At first glance, Steven Scott Grogin’s wildlife photos look like the kind of images that must have required heavy professional camera gear. But the international award-winning photographer captures his incredibly detailed close-ups of reptiles, amphibians, insects, and swamp life using something far more familiar: a Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
Grogin is a self-taught mobile wildlife and macro photographer whose work is built around patience, field experience, and a willingness to see nature from an animal’s point of view. Instead of photographing from a comfortable distance, he often places his phone at ground level, near the waterline, or close to the forest floor. To achieve these angles while maintaining a respectful distance from his subjects, he uses tools such as an extendable selfie stick and a remote shutter, carefully positioning his Samsung S25 Ultra without disrupting the scene. Shooting in Samsung’s Expert RAW format allows him to then capture these scenes in the highest level of quality, which is almost indistinguishable from a professional camera.
Scroll down to see Steven’s incredible photography, and don’t forget to vote for your favorite images.
More info: iwalkwild.com | 500px.com
#1 “Praying Mantis In The Heavens”
Description: “A praying mantis spreads its delicate wings against a bright, cloud-filled sky, revealing color and structure normally hidden in stillness. The upward view gives the insect a strange grace, as if it briefly became part of the heavens above it.”
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14points
#2 “Meadow Generations”
Description: “Two wild Baltimore checkerspot butterflies mate on a weathered branch in a Michigan meadow, while a caterpillar of the same species rests just below them. The frame brings two stages of one life cycle together in a single quiet moment of color, instinct, and continuity.”
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13points
#3 “Bullfrog Between Worlds”
Description: “A bullfrog rests at the surface in a natural split-shot, with the wetland above and the underwater world visible below. The image turns the waterline into a living boundary, placing the amphibian between sky, reflection, and the hidden depth beneath it.”
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13points
#4 “White-Masked Sentinel”
Description: “A bald-faced hornet faces the lens head-on, its stark markings and dark eyes rendered in startling detail. The portrait transforms a tiny predator into something fierce, elegant, and unmistakably wild.”
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12points
#5 “Tasting The Current”
Description: “A cottonmouth moves through dark water with its forked tongue extended, reading the world through scent and vibration. Reflection and ripples turn the moment into a quiet portrait of instinct at work.”
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12points
#6 “Twin Embers”
Description: “A young alligator glides low across polished water, its amber eye echoed beneath the surface. Light and reflection compress the animal into an almost abstract portrait of swamp color and geometry.”
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12points
#7 “Golden Watcher”
Description: “A young alligator’s eye rises just above the dark water and completes itself in a near-perfect reflection. The tight framing transforms a single glance into a study of symmetry, texture, and stillness.”
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10points
#8 “Ancient Gold”
Description: “The eye of a young alligator fills the frame like a relic from another age, every fold and scale etched in hard light. At this distance, the portrait feels less like a wildlife image and more like a glimpse into deep time.”
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10points
#9 “Eye At The Waterline”
Description: “A bullfrog drifts so near the lens that its gilded eye becomes both subject and horizon. The still surface doubles the moment, creating a portrait suspended between breath and glass.”
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10points
#10 “Coils And Diamonds”
Description: “An eastern diamondback rattlesnake coils in open ground with its rattle raised and its attention fixed forward. The image balances warning and beauty in the same frame, showing the animal exactly as it stands its ground.”
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10points
#11 “Hover Of The Mimic”
Description: “A clearwing hummingbird moth floats above the meadow, suspended between insect and illusion. Captured in midair, it feels like one of the field’s brief miracles held still for a moment.”
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10points
#12 “Sunlit Divide”
Description: “A bullfrog rests at the waterline with its eye catching a flare of light, hovering between what lies above and below the surface. The scene turns a simple shoreline moment into a threshold between two worlds.”
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10points
#13 “Riding The Old Shell”
Description: “A young alligator rests atop the back of a turtle along a swamp log above reflective water. The moment feels almost mythical, a brief meeting of two ancient lineages sharing the same wetland world.”
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10points
#14 “Reflections Of A Young Gator”
Description: “A young alligator rides low enough in the water for its profile to complete itself below the surface. The clean mirror and measured light give the portrait a calm, sculptural grace.”
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10points
#15 “Mouth Of The South”
Description: “A wild Florida cottonmouth opens its mouth from the swamp floor, heavy-bodied and frozen, likely after a recent meal. The image turns a defensive moment into a close study of texture, tension, and survival.”
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9points
#16 “Rising From The Pine Floor”
Description: “An eastern diamondback rattlesnake lifts from the pine forest floor, framed from below so its body becomes part of the landscape around it. The perspective gives the snake a monumental presence, elevating the encounter into something almost mythic.”
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9points
#17 “Cypress Mirror”
Description: “A wild alligator floats through a Florida cypress swamp, its eye and armored head mirrored across the dark surface. The low waterline view places the animal inside its ancient habitat, where trees, reflection, and scale seem to belong to the same quiet world.”
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9points
#18 “Swampside Sovereign”
Description: “A wild frog rises from the muddy edge of a Michigan wetland, surrounded by green growth, dark water, and forest shade. From this low view, a familiar amphibian becomes a watchful presence inside its own hidden world.”
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9points
#19 “Evening Mirror”
Description: “A frog floats in warm, fading light, its eye and face echoed in softly glowing water. The quiet reflection turns the scene into something almost painterly.”
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9points
#20 “Jousting For The Crown”
Description: “Two juvenile alligators joust for the top position on a larger juvenile’s head while gathered together on a log in a Florida swamp. The scene captures a playful-looking struggle for space and status among young predators, surrounded by warm light, water, and wild texture.”
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9points