The popular mobile app for sharing photos Instagram has started to catch the eye of the art world and beyond. YNN's Adam Balkin filed the following report.

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W Hotels are known worldwide for being stylish and swanky, so when the flagship in Times Square decides to outfit its lobby entirely with photos taken via Instagram that says something about the shots being taken through the massively popular mobile, social networking, photo app.

We have six headline photographers that are professionals along with 5,000 people from around the world who've submitted their work. And so it was interesting to between the pros and see how someone like your or I can take an iPhone and be an artist for a day as it were," said Jim McPartlin of W Times Square. "It's a tribute to New York so you have something as iconic as the Brooklyn Bridge next to this wonderful little fire escape in the West Village or the Flatiron building so it's incredible what you can see all in one room."

Some of the headlining Instagram photographers say they're surprised, pleasantly surprised, that something that started off as a hobby with an app has become something of a reputable artform.

With more than 200,000 followers, Liz Eswein is one of the most followed non-celebrities on Instagram.

"I think it's really legitimizing mobile photography and bringing it into a new light it can compete with DSLR photography now which is great," Eswein said.

And adding further legitimacy, Instagram-only exhibits have also popped up in art galleries from London to Hong Kong.