Creative surprises

Creativity has to be, without a shadow of a doubt, the most significant characteristic of Hipstamatic, even if some of the lenses or films are a little more "classic" than others, e.g. Lowy, Florence or Blanko Freedom13. On the other hand, certain elements in the Hipstamatic catalogue are creative by nature, such as the Salvador 84 lens.

Hipstamatic’s main attribute, however, is its complexity and abundance. At this point in time, there are 38 films, 35 lenses, and 13 flashes of which there are two versions. If my calculations are correct, that totals up to 34,580 possible combinations, and it will only increase.

I have only published 201 combos, so far, but among those, some are more creative than others, especially when the flash comes out to play. The perfect example being Stavros Dimakopoulos’ Combo #201, but there are also the combos from "Flashes on Sao Paolo", which I published when the pak was released, or Combo #105, when Jozef Hipp combined Watts/US1176 with Laser Lemon Gel.

(Photo: Stavros Dimakopoulos)

(Photo: Jozef Hipp)

Let’s be clear here: the use of the flash doesn’t necessarily imply creativity or even accomplishment. Of course, many of these combinations, without the use of the flash, manage to produce audacious, even eccentric pictures. Matthew Wylie comes to mind; he combined D-Type Plate with one of Hipstamatic’s most ignored elements: poor ol’ Bettie XL (Combo #178), or Jade Deakin, who paired Tinto 1884 with the terrible Alfred Infrared (Combo #150).

(Photo: Matthew Wylie)

(Photo: Jade Daekin)

With this in mind, I have decided to create a new tab in the Combo Section entitled "Creative Surprises".  A touch of eccentricity has never hurt anyone and, to quote Steve Jobs: "Think Different".

This post is also available in: French