When you post a picture online, how many people see it? Twenty? Thirty? Maybe 100?
A Decatur High School student has tens of thousands of internet friends checking out his Instagram photos. In fact, TIME magazine called Skyler Wagoner one of social media's top 50 photographers to keep an eye on.
Now, Wagoner has decided to sell prints of his masterpieces. Click here to see his online store.
Some 47,000 people watch Skyler Wagoner, his friends and the things they do.
"Maybe because they want to feel alive," he said.
You get that feeling flipping through the hundreds of photos Skyler's posted to Instagram, a social media picture album seen around the world.
"It just appears. It just clicks," he explained. "I see something, I say, 'Hey, let me take this picture real quick.' Just take the picture."
Picture after picture, compelling enough to catch the eye of TIME. The magazine says the 17-year-old shows great promise and that his photographs of Indiana's countryside - mixed with portraits of his friends - have a certain nostalgic "Stand By Me" feel to them.
"A 17-year-old from Decatur? I would have never guessed I would be up in TIME magazine," Skyler said with a nervous smile. "It's pretty breathtaking."
Pretty amazing for a kid who picked up a camera for the first time, only two years ago.
Skyler stays close to home, finding remarkable pictures in unremarkable places most people don't go. It's been mostly fun, but now that he's amassed such a following, he feels a certain responsibility.
"It makes me feel like I have to put on the best work I possibly can."
The teen hopes his passion eventually becomes a career, taking him around the world.
For now, "Whatever happens that's important, I don't want to miss a memory because when I get older, I want to look back to these photos and think, 'Wow, I did that. That was awesome'!"
Click here to see Wagoner's online store.
