Hipstamatic Sardinia celebrates its 100th competition!

Hipstamatic Sardinia is undoubtedly the most active Facebook group with more than 1,400 members. Each week, a competition is held: a combo is selected and the photo that receives the most "likes" in a week wins the contest.

The group is managed by Maria Columbu Roberto Murgia and Simone Muresu and has been surprising everyone with its creativity and abundance of artists.

This week, the group celebrates its 100th competition and on this occasion, I asked a few questions to  Simone Muresu, aka Simokubrick...

 

How practically do you run the contests? Who chooses the combo of the week?
Simone Muresu: Initially the contest combo was chosen by Maria Columbu, Roberto Murgia and myself. Then, from contest number 14 ("John S/Rock BW-11", January 2012) onwards, we all three decided to exclude ourselves from the contest because we are the administrators of the group, so many "likes" for our photos were almost "forced".

Later, from "contest" number 26 onwards, I have almost always chosen each combo. We always proposed combos rarely used (at least up until then) to stimulate our talented friends/members. At least until contest number 84. I decided to give up temporarily as there were too many complaints in "private mail" for the delays starting the contest… So I proposed that the second ranked contestant choose, in order to allow everyone to participate in the life of the group.

And who chooses the winner?
The photo with the most likes at the end of the contest wins (as long as the few rules of the contest have been complied with).

So the members are choosing the winner. Are you personally often in agreement with the choices?
Rarely... :-P

Do some competitions work better than others?
Of course, depending on the how people like the combo… the number of pictures posted on the group’s wall for some contests is twice as many as for others :-)

Which combo has had the most success?
I would say without a doubt contest number 48 "Jane/W40" and contest number 97 "Jane/BlacKeys Extra Fine" (the sweet Jane lens always wins).

What were the most difficult combos?
"Tinto 1884/Sugar" and "Susie/BlacKeys Supergrain". In the first case the blurring effect of the dye is hard to control. Tinto 1884 should only be used when necessary, as most of the photos taken with this lens are simply horrible (putting it mildly).

Susie (without "no flash Jolly led") makes all photos terribly washed out, despite the addition of the film BlacKeys Supergrain (which greatly reduces the defects of the Susie lens). The low contrast and the low definition of the images make it difficult to use of this combo that works only in special lighting conditions, for example in interiors in indirect lighting (from a distant window, for instance).

Of all the winning photos, what is your top 3?
Only three photos? It is difficult...
1) Winner of contest #30: "The leap" by Sofia N Häggbom
2) Winner of contest #17: "Little Tree" by Roger Clay
3) Winner of contest #37: "Dusk" by Lee Atwell

What are your own favorite combos?
My favorite lens is Hornbecker, especially with the films Rock BW-11, Blanko Freedom13 and BlacKeys Extra Fine. I also love the lenses Wonder, Tejas and Libatique 73 with the film Blanko Freedom13.

100 contests… Do you have particularly memorable stories? Some important moments?

Contest #7 "James M/Cano Cafenol". The photo contest winner ("Give a Chance to the Bench Dr. Cano and Mister James" by Roberto Murgia) is the famous Bob's Bench. From this picture onwards, all photos with benches posted on the group will be dedicated to Bob :-)

Contest #32 "Helga Vicking/Blanko Freedom 13". It's the contest of the "Hipsta-meeting", unforgettable moments, and beautiful pictures, even those out of the competition. The red/orange shoes of Giorgia Grossi, photographed in every possible way. And the amazing photomontages by Alon Goldsmith, incredible :-)

Contest #37 "Mélodie/Ina 1935". By coincidence won by Lee and her husband Brooke who tied for first.

Contest#53 "américain/Dylan". Combo which has suffered much criticism. The winning photo (Elizabeth Caocci) is the first photo that has exceeded 100 "likes" on our group.

Contest #72 "Watts/Big Up". To pay tribute to the photographer Ben Watts I asked all members of the group to publish a self-styled "shhhhh".

Contest #80 "GSQUAD/Rock BW-11". The photo contest winner (by Lee Atwell) has the record of likes from the group (114), obtained in just over 24 hours, a plebiscite.

September 28, 2012, we celebrated a year of life and 50000 pictures posted, with a collage created by me selecting the best photo of each of the 196 most active members of the group.

Apart from the contests and photography discussions, there was a beautiful 'flash-mob' entitled 'Forever Young' in February 2012, made up of photos of members and friends in their youth. I think it was the most important moment for our group.

Is the last update of Oggl a problem for the Sardinia Group?
I think that the latest update of Oggl is a big problem. I hope that none of our friends/members post on our group photos taken with the iPhone camera and then reworked in post production with Oggl.

Links: "Hipstamatic Sardinia" - "The Winners" - "Week N°100 Contest"

This post is also available in: French

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