What makes a good photo? This is something that we undeniably think about a lot here on the BuzzFeed News photo desk. I love the mobile phone photography contest put on by PHmuseum, which solicits entries from photographers of all levels. The results are always super fun, proving you don't need a fancy camera to take a good photo — just a sense of good light.
The moments captured in this contest are often beautiful takes on the everyday: The first-place winner this year, Prarthna Singh, photographed her mother in their garden during lockdown, while the second-place winner, Stephanie Noritz, created a dreamy scene of her family at home.
"It’s a simple, candid family moment, but the overall tone and ambience feel like a painting or a movie storyboard. What surprises me, Stephanie Noritz created it remotely using a mobile phone," said Cristian Rahadiansyah, the festival director of the Jakarta International Photo Festival and one of the judges for the contest this year. (Full disclosure: I was a judge of this contest last year, and we had an agreement with PHmuseum to highlight some images from this year's event.)
"In many ways, this simple moment captures the feeling of lockdown during the pandemic. It’s disorienting, and the sense of longing is palpable," Sara Urbaez, another judge, said about Singh's work. "I am truly in awe of how all the different elements work together to elevate mobile photography to a different dimension."
Below are some of our favorites from this year's entries.
