Bullfrog Between Worlds, shot on Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. Photograph: Steven Scott Grogin/ mobilephotoawards.com View image in fullscreen Bullfrog Between Worlds, shot on Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. Photograph: Steven Scott Grogin/ mobilephotoawards.com Smart shot Photography ‘From this perspective, the bullfrog feels powerful and mythical’: Steven Scott Grogin’s best phone picture The photographer was on an early-morning hike by a lake in Michigan when he spotted the unusually large amphibian, so he dipped his lens below the waterline to get the shot
Prefer the Guardian on Google S teven Scott Grogin describes his mornings in Michigan as a ritual. He wakes up at 6am on the dot to get ready for a hike. His favourite lake, once a quarry pit, is a 30-minute walk away, so he tends to arrive by around 7am. “It’s serene and private, and I feel very peaceful there,” Grogin says. “The terrain changes from flat areas to very hilly sections, and there is a lot of biodiversity.”
Read more As he circled the lake’s perimeter, he saw this American bullfrog in the water. “It was the largest one I’ve ever seen, around six to eight inches long and very hefty,” he says. “Bullfrogs are predators, but they’re also very skittish, so getting close is difficult.”
Grogin hoped the animal might naturally drift closer to the shore. Once it did, he set to work. “I got as low as I could in the mud and moved carefully, making sure I didn’t startle it,” he says. “Holding the phone steady at the surface, I slightly dipped the lens below the waterline to get this shot. It took patience, balance and a lot of problem-solving.”
Grogin stayed into the late afternoon before returning home to make subtle edits. “I like to preserve as much real texture and clarity as possible,” he says. “To me, it’s like taking a rough copy of something and chipping away at it to reveal its inner beauty.”
He hopes his picture will recreate the same sense of immersion for viewers, “as if they’re floating in the water, too, face to face with a world they would usually only look down at from above. The bullfrog is only a small creature, but from this perspective, it feels powerful, surreal and mythical.”