The Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum International Photography Award (HIPA) has announced a total of seven winners for the May edition of the recently re-launched Instagram Photo Contest, titled ‘From Below’. HIPA received submissions under the hashtag #HIPAContest_FromBelow, through the official HIPA Instagram account @HIPAae. The seven winners hail from; Indonesia, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, the Philippines and Saudi Arabia. All winners in the May edition of the contest will receive their respective ‘HIPA Recognition Awards’ in the coming days.
Commenting on the latest Instagram Photo Contest results, the Secretary General of HIPA His Excellency Ali bin Thalith said, “We are delighted to announce the winners of the May edition of our Instagram Photo Contest, which was themed ‘From Below’. With this month’s theme, we set out to challenge photographers to submit photographs from an ant’s eye view whilst implementing their fine photography skills to produce an array of visual masterpieces. The results as shown by our winners have been stunning and we would like to thank the 1,050 participants who submitted and for the effort they put in producing these great photographs.”
Instagram Photo Contest winner, Hussein Najm Abed from Iraq revealed that his winning photograph of a blind old man was shot in southern Iraq in the Al Nassiriyah Governorate on the 25th of March of this year. Abed described his “sadness and sorrow” upon learning of the old man’s condition and wanted to, “express the pride and wisdom of the blind man through the photograph despite the deep sadness that fills his soul.” Abed, who is an award winning photographer in his native Iraq and the Arab world, said, “Winning in the HIPA Instagram Photo Contest will no doubt open up more horizons and exposure to me and my photography. For me, winning is an added incentive to keep going and further my career and I aspire to take up more meaningful and humanitarian projects in the coming period to achieve that.”
Another winner, Huwaishal Alshukaili from Oman said of his winning entry, “It took me a good 30 minutes of continuously looking up with my camera to get the right configuration and elements for this photograph. The photograph was taken within the walls of the ancient Bahla Castle in Bahla Governorate in the Sultanate of Oman. I am very happy to have won in the HIPA Photo Contest and I wish to thank HIPA for their continuous support of Arab photographers from all walks of life. In the future, I hope to be able to obtain a collection of fine photography which can help me and if possible also help other photographers in Oman and the Arab World.”
Full list of winners:
Fahad Al-Enezi (@fhd_al3nezi) of Kuwait

F. B. Anggrahito Ananggadipo (@anggrahitotito) of Indonesia

Mohammed Sulaiman AlFaleh (@alfaleh1) of Saudi Arabi

Huwaishal Amur Alshukaili (@abo_maali) of Oman

Hussein Najem Abd (@husseinnajempho) of Iraq

Yogi Rahma Syukri (@kiisut) of Indonesia

Carlo G. Zamora (@caloyzamora) of the Philippines