Features / Reportage
Instagramming across Bristol
A dog floats by standing on the prow of a small single engine wooden boat. It’s Instagram gold.
Fortunate then that we’re on Bristol Ferry Boat’s flagship Brigantia, with dozens of passengers who make up the iGers Bristol community – a loose collective of photographers who use the Instagram app to showcase their work.
So as the dog floats by, zoom lenses and camera phones all vie for the best shots.
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This Instameet has been arranged in partnership with Visit Bristol, and as the ferry docks at the eastern end of the Floating Harbour it’s only a short stroll to Underfall Yard.
At this wonderfully picturesque corner of town, we become some of the first people to experience the new visitors centre at Bristol’s newest tourist attraction.
After an hour exploring the Underfall Yard, we walk via the Banksy piece on Spike Island and a gaggle of swans overlooking the colourful houses of Cliftonwood – an Instagram favourite.
Then we’re welcomed through the gates of the ss Great Britain.
Standing on the uneven stone floor of the dry dock, Phil Harris, aka @curly.phil on Instagram, is looking for inspiration. “It’s all iPhone photography for me,” he says. “I’m trying to look for an angle or an idea that nobody has had before. I’m always trying to look for something different.”
With that, he reaches into his backpack and retrieves a selfie stick to get a unique vantage point of the underside of the ship.
After our time at the ss Great Britain was up, the walk continued around the Floating Harbour, past the M Shed, across Prince Street Bridge and then over Pero’s Bridge, through Millennium Square to Friska where photographers compared shots over coffee and cake kindly laid on by the cafe who opened especially on a Saturday afternoon.
Mug of tea in hand, walk organiser Jess Siggers (@porthjess) reflects on a successful event, the latest in a series of regular meet-ups that have included trips around Bristol University, the RWA and Sanctum.
“The people who come to these meets all have different skills,” Jess says. “We help to bring everybody together and show them bits of the city that they might not normally get access to or think they can get access to.”
Elsewhere in Friska, photos are being cropped, filters added and then uploaded to Instagram, everyone hoping that they have found that particularly unique angle for their own piece of Instagram gold.
Read more: Bristol’s Instagram queen
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