iPhone 18 Pro stars in new Shot on iPhone exhibit

Apple is putting the iPhone 18 Pro into the hands of three acclaimed photographers to see what its redesigned camera system is capable of.

Announced at September’s “Surprise and Shine” event, Apple’s iPhone 18 Pro brings several changes to the iPhone camera system. These include a variable aperture and improved low-light photography.

As with previous iPhone generations, Apple has handed the device to professional photographers to demonstrate what its cameras can produce.

Apple’s latest Shot on iPhone project is “What Holds Us,” a photography exhibition featuring work shot entirely on iPhone 18 Pro. The exhibition includes work from photographers Alex Prager, Jack Davison, and Jimmy Chin.

Kathy Ryan, former New York Times Magazine photography director, curated the exhibition. It centers around the theme of human connection.

“What Holds Us” opens in New York City on September 18 and runs through September 20. Apple says the exhibition will later travel to London and Shanghai.

Jimmy Chin

Jimmy Chin is a climber, adventure photographer, and Academy Award-winning filmmaker known for documenting people in extreme environments. For the exhibition, Chin photographed climbers in British Columbia’s Bugaboo Mountains.

“I’ve always been interested in human passion and meaning, and where that intersects with the raw beauty of wild landscapes,” explains Chin. “When you spend a lot of time in these places, you start to look at things differently. You start to see the details.”

Image credit: Jimmy Chin via Apple

He used the iPhone 18 Pro for close-ups, action shots, and large panoramas while working in the mountains.

Utilizing an iPhone, effectively a point-and-shoot camera, allowed Chin to carry less while working in difficult conditions. This was a huge boon for both practicality and safety, as during Chin’s time on the mountain, winds reached up to 70 miles per hour.

Jack Davison

Jack Davison is a portrait photographer and director known for high-contrast images using strong blacks and whites. His work for “What Holds Us” focuses on people interacting with clay and chalk.

Image credit: Jack Davison via Apple

“I genuinely was blown away by the camera on iPhone 18 Pro,” Davison notes. “There was something about the quality of the imagery that felt like a huge leap. Not just from a technical standpoint, but in its ability to create more artistic and surreal images.”

The resulting images are visceral, with subjects covered in clay as they themselves become human sculptures. Ryan was particularly impressed with the contrasts, highlights, and shadows Davison achieved without a darkroom.

Alex Prager

Alex Prager is known for staged, cinematic photographs that often feature large groups of people and heavily constructed scenes. Her work for the exhibition combined overhead crowd scenes with tighter portraits of individual subjects.

Prager used the iPhone 18 Pro’s camera system to move between those perspectives while shooting on a Los Angeles soundstage.

Image credit: Alex Prager via Apple

“Photography has changed a lot, and this particular camera is more like a video stream, in essence, which also shapes how we approach images today — more like video with higher output in our photo albums and on social media,” Prager explains.

“It was exciting for me to think about all of this while harking back to a timeless crowd winding down from a celebration.”

Ryan believes that Prager’s method of working showed what the iPhone 18 Pro was capable of.

“She was able to take advantage of iPhone’s ease of use and adaptability while also maintaining the high production values seen on a major film set,” Ryan said.