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MEET IDA SKIVENES, a former data analyst who quit her job to become a full-time Instagram artist.

She is best known for her food photos, created out of things like fruit, cookies, and bread.

In fact, she has more than280,000 followers on Instagram, and a book that has been published in seven different languages.

Skivenes tells Business Insider that Instagram has fundamentally changed her life.

Here’s her story and some of her best work:

Skivenes just finished her master’s degree in 2011 and started working full time at the official bureau of statistics in Norway.

That year, she also turned vegetarian, which made her experiment with food. “Experimenting with food was part of my everyday activities, so it was natural for me to post it on Instagram,” she told us.

This was her first food photo on Instagram.

In January 2013, she saw a spike in her followers. That month, on her birthday coincidentally, Instagram recommended her on its official account, giving her more than 10,000 new followers in a single day.

Now she has more than 280,000 followers. As her popularity grew, she started getting proposals to work on paid projects too, including this one done with Philadelphia Germany.

She even got a book deal.

Her book is available in seven languages (Norwegian, English, German, French, Dutch, Russian, and Korean).

She says this is her favorite food photo. It’s also on the cover of her book.

She says the book isn’t exactly a best-seller but she’s very proud of the geographical reach.

“The inspiration was to reach a wider offline audience and provide some instructions for people to try out the food art themselves,” she said of her book.

By August 2013, she reached a point at which she had to quit her job and become a full-time Instagrammer to handle her food artwork.

“Photography and food have been my hobbies for a long time, so it was really a great opportunity to follow my passion,” she said.

She earns a living from a combination of book royalties, columns in magazines, and commercial projects for various companies.

She says her Instagram fame has exceeded her expectations. “I never imagined to do so well,” she said. “It was more of a test in the beginning to see how long I could keep it going.”

And she credits Instagram for all her success. “Instagram has been fundamentally important for me, both personally and career-wise,” she said.

“If I hadn’t started using it, I don’t think I’d be doing food art at all. It provided me with a perfect playground to try out ideas and get instant feedback from an enthusiastic audience, so I could develop my style,” she said.

And her advice for others? “Find a niche, be active, and take good-quality photos.”

Read: What If Instagram Was Actually Like Real Life?>

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