Hi friends,

Last week was the Fourth of July, and I spent it in Tahoe with family. It’s sort of nice to have a different type of trip to my normal travel, so much fun hanging with siblings and all my little nieces and nephews.

We got out for a nice long hike, watched the fireworks over Lake Tahoe from Commons Beach, and of course I got to take our family pictures (not my go-to style but it’s always a good challenge since it’s pretty different from my typical photography).

Next week things pick back up in a big way…

I'm heading to Colombia with Colombia Tourism for about a week, across Bogotá, the coffee region, and the Pacific coast. I'll have a lot to share when I'm back.

For now, let's keep it simple with a tip that fits the week I just had.

Over the holiday weekend I left the big camera in the bag almost the whole time and shot everything on my iPhone.

A few things that make phone photos noticeably better:

Lock your focus and exposure. On most phones you can tap where you want the camera to focus, then press and hold to lock it so it stops hunting. From there you can usually slide up or down to brighten or darken the shot. That one habit fixes most of the "why does this look nothing like what I saw" photos.

Protect the highlights. Phones love to overexpose a bright sky. If there's a lot of light in the scene, drag your exposure down a touch so the bright areas keep their detail. Same instinct you'd use on a real camera.

Get low, or get closer. The fastest way to make a phone photo look less like a snapshot is to stop shooting from standing height. Crouch, put the phone near the ground, move your feet. Perspective is free, and it's the thing most phone photos are missing compared to a “professional photo.”

Shoot in the good light. A phone in soft early or late light will often beat a professional camera in terms of looking good with no editing. Sometimes the gear matters less than when (and how) you point it.

The best camera really is the one you have with you, and stepping back from the serious setup is exactly what reminds you of that.

Sony is bringing back the RX10. After a "the wait is over" teaser, Sony is fully unveiling a new RX10 today, July 9, the first update to its 1-inch-sensor superzoom bridge camera since 2017. The line has long been a favorite one-camera travel kit for its fixed 24-600mm equivalent zoom, and little has replaced it since it went out of production.

A Canon EOS R8 Mark II is officially on the way. Registration filings confirm the new body, widely expected around September, with rumors it may lean into a more retro, film-inspired design aimed at newer photographers. Nothing is official on specs yet.

The Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year 2026 finalists were announced. One hundred images are shortlisted for the roughly AU$10,000 top prize, spanning wildlife, landscape, and conservation work. The finalist gallery is viewable online now.

Emilie Ristevski, who most people know as Hello Emilie, is an Australian travel photographer with one of the most distinctive looks in the space: soft, pastel, dreamlike frames that feel more like memories than documentation.

She's self-taught, started in a black-and-white darkroom in high school, and has since built a decade-long career shooting for brands like Adobe and Lonely Planet and publishing a photography book called Forever Wandering.

What stands out to me is how consistent her visual voice is. You could scroll past one of her images with no caption and know it's hers, which is the thing so many of us are actually chasing. She also talks openly about slowing down and traveling more consciously, which felt especially fitting after the week I just had.

I came home from Tahoe with a whole bunch of family photos to go through… and even more photos and videos on my iPhone. None of them portfolio pieces, but I love every one of them and they’re still the photos I'll want in ten years.

It's a good reminder that not every photo has to be for anything. Sometimes the point is just to remember being there.

This week's question: What's the best photo you've ever taken on your phone? Maybe it’s not the most technically impressive one, but the one you find yourself constantly looking back at.

See you next week,
Paige

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P.S. Curious how I edit my photos? These are the exact presets I use for almost every travel & landscape shoot (designed for both mobile and desktop).

P.P.S. Some of my most popular travel and landscape shots are available as prints through Big Wall Decor. If you've ever wanted one on your wall, check them out here.