February 18, 2011 – 7:02 AM – Crane Resort, Barbados
Here it is.
The very first intentional photo I ever took with an iPhone camera.
Not by accident.
Not to test a feature.
Not to text or tweet or share.
But with the deliberate impulse to make something beautiful.
iPhone 4 Specs
The image quality?
Soft in places.
Some blown-out highlights.
Color balance could use a tweak.
But that’s not the point.
This photo—this exact frame—was the spark.
The moment I fell in.
Hard.
And never looked back.
✨ A Simple Beginning
There was nothing extraordinary about that morning. I had just arrived in Barbados to scout a location for a commercial project. The sky was soft with early light. The ocean restless but rhythmic. I stepped out to the edge of the limestone cliff, pulled the phone from my pocket, and composed.
Click.
- JPG
- ISO 80
- 3.85 mm lens (~33mm equivalent)
- f/2.8
- 1/1005s shutter
- JPG
- ISO 80
- 3.85 mm lens (~33mm equivalent)
- f/2.8
- 1/1005s shutter
It wasn’t just a snapshot.
It was a start line.
That photo marked the beginning of what would become a 14-year creative obsession—
An entire second act of my photography life.
One million iPhone photos.
Ten different iPhones.
Fifty countries.
But I didn’t know any of that at the time.
🙏 A Moment of Gratitude
I’m not sharing this to flex.
I’m sharing it to remember.
To remind myself that all journeys—no matter how vast or enduring—begin quietly.
Humbly.
With one small act of intention.
I didn’t know then that I would go on to become a public advocate for iPhone photography. That I’d write books about it, teach courses, speak on stages, get featured by Apple, and spend more time looking through a phone than through any DSLR viewfinder.
I didn’t know the iPhone would become my camera of choice. My creative partner.
My livelihood. My legacy.
I only knew that the ocean looked stunning, the cliff dramatic, the light pure.
And that, for the first time, I didn’t need a camera bag or a tripod to capture it.
Just a phone.
And a desire to see.
📱 The Timing Matters
Why does this moment matter?
Because February 18, 2011 was early.
- Pre-Instagram explosion
- Pre-Snapchat. Pre-TikTok.
- The App Store was still more novelty than necessity.
- VSCO didn’t exist. Snapseed was primitive. Halide, ProCamera, Darkroom? Nowhere in sight.
Mobile photography wasn’t a genre yet.
It was a joke in some circles.
Professional photographers scoffed.
Photo editors dismissed it.
Gearheads rolled their eyes.
But something inside me—maybe curiosity, maybe instinct—knew there was something real here.
Something worth chasing.
🎯 Intentionality Over Image Quality
I look at this photo now, not for its technical perfection (it has none), but for its intention.
Because intention is what makes a photo matter.
Not megapixels.
Not dynamic range.
Not what lens you used or what software you processed it in.
But that you meant it.
You saw something.
You felt something.
You lifted the camera with purpose.
That’s the moment you stop documenting and start photographing.
That’s the moment I had—right here.
🧭 Why This Was Pioneering
A lot of mobile photographers today got started with the iPhone 6 or later. That’s when the camera quality finally reached “good enough” for serious work. That’s when RAW became a thing. When Portrait Mode came in. When Night Mode and multiple lenses and computational wizardry all took center stage.
But I started with a 5MP fixed-lens phone that had barely any manual controls.
And I shot with it on purpose.
That’s rare.
Because back then, almost no one else was.
We hadn’t yet shifted from DSLRs and mirrorless systems.
We hadn’t yet embraced the idea that your best camera might actually be in your pocket.
We hadn’t yet felt the freedom that came with lightweight seeing.
So I say this not to claim superiority—only to honor the truth:
I was there when iPhone photography was still a question mark.
I made it an exclamation point in my life.
🌍 What Followed
Since that single frame at Crane Resort, my journey has exploded:
- Over 1,000,000 iPhone photos taken
- 10 different iPhone models used (from 4 to 16 Pro Max)
- Work shot in over 50 countries, from Bali to Boston, Havana to Helsinki
- Featured in global Apple campaigns (#ShotoniPhone)
- Books, blog posts, courses, workshops, talks
- But mostly… joy. Pure photographic joy.
This one frame?
It was the beginning of all of it.
💡 Why I’m Still Grateful
Grateful that I listened to that creative nudge.
Grateful that I didn’t wait for the gear to be perfect.
Grateful that I took the shot—even with a camera that most would have called a toy.
Grateful that the world—this world—has so much to give, if we’re willing to look.
Willing to see.
Willing to shoot with intention, regardless of tools.
🧠 What This Taught Me
This photo taught me:
That your gear doesn’t matter as much as your gaze.
That you don’t need a $5,000 camera to create something emotional.
That’s the best way to grow is to start before you’re ready.
That sometimes a photo doesn’t need to be perfect—it just needs to be yours.
That consistency over years will teach you more than comparison ever will.
🪵 Final Thought
I revisit this photo often. Not because it’s my best.
But because it was my first, in a new way.
The first photo where I gave the iPhone my attention.
My respect.
My trust.
If I had ignored that impulse—if I had waited until the tech “caught up”—I would’ve missed one of the great creative chapters of my life.
So this is me saying thank you.
To that moment. That morning. That cliff. That camera.
And to whatever part of me chose to shoot—not with gear, but with gratitude.
“You weren’t just early.
You were present.”
That’s the real beginning.
And I’ll always be thankful for it.
