It's a question any New Yorker, no matter how new or how seasoned, gets asked with anticipation and a hint of worry by friends, family, or mere acquaintances headed for the Big Apple (no, no one calls it that): "Where do I go to get good photos?"
The minute I hit the ground in New York, I started taking photos. It was "welcome week" for freshman students, which meant we had a whole week free of classes to attend events, mixers, and other school functions in order to meet people and get acquainted with our new surroundings. I signed up for one event to test the waters — I think it was something about being environmentally friendly in the city? — and after spending an hour in a windowless classroom watching a PowerPoint, I made the wise split-decision to never do that again. Later that day, I was back in my dorm room, meandering around trying to figure out what to eat for lunch. My new roommate, Cynthia, was also home, and she wandered into the living room where I was stationed.
"Hey," she said a bit sheepishly. "What's up?"
"Oh, nothing," I responded in that way you do when you're not really comfortable with someone yet; both apprehension and invitation colored my voice.
"Would you…" Cynthia began, "…maybe want to get lunch?"
I smiled. "I'm starving."
And so Cynthia and I set out in search of a suitable lunch — which, thankfully, didn't mean dining hall food to either of us. I quickly learned that Cynthia had a similar encounter with the Welcome Week events, and so we decided to skip any other ones we might've been thinking about attending for the rest of the day. We filled our metro cards and headed uptown, to Central Park, grabbed a coffee and quick bite and began to stroll through the park. Cynthia was introduced to my pushy style of photography ("Go stand there!" I'd command, making her nervously laugh with compliments and exclamations of "That looks so good!" (Krystal can attest to this!)), and I snapped photos at every turn. After we'd explored a good chunk of the park, we decided to head down Fifth Avenue back towards our home on 14th St, intending to maybe catch the subway along the way once we got tired.
Instead, we walked the entire 45-block, 2.3 mile stretch, stopping for photos and popping into stores the whole way down. We discovered some of our still-favorite spots on that walk, like the Toby's Estate Coffee that's also a Strand Bookstore, flower shop, and Club Monaco, the Shake Shack in Madison Square Park, and the Eataly across the street. We saw how busy it gets for about 5 blocks before and after the Empire State Building, the beauty of Bryant Park, and craziness of 5th Avenue shopping. Somehow, we weren't tired at all after that walk. If anything, it inspired us to get out and see as much of the city as we could.
Needless to say, Cynthia and I didn't go to any more Welcome Week events. We roamed around West Village, walked to Chinatown, explored the Met, stopped in coffee shops in East Village, went shopping on the Upper West Side, traversed the High Line, and more. It meant so much to my New York induction that I get out of my little Greenwich Village bubble. I knew how to take the subway, I knew which way was East and West. I felt like a New Yorker.
The most important part, though? I had thousands and thousands of pictures to prove it.
Maybe that sounds a bit shallow. Of course photos aren't everything, but for someone like me who thrives on creativity, who lives for a good shot, they provide the most amazing visual record of a life well lived.
So, long story short, I've amassed a pretty good collection of perfect Instagram spots. And now I'm going to share them with you! These are places Krystal and I shoot constantly, places I love to visit, places I eat at and stare at in wonder, places that make up my perfect, photographable, New York.
Whether you're a local or a tourist posing as a local, these spots will give you a head start on a great Instagram feed 😉 (Oh, and some lovely memories along the way, too.)
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1.) The corner of Bedford and Grove
Best known for the apartment where the exteriors for Friends was shot, the adjacent corner of Bedford and Grove in West Village is actually way cuter and often way more deserted (since everyone is snapping photos of the Friends corner!). It has some of the most beautiful brownstones in the West Village, like this one below. A few houses down is the famous Grove Court, the most adorable nook of matching homes, which at Halloween fills to the brim with carved jack-o-lanterns!
There's almost no way you can't recognize this corner; it's absolute Instagram fodder, and for good reason. La Esquina restaurant provides a great retro background, and it's situated at the perfect junction of Soho and Nolita, so it looks both grand and industrial at the same time. Try to hit this spot as early in the morning as you can if you want photos without other people in them, because it can get pretty busy during midday (especially with popular Jack's Wife Freda just up the street!).
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3.) The Wythe Hotel in Williamsburg
We recently shot all day in Williamsburg, but in between outfits, we stopped in the Wythe Hotel's restaurant, Reynard, for an iced coffee. It is the prettiest space — huge windows line the wall, an ornate bar covers the other, and the tiling and wood details are so gorgeous. It gets busy on weekends and evenings, so try to stop by in the day for the good light and empty space.
The hotel itself is also massive and gorgeous — the rooms are a great mix of industrial and modern, with big paned windows, sizable bathrooms, exposed brick and cement floors with white and gold accents. I've personally never stayed there, but friends who have say it's a seamless experience from beginning to end. But, beware, you may never want to leave!
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4.) The pink house on Waverly Place
Every morning when I go to school, I get off at the West 4th stop and head east on Waverly. This house never fails to brighten my day — it is the happiest shade of dusty pink, and seems to fit nearly every season perfectly. In spring, it evokes the bursting cherry blossoms; in summer, the cotton candy sunsets; in autumn, the crisp mornings and late-afternoon light; in winter, the pinks of noses and cheeks brushed by the winter air. Wow, yes, I did just wax that poetic about a pink house!
It's usually relatively empty on this section of Waverly, unless they're filming a movie or delivering produce next door to swanky Babbo. Plus, I kind of love the look of strangers walking by this majestic place. Of course, though, like a lot of these spots, this is someone's home, so obviously exercise respect when taking photos! [/third][third] 
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Calling all fashion week lovers! Even though NYFW will no longer be rooted at Skylight Clarkson Sq, the area around the old venue is still an ideal place to snap photos. This photo above was actually shot at a UPS warehouse, but the rows and rows of garages actually made the perfect backdrop for Krystal's feminine outfits. The light over here is also amazing in the mornings; dapped light hits the warehouses in the prettiest way. It's also a hop and a skip away from Soho, so it can be a great jumping off point.
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Besides having amazing coffee, Happy Bones is one of the cutest coffee shops, perhaps in all of Manhattan. Marble tables and white walls are ideal for the Instagram-obsessed, and their latte art is almost always pristine, providing both the perfect shot and the perfect sip. The only catch is that it's absolutely tiny, with only 3 tables and room to stand at the window. I wish I had a good time to visit, but honestly, it's always a gamble. My best bets are early afternoon on a weekday (like 2p or 3p) or very, very early on a weekend (close to 7a) if you want to score a table all to yourself. Otherwise, just head there and hope for the best. The area around it is adorable (La Esquina is close!), so grab a coffee and explore Little Italy — you'll find tons more Instagramable spots!
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Well, there you have it! A selection of some of our favorite spots to snap Instagrams in the city. I have a ton more up my sleeve, so if you have a particular area you're hoping to visit, leave it in the comments and I can provide even more recommendations! I hope this helped you get some locations on your list for next time you're headed to the city! Where are your favorite places to snap photos? Let me know!
Just a few weeks ago, some of you may have seen my Instagram Story poll, in which I asked the following:
"For my influencer and non-influencer followers alike, are you frustrated by the algorithm change?"
To be completely honest, I wasn't entirely sure what the response would be. My guess is that many of you, my dear followers, are content creators by profession as well and thereby, have been somewhat impacted by Instagram's algorithm change. My other guess, is that some of you, my dear followers, aren't necessarily content creators by profession, but have been frustrated by not seeing updates from folks you originally used to engage with.
Are either earth-shattering problems? No, of course not. And in light of much bigger issues in the world, I wanted to highlight up front, that I am completely aware everything I'm about to list as a "solution" to this "problem" comes with the perspective that these are indeed first world problems -- ones that shouldn't define you or I, or our passion to create quality content that makes us happy, in a world where we could certainly use all the positivity we can get. The numbers shouldn't control us. But of course, as with any business, you can't ignore the numbers either, which brings to me to my next point: you guys felt largely the same way, when I asked the above question the other day.
Many of you feel frustrated, defeated, discouraged, beat down, confused and bewildered by the algorithm change. Some of you even said it made you feel like you should give up creating content all together. And trust me. I've been frustrated, too. That's when I realized perhaps this is a bigger conversation we should all have -- to share tips and tricks, frustrations and triumphs -- instead of trying to figure it all out by ourselves in our own respective silos. I've compiled a list of efforts below, some more effective than others for me or for my fellow influencer friends, each noted with an overall impact rating. None of this is to say that I've certainly figured it out, but I have seen some impact along the way, and hopefully you will, too.
Before we start, I'd like to set up some preliminary framework here. None of the following will focus on the merits of content. While I firmly believe content is king -- and finding your unique voice is imperative -- I also firmly believe you don't need me to tell you that. So let's move on, shall we?
- Engage with Others: This one may come as overly obvious, but it should be noted first: the more active you are with any online community, especially Instagram, the more engagement you'll get back. Sure programmes like kenji will help you accomplish this, but you also need to be motivated yourself! As someone who spends a lot of her time already on the app, liking and commenting throughout the day, this one seemed like an easy checklist item that I thought I was already doing, but I noticed, the more diligent and focused I was with my time spent on the app, the more effective it seemed in boosting my content overall. Each time before I post, I'll take about 20 to 30 minutes to catch up on some of my favorite accounts (an activity that I would normally do anyway), and I'll like and comment on my favorites. I'll do a bit more of the same activity after I post and also answer back to each comment on my post -- it may seem time consuming at first, but I think the underlying point is key: you need to nourish the community you're a part of for it to support you back. A random, informal poll done with other influencers friends revealed that they spend anywhere from 1-2 hours daily, just engaging with other content -- either in the form of comment pods or organically searching.
- Overall impact: High
- Instagram Filter Effects: Admittedly, the jury is still out on this one, because it's hard to gauge it's overall effect, but I was once chatting with a group of my influencer friends at an event here in the city, when someone suggested using the pre-set filters available in Instagram on your photos to help boost it. Yeah, I'm talking about Nashville and Juno. Remember those? When they were all we used to use 7 years ago, when the app first launched? While I can't necessarily sing any glowing praises here, more often than not, I'll place the filter Juno on all my photos and set the overall effect to 1% (so you really can't tell it's there). The reasoning here? When you think about it from Instagram's perspective, they're likely looking for users who are using the app as it was originally intended: candid, organically and more off the cuff. Which brings us to point #3!
- Overall impact: Low
- iPhone shots: Eva Chen brought this up in a recent Business of Fashion article: Users want to see more of the "Insta" in Instagram. That means, in an age where our feeds are meticulously curated, with just the right VSCO treatment on our DSLR camera shots, it's sometimes refreshing to see someone post something that's a tad bit grainy, with lower overall fidelity and, gasp, snapped on a phone! Lately, I've been making more of a point to post more iPhone shots and have noticed a significant initial boost in activity. It's not 100% the answer, and sometimes not entirely feasible, given that you're probably creating higher fidelity content for all your different channels, but perhaps, next time you're out shooting for a blog post, snap something really quickly in between on your phone and see how it does, in comparison.
- Overall impact: High
- Experiment with times: The other day, I was skimming through my analytics in Instagram, and noticed that a large amount of my followers, aside from the United States, lived in London and Bangkok. That got me thinking about posting times, for time zones drastically different from my own. I randomly decided to post at midnight one evening, in efforts to catch New Yorkers as they were going to sleep and probably very captive in bed with their phones, which meant my followers in London and Bangkok were likely starting or just about to start their days. It's been hit or miss lately, but overall, I've seen good engagement traction at that time, so I encourage you to do the same and switch up your posting times to find a sweet spot.
- Overall impact: Medium
- Instagram stories: Naty brought this up in her recent 5 Tips for Creating a More Engaged Audience post, and I completely agree with her! Insta Stories is a great way to stay top of mind for your followers, so the more active you are on it, the more they can engage with you on the app. It's a wonderful platform to showcase your personality and more of the candid peeks into your day, both of which I think resonate and go a long way in terms of fostering an engaged community. Take advantage of the Swipe Up feature, which can drive traffic to your blog, and, as Naty brought up, you can highlight when you have new Instagram photos up on Insta Stories, for anyone who may not have seen it in their feed.
- Overall impact: Medium
- Shadow bans and hashtags: A few months ago, my good friend Andi and I were grabbing dinner at Mary's Fish camp when she leaned across the table and whispered, "Have you heard of the shadow ban?" Her eyebrows went up, as if she was about to share a really good urban myth with me. And boy, let me tell you, if there was ever an urban myth that got this girl believing in urban myths, it's this one. Essentially, there was a well-documented (and somewhat data supported) rumor that Instagram had implemented a shadow ban -- that was hiding your content from people who weren't already following you, making it incrementally harder for you to gain new followers. Why were they doing this? To discourage spammy, inappropriate behavior. The downside? Many influencers, yours truly included, didn't realize using the same hashtags over and over for certain posts might be working against them. Again, as with any good urban myth, this was never full confirmed by Instagram to be the case, but since then, I've been much more selective with the hashtags I add to captions, usually keeping it to 3 or less, if I add any at all.
- Overall impact: Jury is out.
- Engaging captions: I already said we wouldn't spend much time laboring over the content side of things, but I do think we should spend a minute on captions, which tend to get overlooked in today's very visual world of Instagram. Having a good caption might mean you get more likes. If you're worried you're not getting enough likes, check out automatic Instagram likes. Much like Insta Stories, your users are likely hungry to get to know more about you and what your personality is like. As much as I love seeing a good avocado emoji when someone's sharing their avo smash breakfast, I do think it's worthwhile trying to dig a bit deeper to start conversations in your captions. Someone I really admire here who does an AMAZING job at this is my good friend Courtney of Color Me Courtney. What you'll notice with her captions is she consistently engages with her followers by handing the mic back to them -- she asks them questions and she asks for their opinions, and it creates really meaningful conversations. I've been trying to do more of this, by asking open ended questions like this one.
- Overall impact: High
- Giveaway loops: Granted, I've participated in only a handful of giveaway loops myself, some more successful than others, so I can't necessarily weigh in as an expert here. But, I do think, when done right and with intention, they can be wildly effective. The key is to form groups with like-minded, similar aesthetic accounts, that you already follow or would be happy to follow. The main idea is, if you form the right group, you'll gain a new group of highly engaged and excited followers, who will appreciate your content and what you're producing. If you want to find out more, click here.
- Overall impact: High (if you go about it the right way)
- Play with new features as they launch them: This may seem trivial, but I do think it's an easy way to flag yourself as an active Instagram user (and one that could possibly get boosted in the algorithm). When they launch a new face filter feature, try it out in Stories. When there's a new widget, like the poll feature, give it a whirl. You'll probably find your followers will be excited to learn about this new feature and excited to see how you're using it, thereby resulting in more direct messages and engagement back on your channel.
- Overall impact: Low to medium
- Live video: So, I've only done live videos a handful of times, but I've seen some of my good friends, like Lisa DiCicco and Mary Orton, host them and I think the effect is largely positive. Much like the candidness of Insta Stories, live video allows for real time conversations with your followers that allow them a peek in your world and your sense of humor. Many influencers will schedule out live video times days in advance, giving their followers the chance to mark their calendars and weigh in with specific questions. If you don't like the sound of this, you could also try doing a podcast to help boost engagement. In fact, at least 5% of podcast listeners choose Soundcloud so it might be worth learning about it. Podcasts can be a fantastic way to help grow your business. One of these days, I'll work up the courage to try it out for myself -- would you guys be interested in that? Let me know in the comments below!
- Overall impact: High
And there you have it! My 10 engagement tips for Instagram. Now I'd love to hear what you think? Any tips I missed that you'd like to share?
OUTFIT DETAILS: Sachin + Babi dress // Spell & The Gypsy kimono (picked it up in Byron Bay, but I love this romper version here) // Show Road hoops
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A glance back through the past few weeks -- looks like summer has arrived early in SF! That means reading up in Alamo Square, sunny baseball games and strolling around Golden Gate Park without too many layers!
How's your summer shaping up so far? Any big plans?
As always, you can follow along with me on Instagram right here.
Just wanted to pop in for a quick hello from the weekend and let you know that I'll be participating in IFB's digital summer road trip, which officially kicks off today! You can follow me and the other lovely ladies all right here, as each day a new blogger shares Instagram shots from her city -- a day in the life if you will -- starting on the west coast, ending on the east! Yours truly is up on June 2nd -- but as always, you can follow along with me on Instagram at krystal_bick.
And before I forget -- Happy Memorial Day!
Just some Instagram shots from my New York City jaunt last weekend! While my feet recover, let's play a game -- Can you spot Taylor Tomasi Hill, Bill Cunningham and Brad Goreski in the snaps above?
Happy Friday everyone! Any plans for the long weekend ahead?
As you may have overheard on Twitter, I'm currently enjoying some gloriously sunny weather down in Maui at the moment (my first time ever to Hawaii, in fact!) But I wanted to stop in and share some of my latest snapshots from the past week or so, complete with obligatory palm tree shots, beach reading material (highly recommend the Steve Jobs biography) and, of course, some recent shoe conquests.
Happy Friday everyone!
A little peek into my life via Instagram snapshots (the photo booth pic in the top row is my favorite). Follow me here, if you like!
Ah, my latest obsession -- Instagram! Documenting fun thrifted finds and daily outfit detail shots never gets old, does it? Follow me here, won't you?
Happy Friday, everyone!
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