• Australia's largest state hits record-high COVID-19 cases despite weeks of strict lockdown. 'It's a tinderbox ready to explode,' one official said.
• eToro says crypto made up 73% of trading commissions in the last quarter, as retail customers dived in
• A flight attendant says she was too exhausted to report a passenger who shoved her when a flight was overbooked: report
• US jobless claims climb for first time in 5 weeks, to 353,000

APPLE HAS ATTRACTED a cult following across the globe for its high-quality design and the attention to detail apparent in the products it creates.

Now the tech giant is highlighting the more artistic aspects of its brand with “Start Something New” — a campaign bringing work created on Apple products to retail locations worldwide.

Pieces created by select artists have already been installed in Apple stores in major cities across the globe. Online, pictures of Apple products are being substituted with photos of the incredible artwork people have created with them.

Travel photographer Austin Mann took the amazing shot above with his iPhone 6 Plus while traveling in Iceland.

“We had driven by this same spot earlier, but as we were coming back around, the fog had lifted and we saw this giant glacier,” Mann told Business Insider.

The shot presented itself, and I captured it.

Mann was able to take the picture, edit it, and share it with his followers within 30 minutes. That same process would take hours with more traditional photography gear.

“A lot of the time, planning and setting up photos is sort of contrived. Inspiration is something that’s so spontaneous and kind of comes and goes,” he said.

Being able to do it on my phone keeps it a continuous process, keeps the inspiration flowing.

Mann says that he may use other cameras for situations that require more technical equipment — low lighting, for example — but that nothing compares to the iPhone’s flexibility.

“Because I have so much power in my pocket, it really conforms to the lifestyle of a curious photographer,” he said.

Courtesy of Apple / Roz Hall Courtesy of Apple / Roz Hall / Roz Hall

Artist Roz Hall graduated with a degree in video art from the University of Chichester in 2003, but it wasn’t until 2010 that he really started to play around with digital art. His first experiment was with the Brushes app on his iPhone.

He has since upgraded to the iPad and now creates amazing portraits on the Procreate app for the iPad Air 2. The art looks just like it was painted with real acrylic paint.

Hall says that creating art digitally has one especially great benefit: instant feedback.

“The community plays a big role. I have acrylic paintings which have probably been seen by 4 or 5 people. Whereas on the iPad I can paint something and immediately post it online where you’ll get feedback and learn others’ processes,” Hall said, adding that anyone with an iPad can do what he does.

It makes people, who have never painted before, pick it up and have a try. That is something very special.

Hall says that he was shocked to be picked by Apple for the campaign — he was so surprised in fact, that he was convinced it was a prank until he saw his work on Apple’s web site.

“This sets a strong message to their creative community, making it clear that Apple takes them very seriously and is dedicated to them,” Hall said.

— Madeline Stone

Read: Is Michael D Higgins being bullied over his height? One of his friends thinks so

Read: What was that weird bird-eating thing in last night’s ‘Charlie’ all about?