25 Sep

Connect & Respect: Whistler Joins World Instagram Relay

TAG: Cultural Fix, Festivals Events

Posted by: Feet Banks

The old saying is true – a picture is worth a thousand words.

But what about a thousand pictures, from a thousand people (or more) rolling in a continuous relay-wave around the entire world? That’s exactly what will happen on Sunday September 27, 2015 for the first ever Instagram Relay, part of an initiative designed to bring people together through travel and celebrate United Nations World Tourism Day.

What is an Instagram Relay?

Thankfully the earth is round. This means that when the Instagram Relay begins at sunrise in Samoa it will still be dark everywhere east of that. And as daybreak creeps around the globe, Instagrammers everywhere will get up, meet up and go out to capture the beauty of a day in the life of wherever they live. By hashtagging those images with #helloworldRELAY all the images from around the globe will continue to accumulate in one spot. By the time the sun sets in the Cook Islands the hashtagged shots will form a photographic record of that day in some of the coolest spots on the planet.

The entire thing is being hosted/coordinated by Australian travel experts helloworld and Whistler is one of only two Canadian spots officially involved in the fun.

So What Do You Do?

This is where it gets fun. If you’re in Whistler, come to the official Relay Instameet from 11:25 AM to 12:30 PM on the deck of the Roundhouse Lodge atop Whistler Mountain on Sunday the 27. (That the upper deck, the one beside the giant Inuksuk.) Official helloworld Instagrammer Matt Glastonbury will be there, his first time in town, as will local photographer/writer/mountain master Caley Vanular and the GoWhistler social wizard, Emily Smith. Expect other photographers, Instagrammers, Whistler aficionados and everyday mountain lovers to also attend. Once everyone has high-fived and snapped a few pics it’s off for a ride on the Peak2Peak Gondola before everyone heads out on their merry way to photograph,hashtag and post shots of why they love Whistler for the rest of the world to see.

What if I am not in Whistler?

Fear not, you don’t have to be in Whistler so long as your heart is. Anyone can join in the fun from anywhere, simple upload or regram an old favourite photo of Whistler from when you were here any time after 11:30 AM PST on September 27, 2015. Then all you have to do is ignore whatever you’re supposed to be doing and spend the rest of the day scrolling through the #helloworldRELAY stream for a virtual reality holiday to all the greatest spots on earth. (Warning: bosses, spouses and anyone else with a valid claim to your time may not see this as the awesome activity you do. Stay on point)

And that’s it. Social media is supposed to connect us and the best way to say a lot in a little space is with a stunning photograph. The World Instagram Relay is the first of its kind and should be a really interesting way to explore and connect with people and places all over the globe. Or as our friends in Montreal describe it, “sort of like a crowd wave at a Habs game” but the crowd is the entire planet. Go take a gander at helloworld for more info and be sure to tag your Whistler images with the following hashtags:

#helloworldRELAY #OnlyInWhistler #360ofWB @GoWhistler @helloworldAU @WhistlerBlackcomb