INTERVIEW WITH @TCAMPBELL250

Michelle Simone / June 7, 2015

This week Theresa (@tcampbell210) is taking over for us! We asked her some questions to get to know her a little better and here is what we learned.

Can you introduce yourself to our followers who may not yet know you? Where in New Jersey are you from, and perhaps touch upon your Jersey roots?
My name is Theresa and I live in Allendale in Bergen County. I actually grew up in Staten Island, but the island I knew was very different from the the urban borough of NYC it’s become. I moved to Sussex county in the early 90s and was overjoyed to have trees and nature and space again. I loved it up there, but the 4 hours I spent commuting every day really became too much. So here I am in Bergen county, with the best of both worlds. Plenty of green spaces, but I can easily walk into town to pick something up from the grocery (the A&P in Sussex was 8 miles from my house!).

How would you describe your overall experience with Instagram? I see that you are the founder of four Instagram pages: @monkey_trek, @just_unitedstates, @just_newjersey and @just_newyork. In addition to those, you are also an admin to @excellent_structure and a moderator for @excellent_dogs. What inspired you to create these galleries and participate in their mission?
That’s a long story . So I started using IG sometime in 2012. I got my first feature and I was hooked. What a rush! Our family vacation was in San Francisco that year and I came back with all these bridge shots that I was very excited about. I couldn’t find a dedicated bridge feed to tag my photos to, so I started @bridges_of_instagram. I discovered that featuring other people’s photos, making someone’s day, was even more of a rush than having my own work featured. But it was slow going at first, having had no experience running a hub. So I joined @animazing_wildlife as a mod, picked up some helpful tricks and met my very best friend on IG, @susannelotrom from Sweden. A few months later, the founder of the animazing family decided to close most of the hubs, so Susanne started her own Excellent family. I joined her, helping to get @excellent_dogs started. That feed is so much fun to work on…there’s just something so fun and lighthearted about it and we have a great group of mods.

I was not having so much fun working on bridges alone…the more I thought about it, the more I realized that what I really enjoyed participating in most were the travel feeds, like @insta_america. And so I started @just_unitedstates in August of 2013…I just love our beautiful country and hosting a feed that showcases it is the ultimate for me. I’ve added mods as we became a family, adding @just_newjersey and @just_newyork and I converted Bridges over to Susanne’s family as @excellent_structure so that feed gets the tlc it deserves.

@monkey_trek was an offshoot of our @excellent_dogs community. It’s similar to a Flat Stanley project…miniatures of my dogs, Monkey and Lily, began traveling around the world last April. Each host shows the mini pal around their part of the globe and we post the photos as a travelogue.

From following you and browsing your gallery, it is clear that you enjoy traveling and do so quite often. How does the Garden State stand out from other places you have been?
New Jersey stands out for me in it’s diversity. If you travel to Arizona, you’re mostly going to see varying grades of desert landscapes. Spectacular yes, but also limited. In New Jersey, we have the shore, mountains, farms and cities…and most of it within an hour or two’s drive.

You have a great eye for photographing nature and the outdoors! What are some of your go-to spots to hang out or explore with your camera in New Jersey?
Thanks so much! There are a few parks around here…Ramapo Reservation, the Allendale Celery Farm and Crestwood…where I often find myself. I also love High Point State Park.

Could you please tell us the role of photography in your life and its importance to you?
My dad let me use his Minolta film SLR for a photography class in high school and I have been taking pictures ever since. I work at a numbers-centric job, so taking photos is really my only creative outlet. I always have a camera in my purse, in addition to my phone so I can capture what I see.

What sort of technical equipment do you use for shooting and editing your pictures?
I mainly use a Canon Rebel. I also shoot with the point and shoot Galaxy I keep in my purse as well as my Note. I edit mainly in Snapseed for IG.

How are you feeling about shooting with “only” your mobile phone camera for this week?
I recently upgraded to this Note and it seems like it takes decent photos…should be fun taking pics with it.

What are your plans for the week you’ll be taking over Jersey Collective? Some Secaucus, some Allendale and wherever else I can find interesting subjects in between. Thanks for the opportunity to shoot for Jersey Collective!