Top Instagram photo locations in 2011 show heavy usage on the West coast

It would be easy to argue that 2011 was the year of mobile photography. At the top of the app list facilitating this trend is Instagram, sporting over 15 million users. With the simple premise of taking a photo of something around you, throwing an artistic filter on it, dropping it into a stream, and beaming it to Twitter and Facebook, the app has built a gigantic community around itself.

Today, Instagram posted its first in a series of 2011 review posts, listing the top locations that people shared with their photos.

The top 15 locations showed heavy usage on the West coast, California specifically, with top spots being Disneyland, AT&T Park, and airports in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Here is the complete list of the top 15 locations people Instagram’d in 2011:

1. Disneyland
2. Suvarnabhumi International Airport (BKK)
3. AT&T Park
4. San Francisco International Airport (SFO)
5. Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)
6. Hong Kong International Airport (HKG)
7. MoMA – Museum of Modern Art
8. Golden Gate Bridge
9. Metropolitan Museum of Art
10. Parque do Ibirapuera
11. Siam Paragon
12. Mission Dolores Park
13. Terminal 21
14. LACMA – Los Angeles County Museum of Art
15. Times Square

While it’s not mandatory to post your location with an Instagram photo, I think it’s safe to say that major metropolitan areas and landmarks are the most photographed on the platform. It’ll be interesting to see where Instagram goes in 2012, will filters be enough for its hungry user base? So far, so good.