Can smartphones capture quality images?
Yes.
Can smartphones produce images that are print worthy?
Of course!
Can smartphone cameras tell a story through their tiny lenses and sensors?
Absolutely, and that is all that matters.
It doesn’t matter what anyone shoots with, a phone or full frame dslr, as long as an interesting story is told through the images. It is time to stop gear shaming once and for all.
I have shot with my professional Nikon gear at events or sports games and found that the top shot of the event would sometimes came from a spectators phone that captures the moment or event better in almost every way, and I would wager this happens to most photographers at least once. Story and timing make an image, and yes image quality and bokeh and megapixels and low light capability are important and cool features, but nothing beats good storytelling with timely shots. Shots that tell stories and are on time are usually a photographers best work, in any genre of photography those are the two most integral elements to creating a good photograph.
MK shooting on iPhone in Sedona, Arizona.
It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that Adams never waited for a shot, and the great ones usually don’t because they realize there is a great deal of luck and persistence in this business.
Why won’t Clark Little wait on the beach for the one perfect set of waves for days and days before jumping in to capture it? Because he is in the water for every set of waves that comes in, by both probability and persistence with a sprinkle of luck, a few of them will end of being gems he can sell and dazzle us all with on Instagram. I don’t wait for shots I just make the ones that are in front of me, and if I think I can do it better or have better conditions, I won’t sit there all day, I will mark it and plan to come back another day. Pre production planning or just having an idea fleshed out further than it’s original form can absolutely fail, and money and time being finite resources, waiting around does not always make sense. People who only shoot with their phones are the epitome of people who do not wait for the perfect photograph. Their device is always one second away from taking a hallway decent picture, they do not carry around an extra battery for their grip or have to think about backup lenses and memory cards, they just shoot away.
My photographer friends that look down on that approach need to get over it because some of our best work came from being in the right place at the right time, which took persistence and planning, but were still pretty lucky to come away with a top shot.