so I found other creative outlets and crafts that I could spend a few minutes here and there on. But then life got in the way, and my studio got dusty as I was spending what little time I had to myself on other things. I had no creative outlet, besides snapping photos of my kids here and there (ok, not just here and there, but they weren't of the quality of photos that I wished they were) and it made me feel like something was missing.

Week 1 assignment: My little elven fairy in the woods

Over the summer I discovered a community of amateur (and professional) photographers like me on Instagram. I had used IG in the past here and there, but had no idea as to its true potential. My creativity was sparked by participating on Fatmumslim's photo-a-day contests (see this past post for more details) and I was meeting people from all over the globe who shared a common interest in photography and other creative things. Through IG I reconnected with a dear friend from high school who told me about this amazing online iPhotography (meaning with your phone) school she and two other friends were starting - the iArtist Collective. Sounded like just the thing I needed to get my creative juices flowing.

I decided to take the Self + Art class given by the uber talented photographer Carolyn Mara Borlenghi. I will be honest, I wasn't going to take this class at first. I was scared of it. I was scared at how talented Carolyn was and felt I had no business being in her class with my amateur photography skills. But you know what? I needed a challenge. I needed someone to push me creatively. I needed someone to spark that passion in my for something artistic again.

Pants off dance off :)

And damn did she light a fire within me! I know that sounds so cheesy, but this class changed me in some way. It changed the way I look at things through my camera - whether on my iPhone or my DSLR. It changed the way I look at things around me. I feel like when I am driving now I see potential photographic masterpieces all around. I am not afraid to get out of my comfort zone either...I am comfortable pushing my own artistic boundaries. I took off my pants and danced in front
of a camera for crying out loud! And I think it is one of my favorite photos I have ever taken.

Each week she gave us assignments that excited and scared us at the same time. Once we completed the assignments we shared them with the rest of the class online and were given amazing critiques that helped each of us all grow as artists. Each time I posted something new I got a rush of anxiety - will they like it? Will they hate it? What will they say in their critiques? I felt like I was back at school again, but I loved every second of it!

Carolyn's class gave my creativity the polish and pluck that it so desperately needed. My inner artist has been given a makeover! It was an experience that I will never forget, and one that I can't recommend enough.

If you are interested in taking an iPhotography class with the iArtist Collective please visit their site for more details! 






- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Photo Gift Ideas From My Favorite Photo Sites

(Update: After writing this post this past weekend, I have discovered Pinholepress.com. You can create personalized memory games with your photos, wall decals, wine bottle labels and all sorts of other fancy things!) 

I take a lot of photos. A LOT of photos. As of today I have taken over 3000 photos this year, both with my camera and my phone. What do I do with those photos? I put them on a share site, and that is about it for most of the year. Occasionally I get them printed out and put them in frames around my house. But come Christmas time I love to use those photos (not all of them of course :) to make photo gifts for people. There are so many different things you can do with your photos that you might not know about, so I thought I would inspire you and share some of my favorite sites.

1. Blurb. Everyone loves a photo book. And nowadays they are easier than ever to make. I have been using Blurb.com since it's launch back in 2006. It is the best book making website out there. You will get the highest quality for the most affordable price. I started using them long ago because they offered the most variety when it came to page layouts. Since then other sites have gotten just has customizable, such as shutterfly.com, but the quality of your printed pages are far superior when you create with Blurb. The wonderful thing about this site is that once you create your book, you can actually sell it on their site! You basically become your own publisher. Pretty amazing stuff.

photo c/o blurb.com

2. Shutterfly. I have a love/hate relationship with shutterfly.com. I started using Kodak Gallery (anyone else remember when it was Ofoto?) back when I got my first digital camera in 2001, and then Kodak Gallery merged with Shutterfly, so I obviously just started using Shutterfly as my photo sharing site. Because it is so easy for me to create photo gifts on their site due to all my photos being there, I use it a lot come Christmas time for family gifts. I have made things like fleece blankets with photos on them, photo cubes, photos printed on glass, plates, cups, photo ornaments and key chains to name a few. All of them are of decent quality, and are loved by everyone that has received them. I also get photo books printed by them, but for some reason every photo or photo book I get printed by them is not up to par. The photo prints tend to be off color and the books are always a little funky. Most people don't notice these little things, but I am pretty picky when it comes to my prints so I don't usually get them done via Shutterfly (I go to Costco). I do recommend them for all those fun photo gifts though, as the resolution of the photo doesn't have to be that great for the gift to come out nice.

One of my favorite things I made on
Shutterfly was this iPhone case

3. Printstagram. I am obsessed with Instagram. OBSESSED. I have hundreds of square photos that I have taken and shared on the IG app. I even have IG friends - people I have never met in person, most who don't know my real name (I am bostonbabymama - check me out!) but whom I have developed "relationships" simply from commenting on each other's photos. Crazy, I know, but I love it. On Prinstagr.am (that is the web address) you can print your Instagram photos on beautiful thick card stock, in two different sizes - one being this 2x2 mini squares that are so fun for the kids to look at and play with. You can also get these "tiny books" made that that are only 1.5 inches square and are magnetized so kids can also play with them on the fridge. In the process of making these for my girls right now! 

How freaking cute are these!
photo c/o prinstagr.am

4. Artifact Uprising. This site is for the passionate photographer, who wants unique, quality, long lasting products to showcase their photos. I have personally never ordered anything from them, but they have come highly recommended by a few of my professional photographer friends. They tell me the prints are top quality, as well as their other products. One of the more popular products is their photo with wood block, which allows you to quickly showcase a different photo via the wood block stand. Another great thing about this site is that you can do all this directly from their iPhone app!

photo c/o artifactuprising.com

5. Gifts for the Baby:

Photo Stacking Blocks - If you are looking for a gift for your baby this year, check out these Photo Stacking Blocks. I will be filling them and giving them to Val, or I should say Santa will be giving them to Val, this year. She loves looking at photos so I hope she will love these took!

Customized Board Books - I am also planning to do a customized board book from Pintsized Productions for Valerie this year. This site, which came highly recommended by a friend, allows you to customize your own book for your baby, with your photos and text. Can't wait to see how it turns out! 

Join me in the Photo-a-Day Challenge!

I have recently become slightly obsessed with Instagram. Not to the level of which I am obsessed with Pinterest (that reminds me I haven't checked Pinterest in the last hour - oh no! I might have missed a photo of a white kitchen!) but I have been using it every day to post photos of the girls and other daily doings (follow me on there @bostonbabymama). And this past month I took part in Fat Mum Slim's Photo-a-day challenge. What is this I speak of? Well at the beginning of each month @fatmumslim posts a list of daily photo challenges, such as "D is for..." or "Love" and you have to use your little creative brain to come up with a photo to share that shows your interpretation of the daily subject.

To get the full explanation pop over to her website by clicking here.

What is the point of all this you ask? It is just pure fun. Fun to have a daily assignment, fun to be creative with your kids, fun to experiment with your camera phone, and then the anticipation of seeing if you got chosen as one of her daily 4 best photos (which I have yet to do, but I am feeling lucky this month!)

So join me (and the other thousands of participants) in Fat Mum Slim's photo-a-day challenge! Here is the list for August:

Remember to tag your daily photos with the hashtag #fmsphotoaday, and tag me @bostonbabymama too!! Happy photo taking!

Here is my collage of my July submissions:

My favorite submissions this month were: 

Favorite Smell - babies and laundry

I Wore This - 

My Workspace - 

Fun -