This was my first real experience of randomly meeting up with people connected solely via Instagram. I say randomly, yet it was anything but: having run a handful of photowalks over the last 5 years, I know the pull such gatherings can have on those of us destined to document everything we see. Instagram just seems to make it that much easier for people to connect when in the same physical area.

We came together at a pub — two of us were already there, meeting over drinks with a few folks from a PR firm. As the others trickled in, and the PR folks trickled out, the geekery began in earnest: what apps do we use, what’s your shooting style, how many of you stay up late (or get up early) editing and carefully selecting what to post, who shoots for a living, what do you if you’re not a photographer, etc.

Around sunset, our impromptu tour guide — known as @missunderground — led us off to the nearest station (Farringdon) and proceeded to hop from station to station over the next few hours, getting out as directed by our guide, walking to specific passageways usually free from foot traffic, then returning to the platform and repeating the process.

It was a fantastic way to spend an evening, all of us standing around lining up our iPhones as people looked sideways at us with mild curiosity. The same situation with non-photographers would never have happened; we are all self-conscious enough that, generally, we avoid holding up a larger group (or sometimes even just one other person) when we see something we want — no, need — to capture. That feeling melts away instantly when you are around your own kind.