UPDATE 22 January 2019

Share your best photos shot on iPhone

Image of Petra.
Shot on iPhone 7 by Erdem Summak.
Apple is kicking off 2019 by celebrating the most stunning photographs captured on iPhone, the world’s most popular camera, by inviting iPhone users to submit their best shots.
From January 22 to February 7, Apple is looking for outstanding photographs for a Shot on iPhone Challenge. A panel of judges will review worldwide submissions and select 10 winning photos, to be announced in February. The winning photos will be featured on billboards in select cities, Apple retail stores and online.
Image of sun shining through trees in a forest.
Shot on iPhone 6s by Mariko Klug.
iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR bring innovations to photography, from sophisticated portraits with an adjustable depth of field, to Smart HDR which leverages multiple technologies — like faster sensors, an enhanced ISP and advanced algorithms — to bring more highlight and shadow detail to photos.
Underwater image.
Shot on iPhone 6 by Mandy Blake.

Meet the Judges

Pete Souza (US)
Pete was the chief official White House photographer for President Obama. His book, “Obama: An Intimate Portrait,” debuted as the #1 New York Times bestseller and is one of the best-selling photography books of all time.
Austin Mann (US)
Austin is an iPhone photographer, filmmaker and creative who’s traveled around the world and has worked with numerous non-profit organizations to help better cast their vision worldwide. Austin has published iPhone photography reviews in outlets including National Geographic and CNN over the years.
Annet de Graaf (Netherlands)
Graaf is a travel photographer who uses iPhone exclusively for her craft. She’s the author of two iPhone photography books: “Morning Amsterdam” and the upcoming “GO d’Azur,” the latter of which was shot entirely on iPhone 8 Plus. She’s taken portraits of Syrian ballet dancer Ahmad Joudeh as well as the late mayor of Amsterdam, Eberhard van der Laan.
Luísa Dörr (Brazil)
Luísa is a photographer based in Brazil who rose to fame after she photographed TIME’s Firsts issue exclusively on iPhone. TIME won Documentary Project of the Year for the story in the prestigious Pictures of the Year International.
Chen Man (China)
Chen is a Chinese contemporary visual artist and entrepreneur who created a unique visual language that revolutionized fashion photography in China. Her work has been permanently collected at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. She also co-founded an Internet company called Vnision that developed photography-based social apps including Bigshot.
Phil Schiller
Phil has helped Apple reinvent mobile phones with iPhone. A keen photographer, Phil helps with efforts in developing breakthrough camera technology as senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing.
Kaiann Drance
Kaiann works with talented teams at Apple to deliver products that put great photographic tools in the hands of many, including the first iPod touch with a camera and multiple generations of iPhone, in her role as senior director in Worldwide Product Marketing.
Brooks Kraft
Brooks is a professional photographer and worked in editorial and commercial photography prior to joining Apple. He was a contributing photographer at TIME magazine, where he covered the White House during the Bush and Obama administrations, as well as seven presidential campaigns.
Sebastien Marineau-Mes
Sebastien brings over 20 years of software development knowledge to iPhone in his role as vice president of Software at Apple. His focus on advanced photography features includes innovations like Smart HDR and Portrait mode with Depth Control.
Jon McCormack
Jon is an accomplished photographer who currently leads Apple’s camera software team. Jon’s images have been published by international organizations including TIME, The New York Times, UNESCO, The Nature Conservancy, Africa Geographic and others.
Arem Duplessis
Arem works closely with some of the most accomplished photographers in the world in his role as the director of photography in Apple’s marketing team. He previously served as design director of The New York Times Magazine for nearly a decade.

Submitting Your Best Shot

Post your best photo taken on iPhone to Instagram or Twitter with the #ShotOniPhone hashtag to participate in the the Shot on iPhone Challenge. Weibo users can participate as well using #ShotOniPhone#. In the image caption, note which model was used. Alternatively, you can also submit the photo in its highest resolution to shotoniphone@apple.com with the file format ‘firstname_lastname_iphonemodel.’ Photos can be straight from the camera, edited through Apple’s editing tools in the Photos app or with third-party software. Submissions for photos begins at 12:01 a.m. PST on January 22 and ends at 11:59 p.m. PST on February 7. You must be 18 years of age or older to participate, and this challenge is not open to Apple employees or their immediate families.
Ten winning photos will be featured on Apple Newsroom, Apple’s Instagram channels, apple.com, in Apple retail stores, Apple WeChat, Apple Twitter accounts, Apple Weibo accounts and billboards around the world. Winners will be notified on or about February 26, 2019.
If you’re submitting your photo on social media, you must make your photos public. Ineligible submissions include photos that violate or infringe upon another person’s rights, including but not limited to copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity or any other intellectual property rights or civil rights; contain sexually explicit, nude, obscene, violent or other objectionable or inappropriate content; or in any way disparage Apple or any other person or party.
You retain your rights to your photograph; however, by submitting your photo, you grant Apple a royalty-free, world-wide, irrevocable, non-exclusive license for one year to use, modify, publish, display, distribute, create derivative works from and reproduce the photo on Apple Newsroom, apple.com, Apple Twitter accounts, Apple Instagram (@Apple), in Apple retail stores, Apple Weibo, Apple WeChat, on billboards and any Apple internal exhibitions. Any photograph reproduced will include a photographer credit. If your photo is selected to be featured on a billboard, you further agree to grant Apple exclusive commercial use of the photo for the life of the license. Apple believes strongly that artists should be compensated for their work. Photographers who shoot the final 10 winning photos will receive a licensing fee for use of such photos on billboards and other Apple marketing channels.
  • Official rules apply; see attached rules for more details.

Images of Shot on iPhone Challenge

Press Contact

Apple Media Helpline

media.ae@apple.com