#LBJintothewild

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act of 1964, I had the idea to host an Instagram photo contest where participants shared with us a favorite original snapshot while visiting one of the National Parks, Forest, or Wilderness areas across the country. So

“If future generations are to remember us with gratitude rather than contempt, we must leave them a glimpse of the world as it was in the beginning, not just after we got through with it." -President Lyndon B. Johnson, Signing of the Wilderness Act into law on September 3, 1964

The Wilderness Act, signed into law on September 3, 1964, established the National Wilderness Preservation System, which set aside an initial 9.1 million acres of wilderness in 13 states. During the past 50 years, over 100 million additional acres in 44 states have expanded these protected wilderness areas for millions of Americans to enjoy.

The winner of the #LBJintothewild photo contest was Myke Hermsmeyer of Montana! His photograph (first photo on the grid below) won over the staff at LBJ Preseidential Library. Myke said of his photograph: “This is what 4,000 feet of climbing in 4 miles earns you in Montana… celebrating the easy access to incredible mountain running in the Great Bear Wilderness outside of Glacier National Park. Jimmy Grant (pictured) is celebrating #Wilderness50 by running in all of Montana’s wilderness areas this summer.”

#ladybirdgoeswest

Last week I worked on an Instagram project at work for Lady Bird's "Western Trip" to Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming in August 1964. It was fun to look through our contact sheets and scan photos that have never been digitized before. A lot of my job is fulfilling researcher requests, which are usually photos that we already have scanned or popular photos that we've all seen before. It's refreshing to go digging in the archives to see what you can find - some nice portraits of Lady Bird and beautiful photographs of America's landscape. Although I think my favorite is her reaction to the buffalo barbecue...

instamap

Lately I've been a little obsessed with maps. I'm even looking for a map so I can pin all of the places I've been on my wall. And of course you can do this virtually. This is an awesome widget for any website. It uses the photos from your instagram account and pins them on the map where you took them using google. And it's free. Here's all the places I've instagrammed recently:

 

#birdythecat

Oh, how I love Instagram. For a photography and film lover, it's the perfect combination. And it's fast. Take a picture, pick a filter, post it on your social media mogul -- all on one device. The photography world is changing so quickly. When I entered college five years ago, there was no such thing as an iPhone. Now, it's the camera that I use everyday.

Everyone knows that the internet was invented for cats -- cat photos, cat videos, nyan cat, cat fails, and the list goes on. So it's no wonder that cats have invaded our Instagram feeds, too. It's no surprise to me either, that of all the photos I post, the ones of my cat, Birdy, are the most popular. So here's to the Bird, and her very own hashtag on Instagram -- #birdythecat.