Instagram, one of the most popular social media platforms in recent years, was created and launched by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger as a free mobile app in October 2010. Since then the app has grown to a global community of more than 150 million people capturing and sharing their photos and was the runner-up for “Best Mobile App” at the 2010 TechCrunch Crunchies in January 2011. During the same year, publications and professional organizations such as SF Weekly and Apple Inc. also credited Instagram for “Best Locally Made App” and “App of the Year”. Not to mention both founders of Instagram were listed as “The 100 Most Creative People in Business in 2011” by Fast Company and the “30 Under 30” of Inc. respectively, receiving great acclaims from the media and the public.

With its rapid success, Instagram was reportedly operated by a team of just 13 employees and did not conduct any marketing activities before Facebook’s 1 billion US dollars acquisition in 2010. The co-founder and CEO of the social networking website, Mark Zuckerberg later released an open statement stressing that Instagram would remain an independent company which they had no plans for “making them come into our infrastructure”, and would continue to provide users with the best photo sharing experience.

The rise of Instagram does not only showcase the broader utility of social media but also enables a new form of media for photographers. Many professional photographers are using Instagram to showcase their work to hundreds of millions of users out there. This time, we have selected 5 Instagram accounts of photographers who specialized in automotive photography. They are great sources of eye-catching automotive imagery that we admire and check on every day.

Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram @blackbirdautomotive to stay up to date with us.

Amy Shore is a photographer based in Leicester, England. She has nearly 10,000 followers on Instagram. Her work can often be seen in various publications such as Octane and Classic Drive, and works closely with automotive companies like Ramp, evo and Revolution, just to name a few. She has also been documenting racing events, such as Goodwood Festival of Speed, an annual hill-climb event featuring historic motor racing cars held at Goodwood House in West Sussex, every year in late June or early July. Other than automotive photography, she specializes in wedding reportage as well.

Amy Shore’s work has a unique sense of style. The way she uses color, compositions, and the combination of shutter speed and aperture make her photos look vibrant and filled with a vintage vibe.

Look for Amy Shore’s work on her Flickr page as well.

With more than 60,000 followers, the feed @nyexoticcars is the official Instagram account for Santinelli Photography, a New York-based automotive photographer. His work captures the dynamic speed and color of classic automobiles, featuring some of the most spectacular and beautiful rides from Lamborghini, Porsche, Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and McLaren that have ever been made.

You can also find Santinelli’s profile on Flickr.

Alex Penfold is a London-based professional photographer specialized in automotive photography and has been working in the industry for over 5 years. His Instagram has accumulated more than 260,000 followers and has uploaded nearly 4,000 photos. Other than cars, Alex also gives us a glimpse of his daily life in London, sharing his favorite dining spots and landscape around the city.

You can also look for Alex Penfold on Flickr to see more of his work.

The Instagram account of “BlackList” lifestyle magazine has nearly 2 million followers. Featuring professional pictures of automobiles from contributors around the world, each of them is carefully selected by the Blacklist team so as to ensure they meet the standards. Besides automobiles photos, you will also find luxury watches and motorcycles in this Instagram feed, which makes it the most luxurious Instagram account among these feeds.

Last but not least, we have Mr. William Delamarre from Paris, France. Known as “automogram” on Instagram, Delamarre is an individual who has a great passion for automobiles. This “Car Addict” would go to every auto show in Paris, such as Mondial de l’auto and Rétromobile, to capture exclusive photos of the rare antique and contemporary cars.

Besides snapshots from the car shows, there are also photos taken in the streets of Paris in this Instagram feed, which you can see how Bentley, Ferrari or Aston Martin classics are casually displayed on the streets.

If you are looking for Instagram accounts that dedicated to various types of automobiles, this is definitely one of the accounts that you should follow.