Throughout Black History Month, Apple's "Shot on iPhone" campaign has been posting a series of photographs exploring the "hometowns" of Black photographers on its Instagram handle.

The brand commissioned 33 photographers to document their cities on iPhone 12s, to shine a light on their experience and neighborhoods. Now, it's delving further into the project in a documentary style spot.

Directed by Smuggler's Phillip Youmans, also filming on iPhone 12, the film includes a more in-depth look at four of the photographers and their hometowns: Lawrence Agyei (Chicago), Gabriella Angotti-Jones (Los Angeles), Lauren Woods (Charlotte) and Julien James (Washington, D.C.) 

The film includes interviews with each photographer speaking about the stories behind their work, their personal experiences of their hometowns and their inspirations as we see the kinds of scenes that inspired them; for example, Agyei, who wanted to capture the normality of Black life in Chicago after moving there from Italy, or Angotti-Jones, who hoped to show how Black women could be "anything they want to be" by photographing Black female surfers in California. Woods meanwhile wanted to celebrate being Black and queer in the South, while James's black-and-white, fine art inspired photography aims to capture Black culture in a "more poetic" way.

The Hometown campaign will continue throughout March with local out-of-home ads appearing across the U.S., including billboards in the local photographer’s hometowns, many in or near locations featured in the work itself. 

Youmans was the first African-American director to win the Founders Prize at Tribeca Film Festival, which he received for his 2019 directorial debut, Burning Cane, at the age of 19. 

 

 

 

 

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