Like many transplants, Kimberly Nesmith fell in love with the city of New Orleans while passing through. Unlike most of those enamored folks, however, Nesmith didn’t get drawn in by the sights and smells of the Vieux Carre.

I had passed through the city many times, but I’d never really explored it,” she said of a trip where a local friend convinced her to leave the tourist staging area. “I saw that outside of the Quarter, there were so many neighborhoods that just had their own unique thing going on. That’s when I really fell in love with New Orleans.”

And unlike many of those who wash up here, Nesmith is doing a ton to make sure that everyone knows about the best parts of the city. Via her Instagram account Rising Crescent, she shares photos with the hope of sparking the same feeling she has about New Orleans in others.

Nesmith says she began take photos of the city as part of a planned blog that never was.

“My Instagram account was my personal account,” she said. “Originally, I was going to have a blog called Rising Crescent and I decided to make my Instagram account have that same name. I planned to write about New Orleans from the point of you of an outsider, but eventually it took off as just the account.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BmGw1C2HU0C/?taken-by=risingcrescent

While Nesmith says she’s been into photography off and on since she found some old cameras of her mother’s as a teen, she says that the city really awakened her shutterbug urges.

“There’s so much inspiration here. There are so many things to take photos of,” she said. “It kinda ignited something in me.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BktJExwHbWp/?taken-by=risingcrescent

And that desire has led to Nesmith taking on several roles, from a recent takeover of the New Orleans Tourism account to her unofficial role as a tour guide to eager fans who want to know about her side of the city. She’s been able to meet people who are as enamored with the city as she is and all of it comes through her snapshots.

“Even if I didn’t do it here forever- I don’t ever want to move from here but even if I did – I think I found the right medium for me,” she said.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bh2ErcZnveX/?taken-by=risingcrescent

Check out a few of Rising Crescent’s shots below and head to her Instagram. For more local Instagram accounts to know, head here.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BfrsWElAtXE/?taken-by=risingcrescent

https://www.instagram.com/p/BfgHCkwAnJn/?taken-by=risingcrescent

https://www.instagram.com/p/BfUKjbOAtec/?taken-by=risingcrescent