App is a snap for Insta-success "I'm now trying to get my foot in the door with professional photography, and Instagram's a good start": Paul Vella. By day he fixes airconditioning units for a living. But by night - and by weekend - Pauly Vella takes arty snapshots and shares them with his 199,000 Instagram followers. "Where words fail to describe, my camera lense [sic] will shine," reads the blurb on the 22-year-old Rouse Hill resident's Instagram account. When I did start using it I got really addicted. I had no idea I'd get such a huge following. Shine it has. Mr Vella's work, mostly dreamy shots of land and seascapes on the central coast, has led to him becoming one of Australia's most followed Instagrammers. His following has prompted Hamilton Island to fly him to the resort for a weekend "Instameet" next month and use his photography in an ad campaign. The island hosted him for the first meeting in November, when select Instagram users captured their experiences on the app to publicise the island. "I couldn't believe it at first but when I was actually there I thought, 'Wow, an app on my phone brought me to this amazing place'," Mr Vella said. Instagram, which invites users to take photos, apply retro-style filters and share them with their followers, was launched in 2010 and was sold to Facebook for $US1 billion last April. It has 100 million monthly active users around the world, including more than 1 million in Australia. Top of the shots: Paul Vella, the airconditioning mechanic on the job. Gold Coast pop singer Cody Simpson has Australia's biggest following, with almost 1.5 million followers, then Miranda Kerr, who has close to 1.3 million followers. Other Australian Instagrammers with a large following include fashion bloggers Jessica Stein of Tuula Vintage, and Nicole Warne of Gary Pepper Vintage, who have both gathered more than 400,000 followers. Mr Vella was introduced to the app when his girlfriend installed it on his phone two years ago. I thought, 'I'm never going to use this,' but when I did start using it I got really addicted. He attributes his large following from around the globe to good timing. He started posting when the app was relatively new and there weren't as many users, making it easier to "connect with the community" by commenting on other people's photos, and hashtagging his own images with highly searched words including "reflections" and "ocean." "I think my photos have also gotten better since then," said Mr Vella, who admits he knew far more about airconditioners than photography when he started. I'm now trying to get my foot in the door with professional photography, and Instagram's a good start.