The next OnePlus phone boasts a camera created in conjunction with revered camera company, Hasselblad. To celebrate the fact, OnePlus set up a unique photoshoot in Scotland, in the most remote village in the United Kingdom: the Knoydart peninsula in the Highlands of Scotland. The community includes the most remote pub in the U.K., called The Old Forge.
It’s so remote you can only reach it by boat or a two-day hike through the Scottish Highlands—there’s no road access.
It’s a bit of a way to take photographic equipment, so Matt Porteous, a photographer known for his environmental photography as well as portraits of the Prince and Princess of Wales, used the most portable camera we all turn to, the smartphone.
To solve the problem of how to reach the remote location, OnePlus decided to use a drone, no, not for the photographer, just for the phone.
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Jayne Eddie, Skipper at Western Isle Cruises, captured by Matt Porteous on the OnePlus 11 5G
The drone was flown into Knoydart and Porteous directed the portrait shoot from his studio 500 miles away. The connection was made by satellite, as Knoydart is beyond cellular network connectivity—even for OnePlus.
The community makes the most of remoteness, with a remote hotel called Doune Knoydart which encourages guests to be at one with nature, and see the seals, dolphins and even Orcas that visit the bay, or the Northern Lights in winter. As the hotel puts it, “We’re off grid with no road vehicle access, the only way in or out is by sea or on foot. We’re remote, but not isolated, operating our boat to transport our guests the 40 minutes by sea from Mallaig.”
The new phone uses something called Natural Colour Calibration, which was developed in conjunction with Hasselblad and aims to create true-to-life colors. The hardware includes a 13-channel, multi-spectral light color-identifying sensor (which is not a mouthful at all).
All the photos were taken using the OnePlus, and the colors look great, as do the photos in general. Of course, having a OnePlus 11, or any cameraphone, won’t turn you into Matt Porteous. You still need to look out for lampposts sprouting out of your portrait subject’s head, or check they’re not blinking.
But the inclusion of technologically advanced cameras and rigorously optimized software can at least give us a helping hand.
