From Macro to Mega: My Winning Journey in the #ShotOniPhone Challenge

In early 2022, my iPhone photo of a tiny snowflake nestled in my dog’s coat advanced from the small screen to a massive billboard in Manhattan, thanks to the #ShotOniPhone Macro Challenge. Shot on an unmodified iPhone 13 Pro and chosen as one of ten winners worldwide, the photo was recognized for capturing the minute marvels of life in intricate detail.

This honor reminds me that great photography is about learning to see and appreciate beauty at every scale.

The theme for that year’s challenge was macro photography—an encouraging bid to slow down and appreciate life’s tiny treasures as the world reeled from a global pandemic. The macro capability of the iPhone empowered me to encapsulate this idea effortlessly and intuitively, leading to a winning shot one snowy morning with my iPhone in one hand and my puppy’s leash in the other.

Coverage soon followed in People, Wired, Complex, Tom’s Guide, Elle, CNET, USA Today, i-D Vice, MacRumors, PetaPixel, 9to5Mac, Gizmodo, Popular Photography, Cult of Mac, and Macworld. I was interviewed by Input Magazine, The Washington Post, TechRadar, GadgetMatch, and even my alma mater, the University at Albany, SUNY.

The winning photograph — a perfect snowflake caught on a thread of goldendoodle hair in Riverside Park — was noted for its aesthetic and narrative strength. Apple CEO Tim Cook posted it as one of the competition’s most beautiful images. The image certainly conveys a mood, capturing the snowflake’s transient beauty and telling a larger story of movement and life. One of the judges, Kaiann Drance, VP of iPhone marketing at Apple, playfully asked whether the snowflakes were real or tiny jewels and applauded the detail captured through the iPhone’s built-in macro lens.

I had submitted just one image — and it was selected from thousands of entries to TBWA\Media Arts Lab, the agency behind the iconic Think Different campaign. The recognition alone would’ve been enough — but to see my work honored by a panel of photographers, editors, and technologists I deeply respect made it unforgettable.

To be featured by Apple across their Instagram, Apple Newsroom, retail stores, and global Shot on iPhone campaigns was both affirming and humbling. It still is.

Gratitude extends to everyone at Apple and the judges for this experience. I loved meeting my fellow finalists in NYC that year, and hope our collective success has encouraged photographers everywhere to slow down, look closer, and keep making work that feels true.

What began as a quiet moment on a snowy morning walk became a reminder of what attention can do — how noticing something small and fleeting can open into something much larger.