This Photography Exhibit Was Shot Entirely On The iPhone 18 Pro

For most casual iPhone users, “.5 mode” is a way to take goofy bug-eyed pictures of friends. But for Academy Award-winning director, photographer, and mountaineer Jimmy Chin, the extended focal length of the Ultra Wide lens (yes, that’s what it’s really called) allows him to capture daunting images of his climbing partner, revealing the true magnitude of the near-vertical mountain walls they scale.

Chin’s photographs of Bugaboo Provincial Park in Canada are part of Apple’s “What Holds Us” exhibit, which debuts in New York City from Sept. 18 - 20. Over the coming months, it will also travel to London and Shanghai. Curated by Kathy Ryan, the longtime director of photography at The New York Times Magazine, it highlights the work of three accomplished photographers who were given early access to the iPhone 18 Pro to create work using its camera.

A New Way To See The World

In curating the “What Holds Us” exhibit, Ryan picked artists with such contrasting styles, displaying just how many ways the iPhone 18 Pro camera could be utilized. All three artists worked in collaboration with Apple’s team of aesthetics scientists to achieve the desired effects throughout their single-day shoots.

In Chin’s photography, the wide lens and panoramic shots were used to convey the true vastness of the mountain range.

From Jack Davison came quiet, monochromatic portraits of models of diverse ages, races, and genders. His shots showed how adeptly the camera could capture the different textures created by painting the subjects’ skin and hair.

Meanwhile, Alex Prager brought her signature storytelling ability, bright colors, and uncanny quality to the exhibit with a collection detailing the aftermath of a party. While planning her images, Prager worked with Apple in order to ensure the camera could execute her vision, capturing clear shots of confetti floating through the air while the people in the background remained in focus.

As Apple’s chief aesthetics scientist Pamela Chen put it at the gallery, the depth Prager pulled off in her collection would be “boss level” for any camera to achieve, and the iPhone 18’s technology rose to meet the moment.

What Makes The New iPhone Different?

Apple hails the new iPhone 18 Pro as the best iPhone the company has ever made, with major improvements to its battery life, performance, and intelligence — not to mention the new 48MP Fusion Main camera, the most advanced camera Apple has ever created. For the first time ever, the camera has variable aperture, where the iris of the lens physically closes.

While that feature is unique to the 18, new manual controls will be released across Apple’s product catalog, including the ability to adjust lens aperture, shutter speed, and white balance, or use a histogram to check exposure levels throughout a scene. These optional settings offer users a unique degree of control, and allowed the pros featured in the gallery to carry all the equipment they needed in the palm of their hand.

The exhibit, located at 456 W. 18th Street in New York, is open on Friday, Sept. 18 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sept. 19 and 20.