Do You Have a Trick for Taking Great iPhone Photos?
Plus what I'm reading, listening to, and watching this week.
A few months ago, I got to visit Iceland with a group of journalists to check out the new Highland Base — the country’s most remote hotel, tucked into the Kerlingarfjöll mountain range and surrounded by ethereal natural wonders like ice caves, hot springs, and waterfalls.
When one of my travel companions, a writer named Nick DeRenzo, showed us a little trick for taking cool photos of those waterfalls, we all reacted like he was Annie Leibovitz. And then employed it to capture our own cool shots — proof below.
The trick, if you’re wondering, is to make sure your phone is shooting on live mode by tapping the button on the top right of the screen. After you take the shot, click the LIVE button on the top left of the photo to get a drop-down menu, and hit “Long Exposure.” The three-second exposure of a live photo will make the waterfall look like it’s flowing.
It made me wonder what other hidden hacks for taking better images on my iPhone I’ve been missing. I reached out to some of my talented photographer friends to ask, and am gathering the intel to share in an upcoming newsletter.
In the meantime, share your best trick for taking pretty photos with your phone — an angle, mode, accessory? — and read on for some things I’ve been reading, listening to, and watching this week.
Watching: A Murder at the End of the World
Created by Zal Batmanglij and the supremely talented Brit Marling (also behind Netflix’s The OA), the FX murder mystery takes place in Iceland, but I swear that’s not the only reason I love it. The seven-episode show follows Gen Z amateur detective Darby Hart (played by Emma Corrin) as she tries to uncover who committed a murder (it’s not a spoiler if it’s in the show’s title, right?) while on a billionaire’s isolated retreat. The theme of how AI has insidiously seeped into our daily lives feels prescient if you know the co-creators started working on the show in 2018. Marling talked about it in this great interview with Vogue editor Liam Hess, here.
Listening: How I Write podcast
On his podcast, writer and teacher David Perell interviews interesting and accomplished writers about their processes and best advice for developing a writing habit and building an audience. I just listened to the episode with the Cultural Tutor, an anonymous writer who amassed 1.6 million Twitter (never calling it X) followers in just over a year.
Reading: Secret Menu magazine
The print and digital magazine is funded by DoorDash, but don’t let that stop you from delving into rich stories about the culinary landscape in Los Angeles and Miami. (The first and second issues.) In the Miami issue, I particularly love Brett Martin’s piece In Search of Lox Time about a younger generation’s fresh take on the classic Jewish deli.