Amango wins international photographic recognition using iPhone camera

The recent submission of our stunning panoramic shot (see above) of Bristol Cathedral and College Green to the Epson International Photographic Pano Award brought some surprising news – a Bronze winner for Amango. Great recognition.

The more surprising fact was that the image was taken using my iPhone camera, with some expert re-working using the iPhone imaging software app Hipstamatic at the same time. No expensive equipment, just a photographer’s eye and imagination in combination.

It’s always interesting when a photography competition comes around, as it always throws up lots of questions about what to submit - Do I shoot something to order or apply an image in my archive, What will the other photographers be shooting, and How creative can I stretch the boundaries?

The main question I ask myself is: What would the judges like to see, and does my style fit in with the brief?

Occasionally, I throw caution to the wind and apply myself as though I was an art student, disregarding all of the above. As a conscientious working professional, this rarely happens - but I wanted to do something different, and the Pano Award required a different approach.

The Epson International Photographic Pano Award is a photography competition run by Epson in conjunction with Lonely Planet. It attracts lots of photographers who shoot beautiful landscapes on panoramic cameras.

Seeing as my speciality is shooting people, I wanted to apply my own take. I usually have enough gear to sink a battleship, but the panoramic cameras and 360 VR numbers weren’t in my kit bag, so I decided to get inventive.

I have always loved the look of Polaroid’s and spent my final year dissertation on further and alternative uses of Polaroid film.

So this was my chance to develop my idea further - except I shot them on my iPhone.

Quite a cheeky move, but I wanted to challenge the judges and myself; this was a competition that said ANY camera, so I took it literally.

With any piece of equipment and a creative eye and imagination, a fantastic shot can be made from the most straightforward of tools.

Bearing in mind that there were 2,740 entries from 945 photographers in 79 countries, a Bronze award was an excellent achievement. And using my basic iPhone camera too. The Hipstamatic software helped to provide the final effect on a stunning shot.