Instagram is not only a rage among average users. For some people like photographers, it more of livelihood phenomena truly. Don't get bogged down by heavyweight terms like 'livelihood' and 'phenomena' until you just yet. Michael O'Neal's work says a lot more...

Doing a web check about this San Francisco based art director Michael O'Neal (@Moneal), I recently came across his interesting story behind his startup which he calls Tinker Mobile.

Michael was initially based in New York and eventually moved over to San Francisco. This was a transition of new discoveries, one being this fantastic app called INSTAGRAM. He soon started sharing his clicks via his iPhone and was discovered by Instagram's Community Evangelist Jessica Zollman (@JayZombie) who got hired much the same way onto the Instagram's boat as the startup's 5th employee way back in its early days. It was Zollman who added O'Neal to Instagram's "suggested user list"; a very coveted status mind you.

The following months saw a fan boom for Micheal with 500,000 followers liking his works, appreciating it as a social-media trail tool in cities unknown to them and finally it was the brands that came calling. And that's when Michael O'Neal became a passionate ambassador of Instagram.

"This app has changed my life...The best camera is the one that you carry in your pocket. I just fell in love with the idea that Instagram levels the playing field, and became an ambassador for the company".

The potential for mobile photographers (a term he fondly prefers) is so vast in the marketing world, especially in a support cast role since other social media platforms rely on promoting visual data and graphics so much more nowadays. Imagien if you are as talented as O'Neal turned out to be, brands are willing to cut you that extra leash. They are ok with freelancing. They sponsor your travels. They provide you a luxurious and satisfactory livelihood.

Well that was a single success version. There are so many talented 'mobile photographers' out there in the blue who are left unemployed or being underpaid for their creative value.

Keeping this as a guiding line, Michael began his own agency - Tinker Street and eventually Tinker Mobile as a part of it, in 2008. Co-founded with Jesse, Tinker is a "talent agency of sorts" that takes initiative to negotiate justly on behalf of Instagramming artists for a fair wage for their work.

O'Neal is a great believer in the acute partnerships that can be forged between brands and Instagrammers.

He brought together a talent pool of 20 Instagram artists to work on their first project together for the car-making giant Mercedes. The interesting campaign will see them travel across interesting places in the country, capture beautiful shots and share them via Instagramm to grab maximum "likes". The winner also gets to keep Mercedes' brand new CLA as a token gift. Awesome isn't it?

Here are some of the most fascinating and sought-after clicks by these Instagramming artists.


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