This Detailed Life - Instagram Hub

Nine months ago, before I upgraded my bexphoto website and moved [most of] my old photography blog over there, I wrote about Instagram hubs which I'd just discovered.  If you're not sure what I mean by a hub (I've had to explain it to Nik), it's an account which features work of other photographers.  If you use a specific hashtag, the hub can pick and choose from all the tagged images to feature on their profile, always tagging the original photographer so it's a good way to gain more exposure, particularly with the bigger hubs.

I was thrilled to have been featured by a few of them and I listed some of my favourite hubs to follow, the more general ones like Dear Photographer and Clickin Moms (both of which have huge followings and over a million tags) and those with a more specific theme like The Monochromatic Lens or Honestly Parents.

Not only can it gain you more exposure but you can find so much inspiration following these accounts.  As the images they share are hand picked from many different photographers, you see a wide variety of excellent work.  It's also great if you're looking for specific inspiration, you will probably find a hub which focuses on whatever it is.  I love some of the new faceless and freelensing hubs I've discovered recently like Faceless Friday, Project Faceless, The Freelensed and The Freelensed Project.

One of the best things about these hubs is the community they help to build.  Sharing each others' work, congratulating others on their features, commenting and finding work you love, new photographers to follow.

I always wanted to be a mod (one of the people who help run these accounts, choosing from the tags which photos to share) but the opportunity never arose but then I thought, why not create my own.  I am loving detail shots lately so it seemed a no brainer to choose details for my hub and This Detailed Life was born.  I've written more about my own hub on bexphoto and you can follow it here if you love images of beautiful details.

My House in August - Instagram challenge

In August I took part in an Instagram challenge and I wanted to share my entries here as I really enjoyed it and I'm now doing September's version too.  It's a daily hashtag challenge in the same vein as Style Me September by Hilary which I did way back when.  This one isn't about fashion though, it's about home style.  #MyHouseInAugust had daily prompts of ideas to share and combined it with a giveaway too!

Hosted by A Little House in London and On a Wing and a Chair, the prompts can be interpreted however you like.  They gave away a neon light in August and September's prize is a stunning blanket which I'd love to win.  Here's August's list and the rest of my entries last month...

Necklace of the day on Instagram

by Bex

Those of you who follow me on instagram may have noticed that I recently starting posting a 'necklace of the day' (although it may not always be daily, I do usually have some kind of neck adornment!).  Since necklaces are my most favourite accessory and I have so many of them, statement and otherwise, I thought I would feature more of them and decided it would be a good idea to do it like #ootd (outfit of the day) on instagram.  I thought I'd share some more of my (quite ridiculously massive) collection and how I wear them and in turn this would inspire me to wear different ones more often and think of new ways to style them.

I really have no idea why it didn't cross my mind that I wasn't the first to think of this and my initial hashtag #notd (necklace of the day) backfired immediately when it was pointed out to me that the nail bloggers use this for nails of the day!  Roz suggested #ODnotd so it's just my own hashtag and since #aotd (accessory of the day) and #necklaceoftheday are both also in frequent use, this seemed a good way to keep them all together.  I really should have done some hashtag research!

So far I've found it quite interesting to see which styles people seem to like the most.  It wasn't what I expected, the statement numbers are the most popular with my Tiffany dragonfly a close second...

I love that the big, colourful ones are getting all the love!  :)

However, I also want to see what you guys are wearing around your necks!  You may not be as obsessed with necklaces in the same way I am but I'd love to see what necklaces you wear day-to-day or for a night out or special occasion.  So if you fancy joining in, just use the #ODnotd hashtag and link to me on instagram @olivedragonflybex so I know you've added one and I'll check it out!  :)

Roz has already joined in and posted a star necklace (of course!) and I have added the hashtag #BexNOTD to mine so I can easily see just my collection if I (or anybody else) want(s) to.

So, please join in, have fun with necklaces and tell me - are you as excited as I am to see how people wear their jewellery??