WHY I INSTAGRAM - By Coco Rocha for Vogue Around 2006 I began noticing the photographers waiting outside runway shows were beginning to outnumber those actually working inside. They were shooting our “model-off-duty” looks and plastering them all over the Internet, where they garnered as much interest and discussion as the campaigns and editorials in which we star.  These days everyone is his or her own street-style photographer, myself included. As a model in the digital age, the ability to reach an audience outside of the traditional magazine ad and billboard realm is increasingly important to me and my clients who realize we live in a new world of far more social networking- and endorsement-based advertising—from what your friend in school “likes” on Facebook to what your favorite top model wears in her downtime. I use platforms including Instagram, Tumblr, and Pose on a near daily basis to document my own looks for my almost ten million followers worldwide. The responses to my posts are always a gauge of how well I did with my personal styling. A picture that garners 30,000 likes versus one that only gets 5,000 says a lot about where I hit and miss in capturing the fashion zeitgeist. (Surprisingly the pics of just me at home usually get more likes than the ones of me with celebrities or designers.) The only time I get negative feedback is when I post a look containing fur, so now that definitely crosses my mind before I post an image to social media. While I believe everyone must make up his or her own mind, I don’t like to unnecessarily act insensitive to my followers. Often I’ll have my husband, James, take a few dozen pictures with his phone and then we will edit them until we’ve found the most aesthetically pleasing and interesting image. After that, we filter the pictures using a host of iPhone apps like Camera+, Pictwo, and Snapseed before we decide the image is ready for posting. Selections are always about quality versus quantity. There is no formula as to exactly how many photos I Instagram per day; one day I may post a single shot, where other days I may put up a dozen. I try to share sneak peeks of events I attend, behind the scenes moments at photoshoots, or anything I witness that I think my followers would find interesting.  Models are never really “off duty” anymore, and I view social media as an extension of my career as a whole. Sometimes posting can feel like a chore and in those cases I view it as a necessary part of my work, but other times it’s genuinely fun to share and document my life with friends far and wide. It’s the way of the 21st-century girl. See our slideshow above featuring our favorite Coco Rocha Instagrams.

WHY I INSTAGRAM - By Coco Rocha for Vogue

Around 2006 I began noticing the photographers waiting outside runway shows were beginning to outnumber those actually working inside. They were shooting our “model-off-duty” looks and plastering them all over the Internet, where they garnered as much interest and discussion as the campaigns and editorials in which we star. 

These days everyone is his or her own street-style photographer, myself included. As a model in the digital age, the ability to reach an audience outside of the traditional magazine ad and billboard realm is increasingly important to me and my clients who realize we live in a new world of far more social networking- and endorsement-based advertising—from what your friend in school “likes” on Facebook to what your favorite top model wears in her downtime. I use platforms including Instagram, Tumblr, and Pose on a near daily basis to document my own looks for my almost ten million followers worldwide. The responses to my posts are always a gauge of how well I did with my personal styling. A picture that garners 30,000 likes versus one that only gets 5,000 says a lot about where I hit and miss in capturing the fashion zeitgeist. (Surprisingly the pics of just me at home usually get more likes than the ones of me with celebrities or designers.) The only time I get negative feedback is when I post a look containing fur, so now that definitely crosses my mind before I post an image to social media. While I believe everyone must make up his or her own mind, I don’t like to unnecessarily act insensitive to my followers.

Often I’ll have my husband, James, take a few dozen pictures with his phone and then we will edit them until we’ve found the most aesthetically pleasing and interesting image. After that, we filter the pictures using a host of iPhone apps like Camera+, Pictwo, and Snapseed before we decide the image is ready for posting. Selections are always about quality versus quantity. There is no formula as to exactly how many photos I Instagram per day; one day I may post a single shot, where other days I may put up a dozen. I try to share sneak peeks of events I attend, behind the scenes moments at photoshoots, or anything I witness that I think my followers would find interesting. 

Models are never really “off duty” anymore, and I view social media as an extension of my career as a whole. Sometimes posting can feel like a chore and in those cases I view it as a necessary part of my work, but other times it’s genuinely fun to share and document my life with friends far and wide. It’s the way of the 21st-century girl.

See our slideshow above featuring our favorite Coco Rocha Instagrams.

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Instagram Tips from Model Coco Rocha - PCMag By Chandra SteelModel Coco Rocha has over 350,000 followers on Instagram, where she shares behind-the-scenes shots from her modeling gigs, snaps of her global adventures, and even childhood memories on Throwback Thursdays. And she’s got her fair share of experience with what makes a good photo, considering she’s been on billboards and magazine covers the world over. So, how does she do it? Here she shares her tips for those who feel more comfortable behind the camera than in front of it. 1) FIND THE BEST SIDE“If I’m capturing an image of say, the Eiffel Tower, I’m going take at least 10 pictures from varying angles,” she says. “Even in today’s world of instant everything, try to take pride in composing an aesthetically beautiful picture.” 2) EDIT, EDIT, EDITEver the professional, Rocha doesn’t settle for just Instagram’s filters to make her shots look good. “Before I post my photos to Instagram I nearly always run them through a whole host of photo-editing apps on my iPhone,” she says. “Some of my favorites are Snapseed, Pictwo, Lenslight, and, of course, Camera+.” She notes that what used to be a splurge is now a steal. “It’s astonishing to me that pictures that used to cost tens of thousands of dollars to create in a studio can now be basically created on a phone with a few $1.99 apps,” she says. If you’re planning on sharing, the extra steps are worth it, according to Rocha. “Your audience will thank you for it,” she says. “Treat every upload as if it was a miniature work of art.” 3) DON’T OVERSHAREBut just because creating great photos is nearly free doesn’t mean they should be shared freely. “Your audience is following you for a reason and they clearly do want to hear from you regularly… but not too often,” Rocha advises. “It’s important you don’t overwhelm and overshare because your audience will have no problem clicking ‘unfollow’ if they feel you’re oversaturating their feed.”

Instagram Tips from Model Coco Rocha - PCMag

By Chandra Steel

Model Coco Rocha has over 350,000 followers on Instagram, where she shares behind-the-scenes shots from her modeling gigs, snaps of her global adventures, and even childhood memories on Throwback Thursdays. And she’s got her fair share of experience with what makes a good photo, considering she’s been on billboards and magazine covers the world over. So, how does she do it? Here she shares her tips for those who feel more comfortable behind the camera than in front of it.

1) FIND THE BEST SIDE
“If I’m capturing an image of say, the Eiffel Tower, I’m going take at least 10 pictures from varying angles,” she says. “Even in today’s world of instant everything, try to take pride in composing an aesthetically beautiful picture.”

2) EDIT, EDIT, EDIT
Ever the professional, Rocha doesn’t settle for just Instagram’s filters to make her shots look good. “Before I post my photos to Instagram I nearly always run them through a whole host of photo-editing apps on my iPhone,” she says. “Some of my favorites are Snapseed, Pictwo, Lenslight, and, of course, Camera+.” She notes that what used to be a splurge is now a steal. “It’s astonishing to me that pictures that used to cost tens of thousands of dollars to create in a studio can now be basically created on a phone with a few $1.99 apps,” she says. If you’re planning on sharing, the extra steps are worth it, according to Rocha. “Your audience will thank you for it,” she says. “Treat every upload as if it was a miniature work of art.”

3) DON’T OVERSHARE
But just because creating great photos is nearly free doesn’t mean they should be shared freely. “Your audience is following you for a reason and they clearly do want to hear from you regularly… but not too often,” Rocha advises. “It’s important you don’t overwhelm and overshare because your audience will have no problem clicking ‘unfollow’ if they feel you’re oversaturating their feed.”

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