Instagram Group Photo
Las Vegas CNN  — 

On Monday, October 12, influential Instagrammers from Vegas took their cameras to the Wynn ballroom for a rare glimpse at preparations for the first Democratic presidential debate.

The photographers — Brendan Jordan (@jordvnhaus), Luther Redd (@luther.redd), John Carracedo (@johnnylace), Joshualee Pacheco (@joshpacheco__) and Henry Do (henry_do) — tried to capture and share the space and the set-up before the cameras are turned on, the candidates take the stage and more than a thousand people fill the audience.

This InstaMeet – gatherings among Instagram photographers – was inspired by the #empty and #emptyspaces movements on Instagram, where photographers take to public spaces, such as museums or opera houses, and share a behind-the-scenes look with their followers.

All five photographers came to the space with a different aesthetic and perspective.

Brendan Jordan, of viral YouTube fame, has an Instagram feed of mostly colorful selfies. Jordan spoke mostly about the color of the space, looking for the right light to snap the perfect selfie.

To Jordan, this ability to be the model, the photographer and the editor is what makes YouTube and Instagram ideal platforms.

For some of the other photographers, the focus was more on emotion, space or movement.

“When I walk in, I just scope out a space. I look for the right setting, the right motion,” Josh Pacheco said.

For both Henry Do, an air force engineer by day, and John Carracedo, a student and aspiring war photographer, the most striking feature of the space was its size and the effort put in by production and backstage crews to set it up. Do was blown away by the set’s magnitude, calling it a “magnificent setting.”

Whether they focused on moments or motion, selfies or space, the Instagrammers all talked about the power of the community and the platform as they snapped on their Canons, Nikons and iPhones.

Many of them take photos together at InstaMeet and are friends — “all my friends are from instagram!” Redd said – and are proponents of the power of the Instagram community.

That’s what the #emptyspaces movement is about, too: giving the community access to spaces and moments they might not see otherwise.

“I just want to inspire [with my photos],” Redd said.

Follow #DemDebate to catch a glimpse of the space during setup: The room has 16 cameras, 384 stage lights, more than a thousand seats and about 5 miles of cables.