Year: 2026
Field: Photography
Status: Ongoing
Project: 3 of 4

Thirty frames

Street, travel and mountain photographs from 2025 and 2026, every one taken on an iPhone 16. On ViewBug they have earned twenty awards, and one made the Top 10 of the Image of the Month contest.

Donald Phan
Photographer

All 30 frames · iPhone 16

Reel 1 of 4 · 7 frames

After dark

A canal in Osaka at night: a long string of yellow lanterns along one bank, neon signs above, their light doubled in the black water. — by the riverOsakaPeer awards: Absolute Masterpiece, Top Choice

A narrow alley between dark concrete walls, lit at the far end by the red glow of a shop front. — no vending machine

Lying on a mirrored floor in a dark room where blue light falls like rain: visitors stand in silhouette, and the photographer’s own sneakers, striped with light, fill the foreground. — UntitledA peer award

Hundreds of amber glass spheres hanging in the dark, a few close and glowing, the rest receding into points of light. — UntitledTokyo

Black and white: a neon sign reading Bia Saigon Chill, with a coiled dragon, on the front of an old building at night. — Untitled

Black and white, upright: Laufey on a dark stage, playing the cello and singing into a microphone. — a matter of timeLaufey, A Matter of Time tour

A figure seen from behind, stooping through a service tunnel packed with red and pale pipes and loose bundles of cable. — UntitledPeer award: Superb Composition

Reel 2 of 4 · 10 frames

In daylight

A quiet street on a bright day: a black taxi and a white van pass a red temple gate under a tiled roof. — UntitledPeer award: Absolute Masterpiece

Looking up at a cream stone building with arched windows, set against golden glass towers and a bright, cloudy sky. — a corner on stephen ave

A dense city seen from high above at dusk, streets threading between rooftops, signs and lit windows. — UntitledPeer award: Superb Composition

An office tower with a green living wall, a tree in front and a bus passing below a blue sky. — UntitledPeer award: Superb Composition

An apartment courtyard of yellow, white and red walls and green stairs, seen across a tangle of overhead wires and through panes of glass that glow turquoise below. — Untitled

Looking down into a white library atrium, tier upon tier of bookshelves linked by staircases, a few teal sofas far below. — UntitledPeer award: Superb Composition

A glass wall painted with pink cherry blossoms, bees and a butterfly, looking through to a passage of red brick. — UntitledPeer award: Superb Composition

A small shop with every wall covered in posters and stickers, caps hanging from a stair rail and a round mirror reflecting the room. — Untitled

A carved dragon in silhouette, and through its curves an apartment tower lit orange by the evening sun. — Untitled

A stone pagoda beside a pine pruned into cloud-like tiers, under a pale blue sky. — Untitled

Reel 3 of 4 · 8 frames

Out of town

Black and white: two hikers with packs climb a slope of loose stones toward jagged peaks. — Untitled

A hiker with a green backpack photographs a wide, rocky valley ringed by cliffs, while another walks on ahead. — UntitledA peer award

A stone and timber pavilion in a flower garden, tall pines around it and a mountain behind. — UntitledPeer award: Superb Composition

A sticker-covered signpost in the foreground; behind it a turquoise river, a small stone bridge and a crowd of visitors. — Untitled

A green train crossing a long steel bridge over a river in low evening sun, clouds drifting overhead. — Untitled

Close to the ground: a frog among wet bark and leaf litter, a blade of bright green grass arching over it. — UntitledPeer awards: Superb Composition, Top Choice

Dark clouds edged in orange by the setting sun, scattered across a deep blue evening sky. — UntitledPeer awards: Superb Composition and one more

A strip of blue sky and white clouds between a scalloped awning and the edge of a roof, crossed by power lines. — Untitled

Reel 4 of 4 · 5 frames

Small things

A corner layered with peeling stickers of every colour, logos, faces and slogans on top of one another. — there’s always stickers somewhere

A black wall covered in handwritten messages from fans, around raised letters reading We ♥ Spider-Man. — we love spidermanTokyo

A painted manhole cover set in granite paving, showing a castle framed by pink cherry blossoms and waves. — UntitledA peer award

Three red octopus-shaped sausages balanced on a tiny yellow see-saw, on a plywood plinth against a teal wall. — sausage squid on a see-saw

Seen from above: a white cat with grey patches curled on a folded towel on a black chair, looking up. — Untitled

Closing credits

Thirty frames

photographed by

Donald Phan

Camera: iPhone 16
Frames: 30, in 4 reels
Awards on ViewBug: 20
from ViewBug: 1, the Spotted Award
from other photographers: 16 peer awards
contest ranks: 3
Contests entered: 13
Best placing: Top 10, Image of the Month, Vol. 132

Now showing

After the credits

Coming soon, hopefully: a Sony α7.

Behind the frames

Every photograph here was taken on an iPhone 16, and every one is on my ViewBug profile; most first appeared on Instagram, in posts by trip. They play in four reels: after dark, in daylight, out of town, and small things.

The titles are the ones I posted them with. Most photos have none, so each frame is headed like a scene in a screenplay: inside or outside, the setting, the light. A place is named only where the photo’s own page says where it was taken.

The awards are as ViewBug lists them, in September 2026: one ViewBug award (Spotted), sixteen peer awards from other photographers, and three contest ranks, among them a Top 10 in Image of the Month, Vol. 132, for “by the river”. I have entered thirteen contests so far.

Elsewhere

Instagram, @photodobald: the photos in series, by trip
ViewBug, dobald: every frame here, with its awards