Step aside, heavy bulky DSLRs, you’ve got some serious competition — the quality of photos taken on a smartphone has dramatically risen over the years and it’s getting harder to differentiate a smartphone shot from a pro camera shot.
In this year’s iPhone Photography Awards, Singaporean photographer Yeo Yeow-Kwang snagged second place as photographer of the year for his captivating image titled “The Performer” — which, by the way, was taken with an iPhone 6 Plus.
In an interview with CNET, he said he was eager to dispel the general misconception about the quality of smartphone photos. Yeo said he stumbled upon the shot while having dinner and saw a local Chinese opera troupe and decided to go backstage where he chanced upon the performer waiting to go on stage. Attracted to the setting and his facial expression, Yeo says he did not interact with the subject in any way, and snapped a few shots of the poignant scene.
Yeo, who is a freelance photographer, has won many international awards since he started pursuing photography in his school days in the ’70s — from Best Single Image of The Travel Photographer Of The Year Award 2011 to the prestigious Sony World Photographic Awards 2013. His photos have been published by renowned journals, exhibited at international exhibitions and widely used commercially by companies and organizations. What a fine career he has had.
Yeo is not the first Singaporean work to be recognized for his work using an iPhone. On this year’s #shotoniPhone7 campaign, Singaporean photographer Mathieu Beth Tan had his photo chosen to be part of the highly successful campaign, which is currently plastered on billboards and ad spaces all around the world.
You can check out Yeo’s photos on his Facebook page and Mathieu’s photos on Instagram.
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