Another Instagram trip? Yes, that’s right. It took me much longer than it should have. This time it will be just a little recap and summary because the trip took place around 2 months ago. Call me lazy but I’m back to talk about stuff that happened and will happen anytime soon. I’m excited to bring you my adventures and photos.
Introduction
The first InstaTrip in which I was present, was organised by the Latvian travel organisation. The second InstaTrip was organised by me and a few other photography enthusiasts. And the third InstaTrip was organised by the Daugava downstream travel agency (Daugavas lejtece) which is the one I’m going to talk about in this article.
Next coming up – InstaTrip Pt. 4 which was organised by the Latvia travel agency again (about the trip to Kurzeme (a region in Latvia).
The Daugavas Lejtece travel agency borrowed the InstaTrip idea from the Latvia travel agency. The whole idea is to invite a few photography enthusiasts who use Instagram as their primary platform to showcase their work. We were 6 participants excluding the organizer and a bus driver.
Trip details
What exactly is Daugava downstream? It’s a region which includes six counties inside Latvia. See the map below.
The trip, in general, was nice and I enjoyed it. It’s always awesome to meet like-minded people and connect with them. Two Instagramers I already knew from the previous trips I had. Also, it’s great to see that Latvians are thinking about tourism and have a modern approach to it.
Travel destinations:
Zoo “Brieži” (Zoo “deer”)
Tīnūžu muiža (Tinuzu manor)
Ogres promenāde
Lunch at “2 tomāti”
Daugava museum
John Honey Bees of Daugmale
Waterjump
There were a few things that got me thinking…
As much as I wanted to enjoy the trip, there were a few things I couldn’t enjoy. For example, the participants were too distinct from each other in photographing styles. Well, three of us, including me, are kind of matching in our styles (since we have been on two previous trips together and the two previous trips were based on a matching principle). I’m not exactly sure how the two other participants, who are sisters, become so popular on Instagram but they have even more followers than all of us combined. I’m not jealous at all, it’s just odd. Also, as far as I know, they mostly post personal pictures (selfies, outfits, them posing at various places). So, in my opinion, it kind of doesn’t work in this type of a trip.
The second thing was that few of the places couldn’t produce the photos I would want to post on my Instagram. For example, on any other occasion, I could really enjoy museums, but this time it didn’t fit well in the Instagram trip concept.
It definitely wasn’t all bad as I said before. I liked the trip in general. Partly, that’s just my personality – being thankful for the opportunities. It was their first time organising this type of event. So, in my opinion, it’s understandable.
Something that shocked me:
One of the participants wasn’t so much a photographer than just an interesting person to invite to such an event. The main reason was that her bachelor thesis was about Instagram (analysis, statistics, particular Instagramer research and their impact on tourism). The last one shocked me the most because one of the few chosen ones who was stalked for a few months on Instagram – was me. That actually was a huge compliment. To be on a list for research purposes.
Conclusion
Overall, I like how tourism in Latvia is growing and how ideas are shared through social media. It brings us endless possibilities. Also, it’s super nice to be recognized and appreciated. I, as an Instagram enthusiast, can definitely say that Instagram is not going to disappear so soon.
A little announcement: only two days before the trip I purchased my first ever DSLR camera and basically, I barely knew how to use my camera. I still have a lot to learn and a lot to explore. Adventures have started just now!
Photos
All photos are taken by me
P.S. I know, my English is not perfect but I keep improving it every day
I hope you enjoyed the post!
ARTURS BRIDAKS 
Great images, brings back good memories of my Latvia visit last year. Hopefully I will be visiting my relatives again in 2018.
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Thank you! It’s nice to hear because It’s one of the main reasons I love to share my work. I wish I had photographed more stuff. Since then I have shaped my photographing style. It’s totally different than on phone. The transition was a little bit frustrating and it felt like I will never catch up with my mobile photographing capabilities.
Best of luck managing your trip to Latvia! 🙂
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