Part of what makes Instagram so compelling is that it allows any amateur photographer to capture visually beautiful photos on the go. Keepsy, a startup that creates photo albums from Instagram and Facebook photos, is launching the a curated gallery of top Instagram photographers.
As Keepsy founder Blake Williams explains, We’ve heard people describe Instagram as ‘Twitter for photos’ but that is really doesn’t do the application justice. It is so much more than that…We’ve been closely watching the photos coming through our system and the quality is simply stunning. Our aim is to create and curate a space that showcases this creative potential for mobile photography.
Keepsy is selecting photographers mainly based on quality of work. In the gallery, people can can discover new artists, hear their stories and techniques using Instagram, as well as buy photo albums of their favorite photographers, including Koci Hernandez, Carli Keine, Kristen Rodriguez, and many others. Another ambition of the gallery is to share some of the life story behind each photographer by giving each artist their own profile page.
At the moment, Keepsy is curating photos from around 20 users but will continue to grow the gallery by taking nominations from Instagram users. Williams says that the focus is on keeping the gallery selective and representative of the ‘best of the best’ that Keepsy and other users can find. The gallery includes Instagram power users such as Richard Koci Hernandez, Inked Fingers, Kristen Rodriguez.