From WXXI news.

I'm Leah Stacy sitting in for Evan Dawson and this is connections.

It's been 15 years since Instagram was released to the world, and its effects on modern culture are undeniable.

From photography and shopping to politics and the age of the influencer.

In 2014, local creatives Steve Carter and Justin Doucet founded Explore Rochester, an Instagram based project that would grow in ways they never imagined.

Almost every week for the last decade, the account has featured more than 500 contributors, one per week, who submit a series of photos and accompanying captions showing Rochester through their eyes.

It's all culminating tonight in a curated exhibit, Explore Rochester at Ten.

A decade of people and Places, which runs that Rochester Contemporary Arts Center through May 10th.

I am here sitting down with the founders and a few of their weekly contributors by phone to reflect on the lure of Explore Rochester and what's next.

Our guest this hour, Steve Carter, co-founder of Explore Rochester and head of marketing for Sinister Film.

Nice to see you, Steve.

Hey, thanks for having me.

Of course.

Justin Doucette, co-founder of Explore Rochester and creative director for Neon Wave.

Hi, Leah.

Hi.

And later.

And by phone, we'll have Olivia Princi, founder of Kind of secret and explore Rochester a year to week two contributor going way back.

And Mike McGinnis, senior customer success manager at Slate and Explore Rochester year 11 week ten contributor.

So current contributor.

So we look forward to chatting with them.

But we're going to take it back to the beginning to a time before Explore Rochester way back.

If you guys can remember, you were probably children at this time.

So Steve, we're going to start with you because you were an early adopter of Instagram.

Talk about I was joking before we got on the air that Steve was like the original influencer.

tell us how you found Instagram or it it kind of found you.

Yeah, I think I ended up joining Instagram on the first day that it, was released, which I think was just by luck.

I guess I was just like paid attention to Twitter and Facebook and somebody posted about it and I was like, oh, this looks interesting.

I'll join it.

That sounds like you.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But you had to have a certain kind of phone, right?

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

It was my only iPhone.

I had an Android and I was like, so glad I couldn't join in iPhone.

Only for a while.

Instagram was iPhone only, and I think at that time I think iPhone was only on AT&T.

I'm like remembering these things.

And it's wild that.

How much has changed AT&T like the carrier.

Yes.

You could only get like if you had Verizon you could have an iPhone.

That makes sense.

That's a wild thing to think about.

but yeah, so I joined early on.

I think I posted pretty early in getting it and then didn't use it again for months.

Oh, really?

Yeah.

Like it didn't grab you right away.

No no no.

And so I think actually my sister used it in that time after I did.

And then I was like, oh yeah, I should, I should look at this again and then started posting stuff.

But I remember in college I was like one of three people that I remember having Instagram.

My friends Sean and Kyle were like two others that I remember, but I would post photos on it and people would be like, what are you doing?

Why are you sharing photos on this app?

Like, what's what's the point of it?

And so it's it's wild to think about how far it's come since what was that 2010.

That would have been 2010.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

So I was 19 then.

So yeah.

Feels.

Yeah.

Children.

And Justin, what about you?

When did you get on Instagram?

Probably right around the same time.

Maybe a year or so later.

Okay.

I don't remember why.

To be honest, I think somebody brought it up at lunch when I was a student at Monroe Community College.

And so I joined, and then she shared a very artful photo of my box fan in my bedroom.

And.

Oh, wow.

Not your lunch.

Good for you.

Not my lunch.

Not.

Oh, not a food.

No sleeping.

What I'd rather be doing than eating.

All right.

Next.

Right.

Next.

My bed.

Retweet.

Yeah, yeah.

Okay.

So four years later.

Yeah.

you found Explore Rochester, but before that, you had another kind of series that you experimented with on Instagram.

Tell us about that one.

Yeah.

So during that time, I mean, we were using the hashtag like hashtags were really prevalent.

And that's how you discovered other people.

That's how you found other photos that you liked and whatnot.

And they had like a popular page back then to, oh, I forgot about that.

Yeah.

Before it became explorer.

and so so it's not like I was like a big deal to land on that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Which back in that time I was on it actually a decent amount of times, which is really funny.

Humblebrag.

Yeah.

Yeah.

so but I, I was at school and Instagram was so new and I was just testing things and trying things.

And there started to become this, like online community on there.

And then I started to get connected with more people that lived in Rochester.

And so we would go out and take photos together.

that's part of how I met Justin loosely during that time.

and we would just go there would be a group of like ten, 15 people going, taking photos.

And then we use the hashtag to kind of share where everybody's photos, like all of our photos, could be in one place so people could see it.

And so that became Hashtag Explore Rochester.

And so even before the Instagram account started, there was people sharing photos of Rochester and just different things that they found.

the first ever photo on Hashtag Explore Rochester is a photo from the abandoned subway downtown.

And so as somebody not from Rochester, to me, that was such a cool and different thing.

And so, it was really fun to, like, share photos together to one thing and, and see what everybody else saw.

I think it's probably interesting for people who meet you now to hear that you're not from Rochester because you know your nickname.

For those of us who know you is like the unofficial mayor of Rochester.

So you came here for college?

Yeah.

And then what made you decide to stay?

I think it was just friends.

Well, the short story is, two.

Two of my friends from college were like.

I was planning to, like, move back home, or.

Which is, like, Saratoga Springs area or move to Chicago.

I had an internship out there previously.

And so those were the the plans.

But then two of my friends, Sean and Kyle, they were like, hey, we need a third roommate to be able to get this house downtown.

Do you want to live here?

And I was like, I have nothing better to do.

I'm going to move in and stay here.

But really, prior to that, like while I was in college, I went to Robert's.

So that's out in North Chile.

That's not a full representation of what Rochester is.

Yeah.

And but I was in a bubble of like, I think this is Rochester.

And so it wasn't until like my junior year that I started coming downtown, going to Java's.

Really Java was the key piece.

But going to Eastman Museum or.

Yeah, Eastman Museum, Eastman Theater, Christchurch for comp line, you know, like all these things.

I'm like, oh, Rochester is kind of cool and like walking around and taking photos, codecs from here.

Whoa.

And so I would just, do that with friends and started to see more and more of the city during that time.

And that's that got me.

I'm like, there's something here, there's something I like about it.

And so I wanted to stay.

Yeah.

And Justin, you are from here.

I am from here.

Yeah.

I grew up in Greece.

So talk about how you met Steve and how explorer tester, how this became a project that the two of you have been friends and collaborators for over a decade now.

Yeah.

I mean, when I was a student at MCC, I became friends with this kid, Joe Snell, who was friends with Steve through.

I'm not sure exactly what.

Yeah.

Shot and Kyle actually.

Okay.

Funny enough.

Yeah.

So I was friends with Joe, and Steve had hosted a couple of meetups that we had gone to.

and I met him there, and then he was like, hey, I think I kind of want to formalize this.

I want to launch what will be come explore Rochester, but I need a logo.

So he asked Joe, and Joe was like, yeah, I'll do it, but can I bring my friend Justin, who I'm classmates with at SMC?

And so Joe and I came in and, did the logo together, and then I kind of stuck around because of what it started to mean to me.

It defined a sense of place for me in the city.

So, 11 years later.

So we're still still, walking around taking pictures of stuff and haven't made a new logo.

And I was like, yes, I was like, is the logo the same?

Though the logo is the same because it was inspired by the original Eastman Kodak logo.

So we wanted to we kind of keep that there.

Yeah.

And, I feel like as a designer, like making your own personal brand is one of the hardest branding projects you can do.

And I'm so emotionally attached to this project that it feels like an extension of my personal brand.

So I, I don't see it as anything that's going to change anytime soon.

Agreed.

Yeah, I love that.

And Joe is now Joe lives in Nashville.

Nashville?

Yeah.

yeah.

As a as a designer and developer, he's worked on a couple projects with us.

So we kind of keep him in the loop.

and.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So cool.

Yeah, that's one of the things I love about Rochester in general is you.

It's it's always so much about the people and the connections that you do make.

And.

Yeah, I'm just also thinking when I was putting this show together, how long I've known the two of you, I met Steve through Sean Briscoe, who I lived with.

Yeah.

You left?

Well, that's the the reason you stayed there?

Pretty much.

I knew him.

He was like, you got to meet this kid, Steve.

And then we all started working on upstate social sessions together.

I believe that was my introduction to you, I think.

So, again, I was brought in to do a logo and then became.

Yeah, much.

And then we're like, hey, you have good ideas.

That's true.

Yeah.

And now Justin and I also work on a couple of other things separately, and it's just like the the threads.

Yeah, they just keep going and you weave it into this really strong fabric now, which is so cool not to go too far ahead, but this exhibition that's opening tonight at Rocco, some of the design for it is really showing the connection.

And so Justin, you can speak to that because you designed it.

Yeah, yeah.

We wanted to build something that showcase the importance of bringing people together.

obviously it's a digital platform that Instagram primarily, or that the account primarily exists upon, but it's always been about connecting people and people and people and place, which is where the the account got its tagline and the show got its name.

and we wanted to do that.

We wanted to emphasize the through lines from people and, stress the importance of people coming together.

I mean, that's what humans are built on is.

Yeah, that connection.

So, yeah.

So let's talk about the exhibit because that's why we're here.

first give us just like, the basic details.

Steve.

Yeah.

So, it opens tonight.

this is March 7th.

so from 6 to 9 at Rochester Contemporary Art center.

we had been talking with blue and his team for the last couple of years, just kind of being like, hey, when we hit ten years, it would be interesting to see if we could, like, have an exhibition of the first ten years because it kind of creates a visual archive of just it's a really community, driven visual archive where it's crowdsourced from all these different perspectives.

I mean, that's 502 different people.

And so it would be really cool to have it in a place that is in the city and can hold a lot of people.

And it was great credit to blue and his team that they came back to us, near the end of last year and they were like, hey, would you want to do this?

It's kind of a short timeline, but do you think you could do it?

And we're like, can we do it?

And we did it.

And so we went just inside.

Yeah, that's the downside to being involved in a lot of things is sometimes it's like, oh, do we have the bandwidth?

But adrenaline?

Yes.

Coffee goes and lack of sleep helps.

but yeah.

So, so it it's a really special like bringing together of these 502 different people that made up the first ten years of Explore Rochester.

What we do is every week we share a new perspective of Rochester.

So that's a different person.

The first year, year one, we had 52 people.

And every year since then we do 50 to kind of give us a little bit of a break and leeway, just in case we miss a week or somebody has to drop out.

We have a little bit of flexibility to hit 50. so hitting 52 and going every week is very difficult.

it's it's impressive that you've done this many times.

Like it's truly impressive.

You should be very proud of it.

Thank you.

Yeah.

No, it's, I don't know how it kept going.

It really took the both of us to kind of keep the momentum going.

And also just seeing how, like, when people message us or talk to us and say, hey, like that post, I really connected with that post or I just discovered this business because of that, or I met this person because of it, or somebody that contributed being like, I went to this place that somebody said, great job on your week.

And like those things kind of keep us going.

And I'm like, okay, if there's if people still connect with this and find a purpose in it, I'm going to try to keep it going.

So yeah, we're in year 11.

The exhibition is only the first ten years.

On the wall in print form however we are including year 11 in it by having a phone you'll see more if you come and attend.

But I will be there.

Yes.

Yeah.

Maybe.

You know you better be.

we did get a very funny comment on YouTube from Big Toe Films.

Carter for mayor.

Tony, he contributed back in year one.

Yeah.

Year one.

And so very fun.

Yes.

and fun thing too is we did a, kind of a exhibition and gallery back after year one was completed.

Yeah.

this is great.

You're doing my job for me right now.

Sorry.

No, no, this is good, because Olivia is on the phone, so keep keep going.

Okay.

Well, yeah.

So we'll have a nice segue into Olivia, who, I met, like, she moved back and we met, and she became part of the team when we decided we wanted to make a year one gallery.

Do you want to speak to kind of how that came together?

Yeah.

Wow.

You really are doing this?

Yeah, that was great.

yeah.

Great synergy.

We start with powered by tea.

Yeah, tea.

And 11 years of talking over each other.

We, 11 years ago was.

It would have been nine years ago now.

Alex, credit to arrow.

and and Zach, they had a space called Makers Gallery and Elton Street, and we had been going to makers for quite a bit, and we approached them with the idea of doing a year one gallery, and they let us kind of take over the space.

It was a little bit of a different format that year.

We did have one of each piece on the wall, but then we also let each contributor, if they wanted to create a piece of art to correspond to what the city means to them and what Rochester means to them.

So it was.

But to do that with 500 people, we talked to, now I'm just joking.

I'm going to make a joke.

I didn't want to offend anybody.

So, But yeah, so that would have been to.

I would have been too big.

Yeah.

So yeah, we simplified.

We simplified it.

And I think it it comes across really well.

But yeah.

Yeah.

Well the Year one gallery is fantastic.

I still remember how packed it was and how great the energy was.

And I believe that Olivia Princi yeah is on the phone with us right now.

Hi Olivia.

Hi, everybody.

How are you?

Hey, I'm doing so good.

I'm so happy to be here with you all today.

Well, thanks for joining us.

I would love to hear from you about, your work on the year one gallery.

And, tell us about where you are now.

Yeah.

So.

Hey, everyone.

My name is Olivia Lindsay.

I was born and raised in Rochester, New York, and I am now based out of Washington, DC.

I moved to DC back in 2016, right after I had met.

Even Justin and I now own a social media marketing agency in the DC area called Kind of Secret.

And thank you guys so much for having me.

This project is very, very near and dear to my heart as I did grow up in Rochester.

but yeah, back in 2015, I had just graduated from the University of Delaware graphic design program.

And, you know, I was really told by the world and by society that the only places that I could move to excel in my career and to really flex my creative juices were in New York City or LA.

So when I made it back to Rochester in June of 2015, through a friend of a friend of a friend, I was introduced to the one the only, Steve Carter, and it just felt like it was meant to be.

I think we met up at Poor Coffee right off a park as and I connected with him and I was like, hey, I'm feeling stuck.

I just moved home.

Like I was just in this really wonderful graphic design program where I was surrounded by creativity and creative people for four years.

And I need to find that here at home.

I've been, you know, I had this sense that maybe it wasn't at home because Rochester was home to me.

I always wanted to get away.

I always wanted to go to New York or go to LA.

And, you know, then I then I was home and I met Steve and Justin, and they have brought this super unique, creative community, people driven element to my home town.

And I see it in such a different way now because of Explore Rochester.

So the Year one gallery brought all of that together.

I was a very, very, very small part in that.

But, yeah, it was just a really special time to like, come home and be home and get to experience that.

That's great.

I, I think a lot of people, resonate with what you're saying, and it's neat to see your journey included, you know, coming home and then striking out on your own to a larger city again.

can Steve, can you talk a little bit about Olivia's role and what she brought to the Irwin Gallery as well?

Yeah.

I mean, with her creative background and design background, I felt like her and Justin complemented each other really well with Justin's design background as well.

And so we were very ambitious during that time.

But we were like, how?

How do we want to like set up the space?

How do we want everything done?

How do we want to reach out to people?

How do we want to communicate?

This is all new to us, this project, I mean, it started on an Instagram account.

And so having to deal with people, having to write stuff, having people sign things, all that kind of stuff, it it needed a team to kind of help shape that.

So Olivia joined also, a friend, Dan Gribben, also joined.

And so the four of us really kind of took it from like the end of 2015 through 2016 and really got your one gallery off the ground.

but Justin and Justin and Olivia also, during that time were designing a book from all the year one contributors, but we never released it.

But, that was something that two of them collaborated on a collector's edition someday.

Yeah, I found that by now I have it.

It's it's like a Adobe CS4 InDesign file, but we got it.

It's there somewhere.

Yeah, but.

Yeah, so.

So yeah, it wouldn't be enough to just do the gallery.

So we were like, we should do something else at the same time.

Yeah, I'm trying to be so ambitious, not ambitious.

Look at us now.

Yeah.

Look at wow.

Look at so so.

Yeah.

So that was really great to have Olivia come on.

And just having the support having the team when it was really just Justin and I during that time.

Joe had been a part early on, but he had other things that pulled him away.

So he kind of stepped away during year one.

And so it was really nice to have Dan and Olivia help out.

And, it was cool too.

Is, Olivia also contributed, at the start of year two.

So your one gallery happened during year two because you had to wait till the first 52 were all complete.

And so, as I got to know, Olivia, before even we, like, fully started collaborating, I was like, you should go on Explore Rochester because you have a really unique perspective in that you live somewhere else.

You you interned in the West Coast, and then you came back home, and now you're seeing it through a different, like set of eyes.

And so, having her share during year two, she was the first contributor of year to it.

We call it week two because we need that little gap, a little, little space.

Like you break into the kitchen when we need a vacation for the intern, you know?

Yeah, I'm turning to the intern.

Could be a whole hour in itself.

It be with us today?

No, unfortunately.

It's weird.

I've never met the work.

yeah.

Working.

But.

Yeah.

So.

So, yeah.

No, I mean, Olivia, do you do you want to speak to a little bit of, contributing and, like, what you shared during your week two or anything that stood out during that time?

Of course.

Well, first and foremost, I like I still think because of that day, I was I thought I was going to be the more famous person in the world, like being featured on Explorer Rochester back, and whenever I think it was around 2015 was like, Holy cow, Steve and Justin asked me to contribute.

This is wonderful.

So yeah, that was just such a moment and itself, I shared some content around the around Equate Mall, which I went to a lot growing up.

And just like coming home and like, seeing that beautiful carousel from the outside of that glass structure, I, I shared a lot of nostalgic elements.

Right.

my grandfather, my dad's dad built my family and my brother and I that beautiful fort in our backyard.

And I shared a picture of that.

And people always think it's like a separate house, but it's just like where I spent my summer growing up in my backyard on Crossville Drive in Penfield, New York.

And I always look at that structure and I'm just like, this is home.

And it's funny every time I drive home with my husband now from DC to Rochester, every time we land in Rochester, I play country, rock and like I shared, I shared a lot of that as a contributor.

just because Rochester is so near and dear to my heart.

So definitely a lot of nostalgic elements.

And just like seeing Rochester, like Steve said from a new point of view, after living in Delaware, working in San Francisco, definitely.

A lot of those elements are you going to make it back to see the exhibit before May?

Yes we are.

We love that April for sure.

definitely need to come home and see this.

I would never not come home.

I'm so excited.

but yeah, if I get to say anything else, I just feel super blessed to to know Steve and Justin and everyone at Explore Rochester.

It's an extremely special thing to know these individuals and to be a part of this project.

And if anyone's listening to this and can hear me right now, please go out and experience this exhibition and not only experience the exhibition, but introduce yourself to these individuals and meet other individuals there.

Rochester is all about community, and I would never be here if I didn't call to call Steve and have a of a show, so please go see this.

It's extremely special.

It's extremely, extremely special.

Thank you.

Thank you Olivia, thank you for joining us.

That was beautiful.

And thank you guys I appreciate it.

Yeah I was going to say something else, but I maybe I don't want to give it away.

But you spoke about one of the photos that is actually featured in the exhibition.

We haven't been giving that away.

Leah doesn't even know what you see.

You in April?

Yeah.

You didn't see.

You have to see it.

for sure in in April when you come back.

But yeah, that's one of the fun things I saw the eye contact, when she mentioned.

Yeah, yeah.

I was like, oh, YouTube knows if it's the carousel or the picture of the backyard.

Shout out jewels if you're listening.

I love you, mom.

She's she's definitely going cry.

She's definitely listening.

Now, I think that's so sweet.

Well thank you, Olivia, I hope to meet you in person.

And, good luck with everything you're doing in DC.

Thanks for a rep in Rochester.

I I'll see you in a little bit.

Cheers.

Bye bye.

All right.

Any last thoughts about Erewhon?

Because after the break, we're going to toss it more to the future and talk a little bit more about the exhibit.

Let's just recap.

Where can people see the exhibit tonight?

What time?

What's happening during first Friday?

Tonight at Roko?

Yeah.

Roko on Easter.

Rochester Contemporary will be there tonight, 6 to 9 p.m. for First Friday.

There's a bunch of other stuff going on in the city.

We hope this is one of the things you stop by.

there will be, like I said, 502 photos from the contributors over the last ten years on the walls.

Hopefully a lot of them will be there.

and what else do I have to say?

I mean, that's right.

Yes.

And it's on display until May 10th.

Yeah, it is on display until then.

The prints are for sale.

We're going to talk about that.

Yeah.

When we come back from the break, because you're doing something really cool with that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We'll we'll speak more about it after the break.

Stay tuned.

We're going to take our only short break of the hour.

And when we come back, more from our guests, Steve Carter and Justin Doucette from Explore Rochester.

And we will be hearing from the current Explore Rochester contributor, Mike McGinnis.

He's going to join us in just a few minutes.

We'll be back.

I'm Patrick Hosking in for Evan Dawson Friday on the next connections.

For nearly 50 years, Visual Studies Workshop has been a fixture of the neighborhood of the arts.

But this month, the media arts organization begins a new chapter in a new location.

The staff join me to discuss the nonprofit's storied history and what to expect from its next era in the Susan B Anthony neighborhood.

Talk to you Friday.

One of the best ways to support WXXI is to become a sustaining member.

You give a little bit each month and your contribution renews automatically every year.

Sustaining members provide a stable source of revenue for your favorite programs for as little as $5 a month.

You can become a sustaining member at WXXI dawg.

Welcome back to connections.

I'm Leah Stacey from City magazine, sitting in for Evan Dawson this hour, and we are talking to the founders of Explore Rochester, who are opening their ten year curated exhibit tonight.

Explore.

Register at ten a Decade of People and places that will be part of First Friday at Roko and runs through May 10th.

And I want to talk about the future of Explore Rochester, because anybody who's done a project like this knows two things, right?

One, you're it's going to it's going to grow.

It's almost going to like take on his own personality.

It's going to grow.

It's going to change.

You're going to grow and change with it.

I mean, you you were at what, early 20s when you started this project?

2322 something like that.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, you had no idea you would have the jobs you have now, which are you know, demanding.

Yeah.

and you didn't I, I also can we go back to year one for a second?

Justin, you have a great story from the year one gallery that we sort of glazed over.

Ooh.

Oh, yeah.

It's like the sweetest story out there.

We can't, we can't.

I mentioned that right I did I met my partner Jacqueline at that gallery and then subsequently at following meet ups.

And I'm not the only person that met somebody at an Explore Rochester event.

So City of Rochester, best place to meet people.

Best place to meet single coming coming for your spots.

Like me I don't do they win best of best place to meet singles.

I think it might have been like Lux or something this year, you know.

Either way, you're coming for the spot.

Best of Rochester Awards next year.

Yeah, yeah.

So it's always been about.

Yeah.

All right.

So more people just made a note to stop by tonight.

Good.

So that was a good one.

Yeah.

You led into a good one.

So when you work on a project for this long, you change.

The project changes.

There are challenges.

You know, you mentioned earlier you've gone you've had other team members, Joe, Olivia, Dan in their different roles.

I feel like you have the two of you collaborate with other people all the time and things.

but in my mind, it's always like the two of you.

You're like.

You're like a box set and explorer in the boxes, like Explorer Rochester.

But what are some things that, as you look back, is there anything you would change about how you did this?

Well, I oh, God.

We we spoke about this really recently about like if there was anything that we would change.

And I think that one of the things that made this project has made this project so special is when we started it, nothing was perfected yet, and we were kind of able to grow, live and in real time.

We figured things out, as we went.

And so I think to look back at it and think about things that we would change, there's not anything there because the lack of of that is what made it what it is now, the lack of ability to reflect.

And we could just grow throughout the whole time.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And we weren't yeah.

We didn't know exactly what it was going to become and what it was going to be.

And so, the thing that's happened over these past ten years that you can look back and really see is that Rochester has changed during that time.

some of the businesses or people that were featured, people have moved away or people have moved here.

businesses have closed or open during that time.

but also Instagram as a platform has changed a lot during that time, even as of like right when we were about to announce the exhibition.

Yeah, Instagram changed from being a square formatted like grid on the profiles to a vertical format to be more video oriented.

Yeah.

And the whole thing is we've kept every photo square on this account since the beginning.

Yeah.

And because of that.

And so it's like, whoa, they're changing their plant out the rug from other things are just out of your control.

Exactly.

I mean, I made some notes, like beforehand.

So I was trying to think of all the things that have changed within the platform since then.

Like when we started, there was no ads, no stories, no reels, no video.

Everything was square.

It was all chronological.

Yeah.

And like, the idea of an algorithm was like, you knew an algorithm if you were a math student.

Otherwise, like, algorithm wasn't just a word that we tossed around.

And now it's like, oh, my algorithm is showing me this.

So it was much more it was a fluid thing.

And it's changed a bit since then.

Yeah, I remember even so I was week 23 of year nine.

Did I get that right?

Yeah.

Backwards I flipped it.

But year nine, week 23.

Yeah.

And I remember I was like, I think I might have even asked one of you this.

I was like, can I do a video?

I was like, that's a question we get often, actually, we get, can I share multiple photos because they have carousels now to where you can share multiple photos.

The photo dump has become, a way that people share.

And that's actually one of the really interesting things about seeing the progression of photos in the physical space at Roko is that you see from year one, where things are very highly curated because it's scrim at that time was made up of mostly like younger demographics, photo or design oriented creatives were those that like, really were using it often.

So a lot of the first, like 5100 contributors, are very stylized in how they share their post.

And then as you go through the ten years, you start to see there's a lot more candid nature to the photography.

Or, everybody has a phone on them and the phone has a really good camera and so anybody can take it.

It's not just a photographer that can be a contributor and explore Rochester, it's anybody.

Yeah.

So you see that it's such a time capsule too.

Yeah.

Because not everybody does like the throwback.

You know Olivia was talking about she went very nostalgic.

And I feel like I was I was scrolling through it and it's just a massive amount of photos.

Yeah.

But you really there were like took me back to times in the last decade.

I mean even Olivia mentioning poor I was like, oh man.

Yeah.

How about how many projects that we started for real?

Yeah, I have a couple of YouTube comments.

Emily Van Epps said, sleigh Olivia.

Yeah, let's go then.

Jacqueline.

Mavis Photography well, do we know her?

she I thought I was going to be my phone.

She she's that I thought I was going to be famous famous to Olivia lmao.

Well and then I think she said no lol when we were talking about her.

Hi, Jacqueline.

Hi.

So that's funny to that because just how Instagram or how this account grew during that time is as people contributed on Explore Rochester, they shared about themselves, contributing to their family, friends and their audience, and that helped bring more eyes to explore Rochester.

But then the fun thing about that is explore Rochester with the audience, that it had helped bring attention to them and the work that they're doing to it.

So that that is like, yeah, it's still interesting today.

I mean, we're up to like 52,000 followers, I think.

I haven't checked in a minute.

but like, where's your from?

that's over here.

Try not to touch it.

We'll just do it.

Yeah, yeah.

But, 2000 ish.

Yeah, yeah.

So, so it's it's cool though.

Like in people when people say it's a real honor to contribute, I'm glad.

But I also I don't want it to feel like this, like huge weight in the sense that it's it's really we want it to be for everybody.

We don't want it to be this thing that like, oh, you have to do something special to like, contribute.

It's it's anybody in Rochester.

As long as you have an Instagram account, that's kind of key.

Yeah.

And then you have a connection to Rochester.

That's really what makes it that you're eligible to be a contributor.

Yeah.

So yeah.

Yeah.

Great.

Well we have a current contributor on the line right now.

I believe that Michael McGinnis is live and ready to chat with us.

Let's go.

Hello.

Oh.

Hi, Mike.

Hey, guys.

Like on the mic sort of.

Sort of.

Yeah.

Kind of.

Yeah.

How are you?

I am doing great.

I'm just listen to everybody talk about, like, the change of everything going on with, like, Instagram and how this started and where it's come from and where it's going.

I'll tell you what the people, the people, people, the places, guys, I'm about it, I'm about it, I'm about it.

I've been about it since the.

So there you go.

Your, energy is somehow coming through the phone.

We love this, most energetic person I know.

So you are currently contributing to Explore Rochester, which is just wild because how long have you known the two of them?

man, a long time.

What is it, 2009, you and I. Yeah, yeah.

Pre Instagram nerd.

Instagram.

Wow.

16 years like 12 or 11, 12 years for Justin.

Yeah.

Yeah something like that.

So I'd take your word for it.

This is proof that not only your friends get put on explore.

I mean it took me nine years to make 11.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Stephen I haven't gone.

Yeah.

We haven't contributed the weed.

I didn't even think about that.

Yeah, that's that's part of the thing.

We try to stay in the background intentionally.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But, Yeah.

No, it's a fun thing with Mike, too.

Is that the first ever photo that I posted on Explore Rochester to announce the account was actually a photo of Mike.

and so, yeah.

So it's cool that it's come around that like, today is the opening of the exhibition and Mike was the first ever photo.

And so I'm also going to post did you plan that.

Yes.

Okay.

Well I was like that's so for to it.

It's not I didn't plan this like ten years ago.

I planned it like three weeks ago.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But you planned.

Yes.

You weren't just you didn't like wake up yesterday also.

Happy belated birthday, Steve.

Yeah.

No, we're not going to.

You want to see everyone come tonight and tell Steve.

Happy.

Don't do that.

Don't do.

No do it.

Yeah, don't do it.

But yeah.

One fun thing too is like Mike's last post for this week.

Mike's had a great week of sharing different things, so I'm going to post his last one.

So if you're listening you can follow Explore Rochester.

We'll do a live and we'll you can see on Instagram.

So are you also on any other social media platforms or is it just Instagram?

We're really trying to just push Instagram.

We have someone do they go to threads like do they get auto posted?

Oh, we want people to write things when they share.

So it's not just a photo, it's you writing kind of what you think, like what your connection is with this thing that you're posting, like the photo about.

Yeah.

And so most of the time we have a character limit of you can only share up to 2000 characters, in a post.

And most people discover that the hard way.

Yeah.

And many have.

Many have.

It's not 2000 words.

It's it's 2000 characters.

Yes.

Big difference.

So with that, though, you we just like.

Yeah, it I lost what I was going to say.

So we stay there because that's like where you can keep it consolidated in that way.

So we're not sharing on other platforms because you can go in and that's where to see it.

There's the the digital book scroll through that.

Yeah Instagram threads.

Threads has a character limit that's way less so some posts get cross posted the threads.

I think all of them get cross posted to Facebook.

so we do have a Facebook account.

We also have a Twitter account x I'm not going to call it that, Twitter account.

We don't really use them, but really it's Instagram that's just been the best photo sharing platform.

Yes.

There.

So it absolutely makes sense.

We got a couple comments, one from YouTube Louis Russell.

Don't get Steve started on the new layout okay?

We want and an email from Michael in Rochester.

Not that Michael who's on the phone.

This sounds interesting.

How can I be a part of it?

Yeah, shoot us a DM on, at Explore Rochester.

That's one of the ways.

But we also have a website, Explore rochester.us.

that's intentional because it's us, all of us together that make up.

Yeah.

yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

and so on there.

I think there's a, form to fill out to contribute to.

Yeah.

So, Mike, tell us what it's like to be a contributor to Explore Rochester.

How is this process been for you?

Oh, man, I'm very interested now that I've done it.

I'm very interested in, like, everybody else's process because I'll tell you how it was for me.

For me, it was like a really nostalgic deep dive where you start scrolling through everything for years and years and years and try to figure out what you're going to throw up there and, kind of give a shout out to.

So for me, I was like a bunch of that.

And then if you're also me, means you pretty much wait till the very last minute and that that's just brand everything.

You put it into a Google doc and you, like, type up some stuff and throw the photos next to and be like, here you go guys.

I hope this is what you're looking for.

I hope it worked out.

And, I did the same thing, I did it, it was posted two minutes ago.

So there you go.

Yeah, it worked out.

There's a camera somewhere.

There's Mike's most recent and his last post.

His is it is it fringe?

It is.

Of course it is.

I guess this just because I know what you've posted so far.

And I saw you only had a few left and I was like, it's going to be in there somewhere.

Yeah.

It is.

oh yeah.

It's a classic pastel five shot from a fringe festival, event for sure.

The French balloons.

Is that what I'm looking at?

It's really far away.

Do with my readers on.

But that's great.

Okay.

Can't wait to read it.

So what, Mike, as you were scrolling through, walking back through the land of nostalgia, how did you decide?

Because I had it was really tough to like, to look at, you know, you have this finite number of posts and characters and you're like, what do I want?

And also, when you go this late in the process, you know, like years and years and you're like, oh, man, someone already shared that.

Like, what new thing do I have to add to this?

So Mike, how did you navigate that?

yeah, it's, it's a real retrospective is what ends up happening for you for sure.

And you start looking at and trying to figure out, do you have to kind of, you know, glean it down to the essentials or maybe just what you want to talk about?

So for me, that meant that things I want to talk about were going to be like some of the people that I know, some of the like how I'm involved with different things that basically involve people.

It's basically people base is most of the stuff that I'm talking about, which is great, and it really forces you to like, I think, I think it forces you to think about what type of message you want to like, share, because you know that, well, what do we say?

52 hold on, what did you guys 52,000 there it is.

52,000 people are following this.

See like oh it's a it's a nice little platform to say something that you, you're proud of or that you think is important.

And, it's a, it's a good it's like a good, like, I don't know, focal point or a spotlight on what you think is important.

So that was fun.

That was fun to take a look at that stuff.

And that's what we want from contributors.

We want them to like really dive into like their perspective.

What what connects with them, about Rochester and how Rochester has influenced them.

And you see it through Mike's post.

Like, if you know Mike, you're like, yep, this makes sense.

Yeah.

Like that's why I couldn't believe fringe wasn't there.

Mike.

It's definitely there was a campfire that was fringe.

There was a fringe there.

And then.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So that was a different thing.

It wasn't.

I think I was standing next to him when he took that photo.

Yeah, I bet my mike on the mike, it's I remember when I was writing my captions, I did get pretty personal on a few of them, and the amount of messages and people that would come up to me for weeks and months after, it it was really moving and it was a very connective experience.

And I actually met one of my best, Mike current best friends through, but I didn't know.

So like I was having a conversation with him, he like knew all these things about my life.

And I was like, okay.

And then he was like, I, I followed your Explore Rochester journey.

And this was like a year later.

Yeah.

Wow.

And we were chatting.

He was like, you know, we had a different we had a similar childhood and like really resonated with a lot of that stuff.

And then, we it was like an instant connection.

I think that would have already been there, but then was even stronger because we had this shared experience that he is not from here.

He moved here during the pandemic with his wife and their kids, and now I work with him and his wife, and it was like this really great conversation that again, went back to explore Rochester.

Yeah.

And that's I think that's kind of one of the really fun things to look at is like every week we we're asking people to pause and reflect about like select eight things that make a place home.

And that's that's a really difficult thing to distill.

whether that's the people or the places or the memories you have of the spaces that you've been in.

It's a we welcome them to, to take some time and reflect, whether you wait until the last minute.

And it's just as impactful for somebody like Mike or, you know, Leah, you were describing your experience of spending quite a bit of time putting all of that together.

It's it's a moment to to reflect and putting the show together has kind of been that for, for me is like looking back over the last ten years, remembering photos that I didn't take and where I was when I saw those or going to those places, maybe with those people or with other friends.

It's been a welcome reflection for me as somebody who hasn't contributed, it's it's how those contributors have shaped the way that I view the city that I've lived in for my entire life, and how they've changed that.

the show has given me that opportunity to to reflect in that way.

I love that.

I'm so excited to see it.

So can you just recap once more the details for tonight for anyone who wants to stop by?

Yeah.

So, opening tonight, first Friday at Roko, Rochester Contemporary Art center.

That's downtown Rochester, right on East Ave.

There's parking on the street.

there's also a parking garage nearby, East End garage.

So ample parking in case people need that.

but from 6 to 9 p.m. tonight is the opening.

we hope to have a lot of the contributors there.

I've been hearing I've been running into past contributors that, like Wegmans or coffee shops, anything.

And they're like, can't wait to see you and see the exhibition on Friday.

So which is really exciting.

And that's for us.

That's one of our favorite things, is like bringing everybody together offline.

and so that's, that's really going to be special.

But this exhibition is going to be up at Roco from, today through May 10th and over the next two first Friday.

So not just this March 1st, but April and May, we will also be hosting other events, around the exhibition.

so yeah, we're really excited about that.

And you're selling the prints tonight.

Yes.

So they're $40.

Yeah.

And a portion of that is going toward something new.

Yeah.

So, part of it goes back to Roco to help support Roco so that they can continue to do more exhibitions like this, which they've done a really great job over the, their existence.

and so, but then 75% goes to what we're calling the Explore Rochester Community Fund.

And so as Justin and I were starting to pull together, this exhibition and going through and curating the photos and, and whatnot, we were trying to figure out, like, okay, this is a really great way of looking back at Rochester over the last ten years, but how can we impact the future of Rochester, too?

And so the Community Fund is going to be raising money.

Our goal is to at least raise $5,000 towards supporting the future of, both Explore Rochester.

But photographers, young photographers or creatives within the community and just be able to help support, whether that's classes, workshops, programs in the city that help around photography as an expression.

So that's something we're still working on, who we're partnering with to donate that.

But the goal is to raise that money to be able to support it.

So if you buy a print, you can take a piece of this exhibition home with you, and then you're also supporting this in the process, which is really great.

It's very cool.

We get first dibs on our own prints if you're there at 6 p.m..

Yes.

All right.

So so run.

But also this is one of the fun things too is Mike is still on the mike.

Maybe, perhaps.

Oh, yeah.

I'm here.

Hey.

So Mike, is in year 11, so we're in year 11 currently.

So this exhibition is really the first ten years.

However, we didn't want to leave out the people that are contributing in year 11 to.

So what we're doing is we have kind of a live updating, phone in the space.

And, and so, Mike, if you go check out the phone, you'll see his post right there, but also follow Explore Rochester.

And that's a cool way that you can, see who's contributing in your 11 to.

Yeah.

just a couple other things that I wanted to add back in June.

City did a great piece on you.

Really great city contributor John here.

Thank you.

Shout out to John.

Yeah.

I did read up that on our homepage.

If anyone wants to read a little bit more about Explore Rochester and the story behind it, you can go to Rock City mag.com.

And I also want to ask, what like what's next?

Oh like how do you take and like I feel free to weigh in here too because you know, you're you're pretty close to them as a contributor and a part of this community.

What do you think they should do next?

But yeah, but here that was like, as I'm reading this, I'm like the people in places things.

And then what Justin was saying earlier is that, like, everybody's sharing your perspective.

So the three of those things almost combine the people, the places, the perspective equals a community that you've built over the course, like these last 11 years.

And, that is something that everybody wants to be a part of.

Like people want to be a part of something and you've built something that people are a part of.

And that's kind of human everything.

Right?

That's what we're connection is what we're constantly craving.

So, I yeah, I guess same question for you guys.

It's like you have this community now and, where do you take it?

Yeah, the community has always been here.

It's been awesome to create a or helped create a platform that allows them to connect with one another.

But it's been here and there's been little pockets of it.

Pockets that defined my life have defined Steve's, have defined yours, have defined mix.

and they're there.

So regardless of what's next for this, it's always been like, I think about myself ten years ago and where I was in, in life and what I thought I had to do, much like live, move away to be creative, move away to be a designer.

And once I found out that there's so many amazing people here, you know, that's that's what got me to stay.

And somebody, I hope somebody today this is showing up in their algorithm and they're finding out, oh, there's cool people here that I can that can make a place home or can elaborate on what home means to me.

So yeah.

And I think to that we don't we don't want to take ownership of the community.

We don't want to say it's our community.

We want to say we're helping facilitate community within Rochester.

And this is like we're stewards of that.

And that's what this account has been, and that's what we're trying that's that's part of the reason why we really try to stay in the background of this account.

You don't really see Justin and I on the account at all.

and we've tried to stay in the background over the course of these 11 years.

And so that's something that will continue.

We really want it to be about the platform and sharing what, the different perspectives, the different contributors, the diverse perspectives of Rochester.

And so we want that to continue.

And as long as there's value or need for that or interest in it from the Rochester community, we're going to keep doing it.

And so, I think that's that's the goal.

if Instagram as a platform continues to change too much, that could, drive us in a different direction potentially.

But right now it's there.

It's functioning, even though it's not getting as much eyeballs as it used to, because the algorithm.

Right.

we're still doing it.

And I think this doing this exhibition and stepping aside from the online platform and doing something physical, it I mean, I'm really inspired by, the Albert Stone collection, which is the photographs of Rochester from like, the early 1900s.

Albert Stone was the photographer for the Rochester Herald and Democrat, and Chronicle took amazing photos of Rochester over the course of that time.

We don't really have somebody commissioned by the city or or publication.

Yeah, a publication that's focused on this in the same kind of way.

So yeah, this project is kind of a crowdsourced version of it for these 2000 time period.

yeah.

And while everybody has fun, so we want to encourage people to continue to share and continue to contribute, share your interest in contributing, use the hashtag Explore Rochester, even though it doesn't function the same way anymore, with the same kind of extent, but it still has 240,000 photos on a hashtag.

Explore Rochester.

So it's a huge amount.

So we want that to continue.

We want to be able to help facilitate this community going forward and serve it as the best we can.

That's really well said today.

Anything you want to add?

Why would I?

I think that's it.

Mike.

Yeah.

Mike.

yeah.

They're great.

You guys are great.

Keep doing it.

I can't wait to be here tonight.

Yeah, it's going to be fun tonight.

So.

Yeah.

thanks, Mike.

I think you have to ride your e-bike, right?

I mean, yeah, yeah.

You're right.

What did you call it?

An only bike day.

And if you don't know what I'm talking about, go back and read Mike's Explore Rochester post bike days.

Yeah.

Let's car more bikes.

How about that idea?

Oh, Steve, you know what?

I'm not.

Oh, yeah.

Let's go.

We can get into, like, that's a different hour.

Yeah, yeah, it's a whole different now.

Yeah.

All right, Mike, just like we'll have an hour about butter.

Yeah.

You know, I can have an hour about bikes.

I'm in, I'm in.

Yeah, but yeah, a different focus is there.

Mike's Mike.

Seventh of, his seventh post.

Seventh of eight.

Go check it out.

It's about bikes.

It's great.

All right, well, this has been a delight.

And I am very much looking forward to the show tonight.

Mike, thanks for joining us.

We'll let you go back to your meeting.

I, I, I, I.

So once again, thank you for taking the time.

Thank you.

Thank you for taking the time to do this project for the community.

It really does matter so much.

And you know, from a media perspective, it's so important for us to be building community through visual written media, especially in this landscape.

So thank you.

thanks to Mary, Rob and Julie in the booth.

Thanks to Evan Dawson, Megan Mac for letting me guest host today's show.

I'm Leah Stacey, thank you for listening to member supported public radio.

Oh.

This program is a production of WXXI Public Radio.

The views expressed do not necessarily represent those of this station.

Its staff, management, or underwriters.

The broadcast is meant for the private use of our audience.

Any rebroadcast or use in another medium, without express written consent of WXXI is strictly prohibited.

Connections with Evan Dawson is available as a podcast.

Just click on the connections link at WXXI news.org.