The Making Of: @strght Skateboards

For more photos from Strght Skateboards, be sure to follow @strght and check out their Photos of You section on your mobile device.

Gabe Willis is a surfer—or at least he was until he moved from sunny San Diego to landlocked Oklahoma for college. Facing a sudden lack of waves, Gabe bought a skateboard and took to the streets, only to be left with a broken board after a few weeks. Rather than dip into his student budget for a new one, Gabe decided to try his hand at making one himself. Drawing inspiration from old-fashioned wooden boards and his family’s engraving company, he set to work and documented his process on Instagram as he went.

As people saw the unique board he was creating, they wanted to figure out how to get one as well. Supported by the interest on Instagram, Gabe created the @strght account and began filling orders directly through Instagram. Now, seven months later, Strght has expanded to four full-time employees and has begun to sell in stores and through web retailers.

With the addition of Photos of You, Strght put out a call to action asking their followers to add the @strght Instagram account to their photos of the boards. As a result, they and their followers are now able to see photos from happy customers across Instagram brought into one neat place.

Nike PHOTOiD integrates Customization with Instagram

Nike (@nike) recently introduced a new way to customize your NIKEiD experience using your Instagram photos. Through the Nike PHOTOiD experience, you can now choose your favorite Instagram photo, and PHOTOiD will customize the Nike Air Max model of your choice based on the colors in the photo. From there, you can immediately purchase or share the photo of your custom-designed shoe.

Nike PHOTOiD emphasizes the social aspect of the NIKEiD experience. Nike PHOTOiD is easy to access via mobile, tablet or desktop devices where participants are encouraged to share their designs through social media channels including Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Designs are also showcased in an online gallery where users can browse designs from throughout the Instagram community based on color and model.

Want to create your own Nike PHOTOiD design? Visit photoid.nike.com. To see the designs that have already been created, visit the gallery or browse the #photoid photos on Instagram.

Explore @SouthwestAir Headquarters on a Virtual Photowalk

For more photos from the photo walk around Southwest HDQ, check out the #PhotoSWAlk hashtag

Last weekend, we challenged the Instagram community to participate in #WorldWideInstawalk. The goals were to go out, explore and be creative.

While groups of Instagrammers were exploring places like Johannesburg, Los Angeles and even the top of an Indonesian volcano, Southwest Airlines (@SouthwestAir) used the opportunity to take their followers on a virtual photo walk exploring their headquarters in Dallas, Texas.

As @SouthWest led followers through their 920,000 square-foot headquarters, they explained how their home base is more than just a center of operations, but the heart of their LUV Culture.

The tour began in the building’s lobby, which houses an impressive suspended model fleet of the company’s many planes. They continued through the hallways, upon which hang more than 20,000 framed pieces of the company’s history. The tour continues through their cafeteria, employee university and corporate culture centers until finally leading us to the in-flight crew training capsule (complete with vintage uniforms), dispatch center and maintenance hanger.

Through their Instagram photo walk, @SouthwestAir was able to give their followers a behind-the-scenes experience they may never have seen otherwise. To learn more about hosting your own photo walk, visit our blog post with tips on how to organize and throw a great event.

The Heritage of Johnnie Walker

To launch the brand’s Instagram account, Johnnie Walker (@johnniewalker) wanted to find a way to bring it’s heritage to life. To do this, it picked three aspects of the brand that it felt strongly represented what the Johnnie Walker brand was about. Johnnie Walker then chose three different Instagram users to be guest photographers for a week and document each aspect.

The first stop was a centuries-old distillery in Scotland, shot by Chris Ozer (@chrisozer). Ozer captured images of old whisky casks and the rolling fields of the Scottish countryside and gave followers a look into the distillation process.

The second aspect highlighted was the brand’s involvement in F1 racing. Johnnie Walker sponsors the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes F1 team and sent photographer Phil Gonzalez (@philgonzalez) to the track with the team. The photos take you behind the scenes with the team during final preparations, into the pits during the race, and even into the winners circle at the end of the race.

The final destination was the Johnnie Walker House in Shanghai. Athipan Wongsuebyut (@awnoom) from Thailand traveled to Shanghai to photograph the iconic site. During the trip, he shared images from inside the Johnnie Walker House of artifacts and memorabilia that showcased the heritage of the brand.

Over the course of the month, users following the account experienced the rich visual history of Johnnie Walker told through the eyes of the brand. To learn more about the heritage of Johnnie Walker, view the photos on Johnnie Walker’s Instagram profile instagram.com/johnniewalker.

Instagram Today: 100 Million People

Instagram’s first office had few redeeming qualities—and insulation was not one of them. There were only two of us, so we rented desks in a co-working space on a pier over San Francisco Bay. At night, it was common to find us working in winter jackets huddled over our laptops where the air was so cold we could see our breath. It was October 2010 when we launched Instagram, and San Francisco had dealt us a particularly unforgiving and chilly fall.

One night soon after launch, about a half-mile away, Giants Stadium was full of fans cheering on their team in a race for the NLCS against the Philadelphia Phillies. You see, having so little insulation in the office had an unintended consequence of being able to hear the crowd roar every time someone hit a long ball out towards McCovey Cove. Back in the office, we’d lift our heads up from code with every eruption of the fans, wondering who was at bat, what had happened, and whether the ball had made it or not. We never knew, but that wasn’t the point.

While we may only have had a few thousand people around the world using Instagram that night, we had a sense that maybe through Instagram we could tune in to what was happening just a few steps away. With a few quick commands at his terminal, my co-founder Mike’s screen filled with images of the game: the bullpen, dugout, concession stands, cheering fans and a panoramic view from somewhere up high. In a matter of hours, the people in that stadium had recorded moments in time through Instagram and allowed us to tune into an event while we sat a half a mile away, working—winter coats and all.

For the first time, we understood why Instagram was going to be different. We understood the power of images to connect people to what was happening in the world around them. And, although Instagram had a fraction of the user base it does today, that night we saw a preview of what Instagram would enable at a much larger scale down the road.

Now, nearly two and a half years later, over 100 million people use Instagram every month. It’s easy to see this as an accomplishment for a company, but I think the truth is that it’s an accomplishment for our community. Now, more than ever, people are capturing the world in real-time using Instagram—sharing images from the farthest corners of the globe. What we see as a result is a world more connected and understood through photographs.

Of the 100 million people on Instagram, there are stories that awe us: stories like Kathryn Mahoney’s (@nineteenfiftyone). Kathryn is an aid worker for the United Nations in the most remote refugee camp in Southern Sudan. She shares vivid photos of the day-to-day life of the people who live in Yida as well as the struggles and triumphs of the UN’s work there. From thousands of miles away, Kathryn reminds us of the power of images to educate and inspire.

There are love stories that move us, like the story of Cory (@withhearts) and Bethany (@bethanyolson) who began following each other a year and a half ago at the suggestion of a mutual photographer friend. After trading likes on photos, meeting for coffee, and finally joining up for a photowalk, a mutual interest in photography turned into dating. To this day, they still go on photography adventures and explore the world together with Instagram in tow.

And there are inspiring stories of small businesses and artisans. Mission Bicycle (@missionbicycle), a small, independent manufacturer in San Francisco, has amassed nearly 50,000 followers as they share the photos from their daily work of making beautiful bicycles by hand. Similarly, Sightglass Coffee (@sightglass) shares photos from their harvesting grounds in El Salvador and Ethiopia to remind us that even a local business has global connections.

Images have the ability to connect people from all backgrounds, languages and cultures. They connect us to aid workers halfway across the world in Sudan, to entrepreneurs in San Francisco and even to events in our own backyards. Instagram, as a tool to inspire and connect, is only as powerful as the community it is made of. For this reason, we feel extremely lucky to have the chance to build this with all of you. So from our team to the hundred million people who call Instagram home, we say thank you. Thank you for sharing your world and inspiring us all to do the same.

Kevin Systrom

Co-founder, Instagram

Photos from the Heart

The Instagram API is a great way to surface the amazing content Instagram users share every second in fun and innovative ways. Use the API to access photos based on things like username, location or hashtag.

Heartwalk is an art installation in Times Square built entirely from wooden planks salvaged from the various boardwalks destroyed by Hurricane Sandy. Over the past month, Situ Studio (@situstudio) brought their followers along as they visited demolition sites to reclaim the wood. Users were able to watch as the wooden planks were transformed into a beautiful work of art.

Now finished, the planks form a heart shaped enclosure where visitors can pause and reflect from within the heart of the city. Visitors are encouraged to post their photos to Instagram with the hashtag #HeartwalkTSQ. The photos are being pulled into a visualization created by HD Made (@hdmade) and displayed on www.heartwalktsq.com through use of the Instagram API.

Heartwalk was created by Situ Studio (@situstudio) with support from Times Square Alliance (@TimesSquareNYC) and Design Trust for Public Space. The installation was the winning proposal in the Times Square Alliance’s annual Valentine Heart Competition.

To view more, visit the Times Square Alliance or Situ Studio Instagram profiles or check out more #HeartwalkTSQ photos.

Explore the World with The North Face Athletes

The North Face (@thenorthface) is bringing their followers to places they will never ever be able to travel, in a very intimate way, via Instagram. They are giving users access to their favorite athletes and helping them discover new ones and new places.

The North Face established an Athlete Instagram Field Team to contribute photos from remote places around the world and to bring people to places they would likely never see. Their main goal is to inspire people to get outdoors and get after it, just as they see the athletes doing. The North Face tries to share as many action-oriented, face-melting images as possible and hopes that seeing the athletes exploring their potential in beautiful, remote places will inspire followers to challenge themselves as well.

Here are a few examples of the athletes you can find featured on the @thenorthface account:

• World-class rock climber Conrad Anker (@conradclimber) took a self-portrait from 8,800 meters on the South East Ridge of Everest on the calmest day of the 2012 pre-monsoon climbing season. Conrad attempted the same climb 13 years prior in bad weather, but did not capture a photo.
• Snowboarder Moss Halladay (@mosshalladay) posting from atop a mountain on a snowboarding trip to Cerro Bayo, Argentina.
• Ultrarunner Nikki Kimball setting the current women’s speed record on Vermont’s 273-mile Long Trail. Kimball completed the trail in 5 days, 7 hours and 42 minutes, putting her in the top five speed records of all time.

Through the eyes of their athletes, The North Face is taking users on unparalleled adventures all around the world. Follow @thenorthface to see more photos from The North Face athletes.