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Smart shot

Professional photographers reveal the best images taken on their phone

  • A young boy wearing blue tracksuit bottoms and and a blue and white top kicks a football while another, younger, boy wearing black tracksuit bottoms and a green and red top walks a few paces behind him, in front of a large building, the top half of which is painted light-brown and the bottom half yellow

    ‘A soccer ball can bring great joy to two little kids’: Kuanglong Zhang’s best phone picture

    The carefree scene in the ancient Chinese city of Kashgar prompted the photographer to reflect of his own sources of happiness
  • Tilted photograph of a man's feet and ankles, in red socks and black loafers, on a red-topped bar stool

    ‘If you know Barcelona, you’ll know this place’: Olivier Lei’s best phone picture

    The French photographer’s brand-new loafers take centre stage in this colourful rotated image of a well-known bar
  • A black and white photograph of a very large dog looking out of a window, with his reflection shown in a mirror

    ‘It’s as if Arya, my great dane, is contemplating time and memory’: Johan Van Aarde’s best phone picture

    The South African photographer says this image of his ‘soulmate’ evokes feelings of sadness and longing in him
  • Two fishers with oars at their feet steering two thin wooden boats on a lake, one with a female flower seller on and the other with three monks in red robes

    ‘The skill of the fishers with their foot-controlled oars was miraculous’: Alahattin Kanlioğlu’s best phone picture

    The Turkish photographer was enchanted by this scene of a flower seller and monks on a lake in Myanmar
  • A red and white taxi parked in front of a massive building full of residential flats

    ‘I waited half an hour for one of Hong Kong’s iconic red taxis to pass by’: William Shum’s best phone picture

    The contrast between the dense, layered building and the clean lines of the cab make for a winning image
  • The silhouette of a young woman striding down a paved street swinging her right are carrying a bag in front of her and her left arm behind her

    ‘Was she going to an appointment, maybe even a romantic one?’: ASA’s best phone picture

    The Corsican photographer’s patience paid off when they captured this stunning silhouette of a young woman
  • Black and white composite of skylights inside the Iran shopping mall in Tehran

    ‘It’s a huge, futuristic space with massive skylights’: Ali Zolghadri’s best phone picture

    The clean geometry of the Iran Mall in Tehran, and the way light moves through it, caught the fine art photographer’s eye
  • A rock hanging down against a cloudy sky above the sea, with a hole in one side of it

    ‘I want people to see nature as a wondrous work of art’: Jon McCormack’s best phone picture

    The Australian photographer climbed inside a hollowed-out rock overlooking the ocean to get this striking, disorienting image
  • Black and white photo of a double crested saguaro cactus in Arizona, US

    ‘This cactus looks as if it’s preaching’: Joseph Cyr’s best phone picture

    The language teacher was running in the desert in Arizona when he saw this enormous, oddly human-looking plant
  • Two children playing with a basketball on a sun-lit tiled floor

    ‘The shadows, the figures playing basketball … I waited for the magic to appear – then it did’: José Luis Morales Martín’s best phone picture

    The architect on a special moment he captured one hot afternoon in Spain
  • Two children lying in mud, a pair of flip-flops between them, one topless and grinning broadly, the other with her hand up to her face

    ‘The happiness on their faces pulled me back to my own childhood’: Mark Linel Padecio’s best phone picture

    The Filipino photographer was delighted to see his usually serious daughter getting muddy with her young cousin
  • Black and white image of two Filipino spear fishers on a boat out at sea, one at the back paddling, the other leaping forward and out of the boat with a spear in his hand

    ‘I was relieved I got the shot without my phone ending up in the sea!’: Easelyn Pineda’s best phone picture

    As the weather turned, the photographer caught two traditional Filipino spearfishers in motion
  • A bright-blue classic car parked on a road with a slight incline, against a cobbled pavement in front of a bright-green and a bright-pink house, with a bright -blue sky showing above

    ‘As soon as I saw it, I knew the image’: Robby Ogilvie’s best phone picture

    A Ford Cortina the colour of the sky against brightly coloured houses in Cape Town was a gift to the Scottish photographer
  • Person walking their dog in a snowstorm on a street in New York

    ‘People were carrying their dogs across the ice’: Adela Ramirez’s best phone picture

    Seeing people walking their pets in a snowstorm melted the heart of this New York-based photographer
  • Black and white and blue image of a bicycle shop window, with lots of bikes hanging in it

    ‘I’d hoped to capture the graphic chaos in the window. What I found was an even more tangled scene’: Michael Krupka’s best phone picture

    He may not be a cyclist, but the photographer was drawn by this bike shop’s jumble of frames and parts
  • A big moon photographed in a deep blue sky, looking as if it's touching a building

    ‘It brings the moon down to Earth’: Mimi Mollica’s best phone picture

    A sleepless night led the Sicilian photographer to capture this remarkable lunar image from his London balcony
  • Pink teddy bear with red paws leaning against a wall on a street

    ‘The bear feels comfortable and uncomfortable. It’s a bittersweet moment’: Iñigo Jerez Quintana’s best phone picture

    Capturing things that mix the strange with the beautiful helped the Spanish graphic designer recover from a blue period
  • A broom leaning at an angle against a wall, its stick aligning with the shadow on a yellow wall above, with red tiles below

    ‘The photo we want to take is closer than we think’: Dominic Dähncke’s best phone picture

    Cooped up during Covid, the Spanish photographer found inspiration in a broom … and a nail in the wall
  • Swimming team members wearing swimming shorts sitting and standing on diving boards placed at different heights, against the Barcelona cityscape

    ‘I was really surprised by the swimmers’ powerful energy’: Jorge Perez Ortiz’s best phone picture

    After undergoing emergency surgery following an accident, the photographer discovered a newfound appreciation for the human body
  • Different coloured strips of cloth hanging above a blue lake, with two figures visible, one walking in the water, the other standing by the cloth

    ‘Displaying the cloth like this showed its true beauty’: Aung Chan Thar’s best phone picture

    A beautiful lake, gorgeous fabric: how could the Myanmar photographer resist?
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