diff --git a/ollama/_client.py b/ollama/_client.py
index 3654e3c0..9e663bc7 100644
--- a/ollama/_client.py
+++ b/ollama/_client.py
@@ -632,7 +632,7 @@ def create(
         template=template,
         system=system,
         parameters=parameters,
-        messages=messages,
+        messages=list(_copy_create_messages(messages)) if messages is not None else None,
       ).model_dump(exclude_none=True),
       stream=stream,
     )
@@ -1293,7 +1293,7 @@ async def create(
         template=template,
         system=system,
         parameters=parameters,
-        messages=messages,
+        messages=list(_copy_create_messages(messages)) if messages is not None else None,
       ).model_dump(exclude_none=True),
       stream=stream,
     )
@@ -1383,6 +1383,15 @@ def _copy_messages(messages: Optional[Sequence[Union[Mapping[str, Any], Message]
     )
 
 
+def _copy_create_messages(messages: Sequence[Union[Mapping[str, Any], Message]]) -> Iterator[Union[Mapping[str, Any], Message]]:
+  # Create accepts arbitrary message mappings; preserve their other fields verbatim.
+  for message in messages:
+    if isinstance(message, Mapping) and message.get('images') is not None:
+      yield {**message, 'images': list(_copy_images(message['images']))}
+    else:
+      yield message
+
+
 def _copy_tools(tools: Optional[Sequence[Union[Mapping[str, Any], Tool, Callable]]] = None) -> Iterator[Tool]:
   for unprocessed_tool in tools or []:
     yield convert_function_to_tool(unprocessed_tool) if callable(unprocessed_tool) else Tool.model_validate(unprocessed_tool)
diff --git a/tests/test_create_message_images.py b/tests/test_create_message_images.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3e65c172
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_create_message_images.py
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+import base64
+import copy
+import json
+
+import httpx
+import pytest
+
+from ollama import AsyncClient, Client, Image, Message
+
+PNG = base64.b64decode('iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAIAAACQd1PeAAAADElEQVR4nGNgYGAAAAAEAAH2FzhVAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC')
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def anyio_backend():
+  return 'asyncio'
+
+
+@pytest.mark.anyio
+@pytest.mark.parametrize('asynchronous', [False, True])
+@pytest.mark.parametrize('stream', [False, True])
+@pytest.mark.parametrize('kind', ['bytes', 'path', 'string_path', 'base64', 'image', 'message'])
+async def test_create_normalizes_message_images(tmp_path, asynchronous, stream, kind):
+  path = tmp_path / 'image.png'
+  path.write_bytes(PNG)
+  encoded = base64.b64encode(PNG).decode()
+  value = {'bytes': PNG, 'path': path, 'string_path': str(path), 'base64': encoded, 'image': Image(value=PNG), 'message': Image(value=PNG)}[kind]
+  message = Message(role='user', content='describe', images=[value]) if kind == 'message' else {'role': 'user', 'content': 'describe', 'images': [value]}
+  original = copy.deepcopy(message)
+  requests = []
+
+  def handle(request):
+    requests.append(json.loads(request.content))
+    return httpx.Response(200, json={'status': 'success'})
+
+  transport = httpx.MockTransport(handle)
+  if asynchronous:
+    async with AsyncClient(transport=transport) as client:
+      result = await client.create('vision-example', messages=[message], stream=stream)
+      statuses = [part.status async for part in result] if stream else [result.status]
+  else:
+    with Client(transport=transport) as client:
+      result = client.create('vision-example', messages=[message], stream=stream)
+      statuses = [part.status for part in result] if stream else [result.status]
+  assert statuses == ['success']
+  assert requests == [{'model': 'vision-example', 'stream': stream, 'messages': [{'role': 'user', 'content': 'describe', 'images': [encoded]}]}]
+  assert message == original
+
+
+@pytest.mark.anyio
+@pytest.mark.parametrize('asynchronous', [False, True])
+@pytest.mark.parametrize('messages', [None, [], [{'role': 'user', 'content': '', 'custom': {'value': 0}}], [{'role': 'user', 'images': None}]])
+async def test_create_preserves_message_payloads(asynchronous, messages):
+  requests = []
+
+  def handle(request):
+    requests.append(json.loads(request.content))
+    return httpx.Response(200, json={'status': 'success'})
+
+  transport = httpx.MockTransport(handle)
+  if asynchronous:
+    async with AsyncClient(transport=transport) as client:
+      await client.create('example', messages=messages)
+  else:
+    with Client(transport=transport) as client:
+      client.create('example', messages=messages)
+  expected = {'model': 'example', 'stream': False}
+  if messages is not None:
+    expected['messages'] = messages
+  assert requests == [expected]