And the Top Hashtag of 2015 is…

To see more photos that show the #love, check out the #interactivegrams hashtag on Instagram.

Love reigns supreme. For the third year in a row, #love is the top Instagram hashtag — and David Schwen’s (@dschwen) #interactivegrams are all about the 💗. He stages images with a heart, front and center, so that double-tapping on them creates a double heart. “Ever since I was a child, I’ve loved life’s guilty little pleasures: popping Bubble Wrap, scratching the ink off lottery tickets, drawing a picture on a frosted window. This is how I came up with the idea … It was so simple, and that’s why I loved it,” the Minneapolis-based illustrator and art director says.

Years after its conception, community members from all over the globe spread the #love with their own #interactivegrams. “The act of double-tapping or loving each other’s images and videos has become an important interaction between people,” David says. “There are people across the world that I have never met in person, yet I’m able to send an affirmation of love by double-tapping their photo.”

This post is part of an ongoing series, featuring 2015’s top content on Instagram. If you’re in the US, check out Explore (the magnifying glass) in your app to find out where the top geotagged locations were — and follow @instagram for more.

Backstage, Onstage and in the Studio with Music Photographer Jesse Lirola

To see more of Jesse’s photos, check out @jesselirola on Instagram. For more music stories, head to @music.

Jesse Lirola (@jesselirola) was just trying to get out of the photo pit.

“I had a couple mentors at that point in my life,” says the Chicago-based music photographer. “And they would get backstage. They would get onstage. I’d see them up there and I’d be like, ‘F—. This sucks. I’m stuck here. I can’t get there. How do I get there?’”

At that point, Jesse was just starting out as a music photographer. He had already learned the tools of the trade, first from his parents, who met at a New York City movie theater in 1978 (they spotted each other because they were both wearing Leicas around their necks), and later from folks he ran into while doing video production work. Much of it, though, was self-taught.

“I started using Photoshop and after that I talked to my dad about it and I’m like, ‘What the hell? I’ve got all these great photos, but they’re with a two-megapixel camera. Why doesn’t he say something?’” says Jesse. “And he’s like, ‘You know, if I would have said something, you wouldn’t have wanted to listen. And you got to figure it out for yourself.’”

Good advice, Pops. Jesse eventually figured a lot of things on his own, including how to get backstage to take more candid photos of the artists he admired. By making connections with managers and musicians, Jesse would get an artist pass, which essentially gave him free reign to shoot wherever he pleased. (“I just got frustrated with being confined,” he says.) That’s how he managed to capture some of his most memorable work, including that melted portrait above of Travis Scott.

“I had an apartment super close to the Fader Fort [at SXSW] and I was shooting Polaroids all week and would bring them back and set them on the counter,” says Jesse. “The ones I brought on the last day were still wet. After eight days of no sleep my brain wasn’t quite what it should’ve been. I was like ‘Oh it’s wet, I should put it in the microwave.’ I kinda knew something would happen. I put it in for a minute and pushed start and the thing just burst into flames.”

You can check out more of Jesse’s work — microwaved and otherwise — over at @jesselirola.

—Instagram @music

Cosmic Coincidences and Lots of Rainbows: The Wild Work of @jenstark

To see more photos from Jen, follow @jenstark on Instagram.

It’s loud; it’s bright; it’s psychedelic; but the wild work of Jen Stark (@jenstark) is rooted in the natural world. “In nature, color is used as an attractant, whether it’s telling you that something is poisonous, like a crazy, colorful mushroom, or delicious, like a berry,” Jen says. A recent transplant to Los Angeles from Miami, Jen wasted no time meeting the right people — first, Wayne Coyne (@waynecoyne5) of the Flaming Lips, and then his close friend, Miley Cyrus (@mileycyrus). A few days after Jen and Miley met, MTV approached Miley with a mock-up billboard for the VMAs with the star’s image imposed on Jen’s artwork. “It was a funny cosmic coincidence,” says Jen. Now the two have collaborated on the art for Miley’s newly released “Lighter” video, composed entirely of Jen’s animated projections on Miley’s frame. “We went in the production studio and just projected it on her body, and she just sang the song,” says Jen. “I thought it was a perfect fit.”

Soothing Food Preparation Rituals with Psychologist @nouralmejadi

To see more photos from Nour, follow @nouralmejadi on Instagram.

As a psychologist, 23-year-old Nour Al Mejadi’s (@nouralmejadi) work focuses mainly on comforting others. But when she needs her own respite, Nour turns to cooking — lots of cooking.

“I love food,” says Nour, who lives in Kuwait. “My mother is very supportive, but she complains that I am always using the kitchen. So now we’re building another small kitchen just for me.”

But Nour isn’t just interested in her final products — documenting the preparation is equally important. “I don’t make food just to take a picture, but I never make food and not take a picture of it,” she says. Nour’s attentive nature comes out during each stage of cooking. Combining ingredients from the East and West, she creates distinctive dishes with a simple presentation and style. The process is a soothing ritual for Nour and it has had bonus social benefits. “I’m really shy,” she says. “When I started my new job I baked cupcakes and passed them around so that people would talk to me. I never make food just for myself — I make it for others. It’s helping me break out of my shell and meet new people.”

Weekend Hashtag Project: #WHPhandmade

Weekend Hashtag Project is a series featuring designated themes and hashtags chosen by Instagram’s Community Team. For a chance to be featured on the Instagram blog, follow @instagram and look for a post announcing the weekend’s project every Friday.

This weekend’s prompt was #WHPhandmade, which asked participants to make photos and videos that feature artisanal crafts or their own handmade projects. Every Monday we feature some of our favorite submissions from the project, but be sure to check out the rest here.

Capturing the Atlanta Falcons’ Game Day Experience with Photographer @kevindliles

To see more of Kevin’s photos, follow @kevindliles on Instagram.

When photographing Atlanta Falcons football games, Kevin D. Liles (@kevindliles) will take the requisite shots of touchdowns and dramatic tackles, but as a contractor for the team, he has the freedom to also point his lens away from the field. “Everything else is fascinating to me — the fans, the colors, the details, the face paint, the tattoos,” the 36-year-old says. “All the little things add up to tell a much richer story than just the action.” Sure, sometimes he’s 300 feet (90 meters) above the field on a catwalk, capturing quarterback Matt Ryan in the middle of a throw, but other times he’s getting smaller moments, like a detailed picture of defensive end Adrian Clayborn’s dreadlocks. Kevin also covers local and national news, like a recent Hillary Clinton campaign stop, for the New York Times. But no matter what he’s shooting, Kevin’s approach to preparation is the same: “I do my homework. With the players, I try to learn as much about them as I can. Same thing with news assignments. Everything I do, I just try to tell stories.”

Appreciating Punk Culture, Cats and Sia With Los Angeles Artist Zoë Zag

To see more of Zoë Zag’s concert posters, check out @zcrytuff on Instagram. For more music stories, head to @music.

Growing up in L.A., Zoë Zag (@zcrytuff) loved art but never thought of it as a career option. “I didn’t go to art school. I’ve taken classes but I don’t really understand why it’s like, ‘Oh, now I have a piece of paper that says I’m an artist.’ That doesn’t really work for me.”

That all changed thanks to a chance encounter with a pop star and a longtime friendship with a quartet of skate punks who realized their potential as musicians. After meeting Sia in Echo Park and bonding over some ice cream, Zoë ended up doing the production design for her “Chandelier” video. “That was the first time I got paid for art and it blew my mind. Like, ‘Are you kidding me?’” she says.

At that point, Zoë was in the first year of her relationship with FIDLAR drummer Max Kuehn, who she knew, along with his bandmates, since they were high schoolers. The graffiti cover for their second album, Too, is actually a wall in her living room, and she designed much of their recent merch and music videos. Most notably, the visuals for lead single “40 oz. on Repeat” hilariously spoofed everything from Soundgarden and Oasis to Jamiroquai and Missy Elliott. “It’s such an awesome family of people that welcomed me into the group,” she says. “It’s really fun and natural.”

On top of that, Zoë and Max have their own lo-fi band the Squirmers, which she fronts while he plays the instruments. Last year, they released their four-song debut EP Tampico, named after the juice they’d mix with cheap vodka. “You can’t get worse than that,” says Zoë, laughing while revealing that it’s also a reminder of a “f—ed up” period in her life. So far, the Squirmers have played one show, which also happened to be her birthday party. “It’s not my main thing. It’s not like, ‘I’m a musician now. I’m going to start playing shows and tour.’”

As fall turns to winter, Zoë’s current focus is screen printing jackets and shirts, drawing inspiration from old punk gig flyers and vintage advertisements. “It’s easy to pick up a pen and draw a lady, a body, but we see that all the time so I stay away from that,” she says. “When I see ink on a piece of paper it’s not very exciting to me. What’s cool about screen printing is I can draw something very small and then blow it up. I’ll even carve out wood, stamp it and make a shirt.”

With Max on the road, Zoë’s at home with their cat Brian Eno. “He’s like a dog. When we’re recording he just hangs out. He’ll crawl into Max’s bass drum and sleep.”

Happily for both pet and owner, Max will soon be home for a couple months, during which they’ll finally finish a bunch more Squirmers songs. There are no set plans for an album, though Zoë already has ideas for videos and maybe a few gigs at bowling alleys or warehouses.

“Who knows what we’ll do,” she says, “but I know it’s going to be fun.”

—Dan Reilly for Instagram @music

The Week on Instagram | 211

News

• Stereogum: Coldplay Teasing Every Song From A Head Full Of Dreams On Instagram
• TODAY: Glitter beards are the latest trend for men — yes, really
• The Telegraph: Instagram at 10: “the future is teleportation” says co-founder

Get Involved

• Weekend Hashtag Project: #WHPhandmade. View photos from the last project, #WHPfamilyrecipe.

Around the Community

• Photographer @simona.ghizzoni’s #uncutproject Aims to Help Victims of FGM Feel Seen
• #whoifollow with @marthastewart
• #hellomynameis: Discovering What Being Wealthy Is Really About with @paulinhohop

Discovering What Being Wealthy Is Really About with @paulinhohop

To see more of Paulo’s photos, follow @paulinhohop on Instagram.

(This interview was conducted in Portuguese.)

“#hellomynameis Paulo Henrique Teodoro (@paulinhohop). I am 18 years old and live in Campinas, Brazil. I currently work at a music store and hope to study photography at university next year. In my free time, I am a hip-hop dancer and a photographer. As a kid, I really wanted to be a doctor, but it turns out that dream came from those around me more than from myself. When I realized that photography was one of my passions, I was visiting Rio de Janeiro. Surrounded by beautiful landscapes, I discovered that I do not need money to be rich. Being wealthy is about doing what I love: traveling, taking photographs and discovering new places.”

Daniel Bacchieri Wants to Create the World’s Biggest Network of Street Musicians

To see more performances of street musicians, check out @streetmusicmap on Instagram. For more music stories, head to @music.

The act was simple: Daniel Bacchieri posting a video of a bandurist performing on the street in Kiev, Ukraine. But when the burgeoning filmmaker and producer returned to his home in Brazil, he decided to do it again.

“I started to film street musicians in Brazil and upload them onto my personal account,” he says. “I thought, every day I am going to film musicians in São Paulo. My friends started to tell me, ‘Oh, on my last trip I filmed one guy in Barcelona.’ And, ‘Hey, I have one guy playing piano in New York on my cell phone. Can I send to you?’ From that point, my personal project became a collaboration.”

And so, Street Music Map (@streetmusicmap), a curated feed of global street musicians, was born. Two years, 925 artists and 81 countries later, it has become one of the top street musician video hubs in the world, allowing Daniel to connect with performers in some unexpected ways — like the time he reposted a girl playing harp in Red Square in Moscow and she identified herself in the comments.

“I want to make Street Music Map the biggest platform about street music,” he says. “The place where bands can connect with fans all over the world and a place for curators and people who want to find the real deal, the next big thing.”

—Instagram @music