Phoenix photographer's image part of Apple ad campaign

A carpet of cholla cacti bathed in the rich golden light of a Sonoran sunset, saguaros standing tall in the background, is one of the crowd-sourced images being rolled out as part of Apple's new ad campaign promoting the camera on the iPhone 6.

Taken by Valley freelance photographer Andrew Pielage, the picture is one of 77 being used in an international campaign of billboards, web and print ads, comprised of non-commissioned images from everyday iPhone 6 users.

"It's cool to have our town and our beautiful desert represented internationally," Pielage said.

The picture was taken in the fall, just outside of Taliesin West, near the McDowell Mountains.

"The light coming across at sunset created this orange-and-red glow and it created this picture I couldn't pass up. It was around the time my friends on the East Coast were already getting heavy snow. I thought it was kind of funny that we have the beautiful cactus sunset and they have snow and rain, and I wanted to share our fall with them."

Apple combed through "tens of thousands" of images, and Pielage guesses they saw his on his Flikr page. Pielage's photo is prominently featured online, as the third image in a vertical scroll of 77.

From the website: "This desert shot takes full advantage of the warm reds and oranges of sunset, capturing a beautiful range of tones with a limited color palette."

The first image is a woman standing on a rock in a river in Snoqualmie Pass, Wash. The second shot is ice and bubbles with reflections in British Columbia, Canada. Pielage's image is followed by a panorama of the Dubai skyline.

Apple is paying him to use the image, which, Pielage has been told, wipill be on billboards in Seoul, Sydney, Delhi, Montreal, Dubai and, closer to home, outside the Lincoln Tunnel in New York City.

"It's phenomenal. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," Pielage said. "I am still in shock.

"There's a lot of texture and a lot of depth in that image, the chollas are in the foreground but those saguaros kind of lead you through the whole image."

For more, visit andrewpielage.com.