Taken with cell phone cameras and shot on the fly, reader-submitted photos show the depth and breadth of life in Monterey County.


Ed Bassett, the late, great dean of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, famously raised the ire of professional photographers everywhere when he commented in an article that cameras had evolved so rapidly that any “little old lady in tennis shoes” could take a decent photo.


That was more than two decades ago; there was no way Bassett could have seen smart phones coming. And while there’s a vast world of difference between what, say, Weekly photographer Nic Coury can do with his professional equipment and what the average person can do with an iPhone or Android camera, technology has to some extent democratized picture taking. Everyone really can do it; not everyone can do it well. 


The Weekly called for submissions to its inaugural smart phone challenge. Send us your shot on the theme (open to wide interpretation), “Monterey County insights, captured.” We’re already planning for the next one, and we hope you are too. Following are some of the most unique images you, readers, captured with a bit of technology you can carry in your pocket.