In the first of what is likely to be multiple initiatives for Black History Month, Apple has posted an exceptional feature highlighting Black photographers across the U.S. The title, “Hometown,” points to the simple premise: Photographers telling the story of their hometown. All shot, of course, on the iPhone 12 Pro.
The piece highlights Julien James from Washington, D.C., Lawrence Agyei from Chicago, Gabriella Angotti-Jones from Los Angeles, Brian Day from Detroit, and Lelanie Foster from New York City. Each personal story is accompanied by a few choice photos that highlight the photographer’s view of their city. The range of photographs is impressive, both in the way they contribute to the story and also their fundamental quality.
Together with the photographs, the one-to-three paragraph excerpts describing hometowns — and specifically, the photographer’s neighborhood within the city — are excellent. They’re all worth checking out.
The value of this piece isn’t limited to what made it into the website feature. Apple involved over 30 photographers for this series, and is highlighting even more throughout February on its Instagram as well. I definitely recommend browsing the photos there.