The Guardian newspaper decided it would be excellent advertising for its favourite company to sent one of its best photographers to the Olympics armed only with an iPhone 4S.

Photojournalist Dan Chung has taken some damn fine snaps of events in the past and knows a lot about digital photography. Chung is keeping a photoblog entirely comprised of pictures taken with his iPhone, covering everything from fast-paced action on the field to colorful portraits of fans. The first problem that Chung faced is the fact that the iPhone 4S is a bit s**t at taking pictures unless you are standing in front of the person. Its lens is also so cheap and cheerful you could probably get better clarity from a fish scale.

Chung is a professional so he did his best by using a clip-on Schneider lens and some Canon binoculars. In other words he cheated. So while the Verge is claiming that the iPhone seems to have found an unlikely home in the world of sports photography, it is not exactly true.

But what the Guardian and the Verge failed to spot is that the pictures that Chung took, even by adding a ton of professional gear to the iPhone are not his best. What he appears to have done is push the idea of the photos being blurry, over exposed, lacking detail and depth as “art.” In this case they are just bad.

Rather than take an iPhone, or any other smartphone to the Olympics, the Guardian would have been better taking a real camera to the important sporting event rather than lowering the standards of the world by forcing its photographer to take snaps with Apple gear to give phone maker some free advertising.