- The winners of the iPhone Photography Awards 2026 announced, with the main prize going to Robyn Jensen
- Their winning photo of a volcanic eruption was taken on an iPhone 15 Pro
- 12 other category winners announced along with the various iPhones used
The iPhone Photography Awards has announced its award winners for 2026 – and the photo that took the Grand Prix really stopped me in my tracks.
Taken by Robyn Jensen from the Cayman Islands and submitted in the ‘Nature’ category, the winning image is a stunning low-light shot of a volcanic eruption in Yepocapa, Chimaltenango, Guatemala. The image shows the moment a plume of ash erupts from the volcano’s crater, with red-hot trails cascading down around it, framing the moment of drama perfectly against a starry night sky.
What’s more, this photo wasn’t even taken on the latest iPhone, but was taken on a two-generation-old phone – the iPhone 15 Pro. I love how effectively it uses the phone’s inherent qualities to its advantage; for example, the smaller sensor on the iPhone 15 Pro or any smartphone will have a more limited dynamic range than a mirrorless or premium compact camera.
Robyn has taken advantage of that by exposing the brightest spot in the image – the lava and the light it casts on the underside of the ash cloud – and leaving the rest shrouded in darkness. This increases the impact of the image and sacrifices detail in the mountain for the legibility of the key motif. But luckily we get just the beautiful stars in the background.
Robyn has also used the wider 24mm equivalent lens, resisting the temptation to zoom in at telephoto, and by doing this we can appreciate the moment in its fuller context, giving a sense of scale. Her exposure is a full second long, which means the phone was either mounted on a kickstand or she was aided by the iPhone 15 Pro’s excellent OIS (optical image stabilization). And the phone pushed her ISO to 12,500, and still came away with a pretty clean shot. It’s a great picture and a deserving winner.
Right place, right time
Something I particularly love about the iPhone Awards is the sheer breadth of style and subject matter, and this couldn’t be better illustrated than by the contrast between Robyn’s photo and the Gold Award winner, a photo submitted in the ‘Children’ category by Hungarian photographer Gellért Gombai. A beautiful capture of a precious summer moment, its interplay of light and shadow is enhanced by the decision to convert to monochrome – and it was shot on an even older phone, the iPhone X released in 2017!
And this sense of breadth continues when you look at the silver and bronze winners (below) – even though they’re both by American photographers and both are pictures of animals! Arnold Plotnick’s street scene of a cat, Silver Winner, has a sense of total serendipity, a perfectly framed moment well spotted. Also note how the lower dynamic range from the iPhone actually helps the image, with the loss of detail in the cat’s fur and the shadow in the doorway increasing the image’s contrast and impact.
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Catherine Wang’s bronze medal, meanwhile, couldn’t be more different. It is a meticulously staged still life, where the elements of watermelon, mug and parrot are clearly arranged very precisely, and the end result looks like something from a gallery wall.
For me, almost all of the winning images are one of the iPhone’s strongest assets for photographers – it’s the camera you always have with you. Although there are exceptions, such as Catherine Wang’s still life, most of the images have the unmistakable sense of poise, of a photographer who was in the right place at the right time and had the means to make the most of it.
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Images like the pattern of frost on a car, a couple of dogs looking out a window, a child preparing to jump over a puddle. These are not things you set up; these are moments you spot, and many of them are moments that someone might have seen.
I am especially shocked that the gold award was won by a shot of a cat in the street. Do you have any idea how photos of cats on the street I have on my camera roll? Loads! And do you have any idea how many of them are as good as Arnold Plotnick’s? No!
But despite my personal bitterness, the iPhone Photography Awards produced a fantastic crop of images this year, and in doing so provided some pertinent reminders of two of photography’s most important lessons. First, you don’t need the latest technology to make great photos. Second, the best camera is always – always – the one you’re wearing.
You can see the full selection of photos, including second and third place winners, on the iPhone Photography Awards website.
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