Category Archives: Photo Essay

When I got an iPhone, the first app I downloaded was Hipstamatic.  I had been swooning over the photos folks were taking with it and couldn’t wait to try it.  For the first while I used nothing else, but then Instagram took over and I hadn’t really opened the Hipstamatic app since then.

Until yesterday when the lovely Rachael Ashe posted this photo on Instagram and I was totally breath taken and had to try it out.  I’ve always loved the Tintype images though I’ve never had one taken (you can still get them done at places like Rayko Photo Centre in the SF Bay Area).  I’m kind of amazed how well they made this lens look like it, especially the tones Rachael got in her photo.  Of course, nothing replaces the real thing.  Yet I feel like there is something really special about the Tintype Lens and Film by Hipstamatic that I haven’t see in any other filter before, as it really makes your eyes pop, which is divine for portraits or selfies.  I don’t tend to take many portraits with my iPhone but I’m likely to make any friends I see in the next week pose for a photo!

Playing with this app also reminded me of when I first started into the land of self-portraiture, but before I took the self-portait adventuring outside.  At first, the bathroom was the perfect place to give it a try to aim the camera at myself.  I also still love it as you can use the mirror to help see your screen if you’re like me and have an old school iPhone that doesn’t have a camera on both sides (or if you are using a point and shoot you can look in the mirror to see what the viewfinder is showing and help compose your selfie!

Here are a few more, all taken with some variation of the Tintype lens and different Hipstamatic film filters, oh and they also have a new multi-exposures option (and you know how much I love double exposures).  Hipstamtic, you are doing mighty good job of wooing me back to you!