Instagram is a great way to get addicted to taking pictures. While it’s enjoyable enough to simply snap a picture, fancy it up with a filter and share it with your family and friends, the real photographer’s high comes from having a broader audience. After all, what could feel better to the amateur phonetographer than a collection of “likes” from strangers and comments left in foreign languages?

The problem is since everyone and their mother seem to be on Instagram these days it can be difficult to get your photos noticed by anyone other than…well, your mother.

We’ve found that the best solution to this problem is hashtags. And not just any hashtags: if you really want people to see your work, you need to participate in one of the many Instagram photo contests on the net.

In particular, you should probably participate in our very own monthly Instagram photo contest, #pouchgram If you win, tens of thousands of Japanese people will see your photo.

This could be your first step to becoming huge in Japan!

About Pouch and Pouchgram
Pouchgram is a monthly Instagram contest started by our Japanese sister site, Pouch, earlier this month.

The theme for this month is travel. We want you to send us your Instagram photo that screams: “wish you were here!”

To enter, all you have to do is type the #pouchgram hashtag in the comments section of your photo. Contestants are permitted to upload as many photos as they wish but all photos must have been taken by the contestant and unpublished. Each photo should also be labeled with a title describing the situation.

The deadline for this month’s contest is June 24 (Japan time). We know there’s not much time left but we’ll have a brand new theme for you next month so be sure to follow @pouchgram for more details when they’re made available!

Winners will be chosen by a panel of three judges and have their photos introduced on Pouch and (probably) RocketNews24, exposing you to the judging eyes of our tens of thousands of Japanese readers.

So what are you waiting for? Send your photos to #pouchgram and show us how it’s done!


[ Read in Japanese ]