The Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum International Photography Award, HIPA, has announced a total of five winners for the July edition of the Instagram Photo Contest entitled ‘Macro Photography’. HIPA received submissions under the hashtag #HIPAContest_Macro, through the official HIPA Instagram account @HIPAae.

The five winners, from Indonesia, Iraq, Oman, Palestine, and the UAE, will receive their ‘HIPA Recognition Awards’ in the coming days.

Commenting on the latest Instagram Photo Contest results, HIPA Secretary-General, Ali bin Thalith, said, "Macro photography is one of the most unique and intricate forms of photography today due to the high level of detail and attention required to achieve results. The beauty in the art-form lies in the photographer projecting an image that many cannot see with the naked eye, exposing an otherwise unseen world of imagery around us."

He added, "This month’s Instagram Photo Contest winners are a great testament to this lovely art-form with their stunning photographs, and I congratulate each and every one of them for their winning photographs."

One winner, Omani Photographer Rashid Almasoudi, said that his winning photograph was of an insect that he saw on the way to a mosque in Ramadan last year. Almasoudi credits Photoshop for being able to put the photograph together and said that the image is "the merging of several modified photographs taken last year and recently of the same insect".

The electrical engineer, who has won several regional photo contests in the past, added, "I hope to reach my ambition and receive support from other talented macro photographers which may one day lead to my work being exhibited either in Oman or overseas