Instagram Eats First

Instagrammers focused on getting cool shots at the bar preview

The other night I attended a media preview of a bar opening in the basement of the Rosewood Hotel Georgia in downtown Vancouver.

The bar is cryptically called Prophecy, opened by some guys at At Home Hospitality. When they got this space, they immediately decided they wanted it to be sophisticated like New York and Chicago, so they went there to do their research... as if it was a prophecy... get it?

Inside it's a bit on the dark side, but the space is classy, not pretentious, and comfortable. It's nice to know there's live music in the evenings too -- and in our case we were treated to some jazz.

Three of the people seated with me were Instagrammers. They brought a lot of equipment with them, in particular hand-held lights to ensure they took good pictures and videos of the cocktails and food. They spent a lot of time doing this, so a guy seated at our table and I had to patiently wait until they were done before we could sip our libations and tuck into the dishes (some good, some were disappointing like the wagyu sando where they scrimped on the wagyu).

But I am grateful we had to wait because that guy and I struck a fun conversation and he was pleased to meet another writer and talk about what stories we've written, what we like to read; I even encouraged him speak to his editor if he didn't like how she edited his pieces.

As I don't go to these press events often, it made me realise how tedious they can be with Instagrammers, as they aren't critical about anything and are more focused on getting cool shots just for likes from their followers...