Instagram Photo Find
Find the best Instagram photo for a given destination or place name.
Workflow
Step 1 — Search for Instagram post URLs
Search Brave for: site:instagram.com/p/ {destination} popular photo
- Request 10 results
- If the destination is a specific attraction/restaurant, use its name directly (e.g.
site:instagram.com/p/ "Barton Springs" Austin)
Step 2 — Filter candidates by title
From search results, pick the top 5-6 candidates based on titles that suggest scenic/visual content:
Prefer titles with:
- Visual/emotional language ("beautiful", "colors", "stunning", "golden hour", "aerial", "skyline")
- Specific landmark names
- Travel/photography language ("travel", "explore", "photography")
Skip titles that suggest:
- Brand/corporate posts (Nike, concerts, conferences)
- Personal diary posts ("photo dump", "my trip")
- Celebrity/influencer selfies
- Non-photo content (events, announcements)
Step 3 — Download images
For each candidate, extract the image via:
https://www.instagram.com/p/{shortcode}/media/?size=l
- Use
curl -s -L (follows the 302 redirect to CDN) - Skip any that return non-200 or < 10KB (likely broken/removed)
- Save to
/tmp/ with descriptive names
Step 4 — Vision-score each image
Run each downloaded image through the vision model with this prompt:
> Describe briefly. Rate 1-10 as a hero destination photo for {destination} (iconic, scenic, represents the place well). Description + score only.
Step 5 — Return results
Return images ranked by score. For each result, provide:
- Score and brief description
- Instagram post URL (
instagram.com/p/{shortcode}/) - Local file path
Parameters
- destination (required): Place name (e.g. "Mexico City", "Taormina Italy", "Barton Springs Austin")
- count (optional, default 2): How many top results to return
- search_variant (optional): Additional search terms to append (e.g. "photography", "travel guide")
Tips
- For broad destinations (cities/countries), the generic search works well
- For specific attractions, quote the name:
"Palacio de Bellas Artes" - If first search yields low scores (< 6), retry with landmark-specific queries
- The
/media/?size=l endpoint requires no authentication - Carousel posts return only the first image
- Video posts may return a thumbnail