HIPA Announced Fashion and Food From My Country Instagram Photo Contest Winners

The Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum International Photography Award (HIPA) has concluded the July 2022 edition of the Instagram Photo Contest, Fashion, and the August 2022 edition of Food from my country.

Ten winners were announced with submissions received under the hashtag #HIPAContest_Fashion for the July edition and #HIPAContest_FoodfrommyCountry for the August edition. The contest winners hailed from; Oman, Turkey, Indonesia, India, Pakistan and the Philippines.

HIPA Secretary General Ali bin Thalith said, “The cultures of people express themselves through heritage, traditions, identity, belonging, environment, and even emotion. Food is also a cultural and artistic tool that has a great impact on societies, and has a great impact in building bridges of communication with other cultures and people through shared and developed experiences.”

Bin Thalith added, “Our competitions are ongoing and open to everyone. We congratulate all the winners and encourage the rest of our photographers to continue developing their skills by participating in our various competitions and becoming one of our winners.”

Our winner from Oman, Salim Sabah Hamed Al Waheibi @salim.pho said about his winning photo in the ‘Fashion’ competition, “The photo was taken on Masirah Island in the Sultanate of Oman, inspired by childhood memories associated with the golden burqa in the 1990s. My picture translated memories with a picture of the present bearing the aesthetics of the past and its ancient traditions. The burqa in the photo, the silver and the headdress were made by my mother. This is my second win at HIPA, and my biggest wish is to win the annual HIPA competition. The win has given me confidence and a greater presence in the international photographer community. I aspire to be a world-renowned photographer.”

Gulin Yigiter @gulin_yigiter, our winner from Turkey said about her winning photo in the ‘Food from my country’ competition, “The photo was taken in Trabzon, Turkey, in the Black Sea region. Pumpkin cultivation is common in this region, and this is where sweets, soups and other winter foods come from. It is stored in the warehouses of almost all village houses, and the family consumes it all winter. I’ve won in a number of other competitions, but nothing compares to winning one of HIPA’s competitions.”