It was the coldest night in Wellington I had arranged to meet up with Kalista Campbell, a coordinator of Wellington Instameet who organised a photo walk of the Lux Light Festival.
Not only did I head to the wrong location, but it was had also started to rain and I have to say, I’m totally afraid of the cold. Nevertheless, after meeting Kalista I quickly perked up and was keen to find out more about her journey on Instagram and whether or not she felt that it was a place to make meaningful connections with others. Plus, as a newly obsessed Instagram fan myself I hoped to glean some helpful tips and tricks.
As it turns out, Kalista is definitely no novice when it comes to knowing her way around social media. In fact, she does it for a living as a Social Marketing Coordinator for Massey University. But when it comes to the instameets it was her love of taking photos and meeting new people that drew her to Instagram and her for starting instameets in Adelaide four years ago.
Today, her reasons for using the social networking site haven’t changed and she’s met many of her Wellington friends as a result of starting an instameet group here in New Zealand. Although the group may appear tight-knit on the outset, she reinforces that it’s only because people have come along to the various meet-ups over a period of time.
“The group is open to everyone and new people come along each time. It’s not just some hipster-niche group for photographers.”
Kalista believes that sites like Instagram are great tools for building communities and she has noticed other creative groups forming locally through social media because people are simply more trusting of the internet as a way of meeting new people with similar interests. On a personal front, she sees myriad benefits from having used Instagram and organising Instameets, one being, having met her best friend and now Wellington flatmate through the site.
“…it helps to push your creativity and the meet-ups are a good opportunity to get together and act like a tourist in your own town. “
From left: Jumpstagram, Kalista Campbell selfie, Red Rocks
The Instagram Wellington username is @instagramwgtn.
Links
Instagram images provided by @k_thx and Wellington Lux images @norhizam77 and @slyonthewall
