An Intimate Portrait of a Crowntail Betta, 2026, shot on iPhone 17 Pro Max Photograph: Rashid Sheriff View image in fullscreen An Intimate Portrait of a Crowntail Betta, 2026, shot on iPhone 17 Pro Max Photograph: Rashid Sheriff Smart shot Photography ‘I filled a white ceramic bowl and carefully placed the fish inside’: Rashid Sheriff’s best phone picture The Indian photographer dunked his iPhone underwater to get this shot of his pet
Prefer the Guardian on Google R ashid Sheriff’s fascination with photography and drawing originated in his school days, though “due to various limitations and circumstances, I couldn’t pursue those interests”, he says.
For the past 18 years, Sheriff, who is from Kerala, in south-west India, has been working in Qatar as an auto electrician. Smartphones, however, have allowed him to return to his passions once again.
“I love to be close to nature, so I was always drawn to macro photography and animals and pets,” he says. “My phone allows me to capture beautiful, spontaneous moments with precision, even when they happen unexpectedly.”
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Read more Sheriff took this photo on a trip back to his house in Kerala. Exhausted, he’d slept most of the day, but when he woke up he headed out on to his balcony to photograph one of his pet fish.
“I filled a white ceramic bowl and carefully placed the fish inside,” he says. “This is a crowntail betta fish, named for its fins, which look like crowns, but people often call it a fighter fish. I turned my phone upside down and submerged it in the water, and I used the zoom and macro mode to get all the details.
“I really like taking low-angle or eye-level shots of animals; it allows us to get to know them better,” he adds. “I hope this image will inspire wonder and curiosity in those who see it.”