Bill Carito on iPhone Photography

Barb and Bill in front of his photo

LUCY BURDETTE: Today I'm excited to welcome Bill Carito to JRW--some of you may recognize him as husband of mystery writer, Barbara Ross. A few years ago, she asked me to suggest something “Key West-y” that she could give Bill as a Christmas present--not so much a thing, as perhaps a class. I had recently finished a terrific class in iPhone photography at The Studios of Key West. She gave it, Bill took it, and the results have been spectacular!

BILL CARITO: Thanks for having me on the Jungle Red Blog to share my journey as an iPhone photographer. ​I had had several iPhones by 2015, knew they had cameras, and had even occasionally used mine to take a picture of a bottle of wine I wanted to remember. It never dawned on me to use the phone to take photos as I would with my camera. I didn’t think I could get as a good a photo out of the phone as I did out of my digital camera. I showed up for the class on a Saturday morning in January with few expectations.

Seeking Deeper Water, 2017

​The teacher was Shirley Drevich. She teaches iPhone Photography at the Fairchild Tropical Botanical Gardens in Coral Gables. Shirley had infinite patience because I swear at least twelve of my fifteen classmates had just bought their iPhones that morning. However, despite spending half the class showing people how to turn on their phones and where to find their camera app, Shirley’s enthusiasm was infectious, and she managed to demonstrate not only the features of the iPhone camera, but several of the camera apps for taking photos and editing apps for turning them into something more than snapshots.

Ultimate Joy, 2016

​The app I learned about in the class that I use today for nearly every photo I process is Snapseed, an editing app provided free on the iPhone by Google. What I love about Snapseed are its tools and filters that allow me to edit a photo into something I would be comfortable posting on Instagram in about three minutes. There are so many other editing tools in the app store, but Snapseed remains my editing app of choice.

​Shirley taught us primarily the Hipstamatic camera app. The Hipstamatic camera provides a variety of “films” and “lenses” that act as filters on the photo. There are seemingly infinite combinations, and the results are fantastic.

Hipstamatic Key West, 2015

​The most important lesson I learned from Shirley was the value of having this little camera in my pocket ready to shoot a quality photo on a moment’s notice. I was hooked.

Wedding Second Line, 2017

​Within a few months of leaving Shirley’s class, I was shooting exclusively with my iPhone and was searching to learn more. I began receiving ads from Emil Pakarklis’ iPhone Photography School online, as you do when you begin searching around the internet. Emil’s videos helped me to learn how principles of photography applied to the iPhone. They are invaluable and I return to them time and again for inspiration. Through Emil’s school, I also discovered an international community of iPhone photographers who nurture and support one another.

​One of the great features of shooting with the iPhone is how inexpensive the accessories can be. My basic kit includes a holder for the phone that helps to stabilize my shots ($35), a case and lens combo that provides me with additional optical zoom, macro, and wider angle lenses ($35), and a bluetooth shutter release that eliminates camera shake from touching the phone and disguises when I’m shooting ($15). I never went in for the big DSLR cameras, but I could spend more than $85 on filter for my old digital camera.

​Over the past two years, I have found my love for black and white street photography, attempting to capture people in those moments when something is revealed when they don’t know others are watching. I maintain one Instagram account @billcarito for those photos and another, @bill.carito.colorphotos for color. I have been fortunate enough to have had photos recognized through various curated portals on Instagram and through international photo contests and juried shows. Most recently, my photo, “Fatigue” was hung in the “Camera USA 2017” juried show at the Naples Art Association in Florida.

Fatigue, 2015

​Before starting down the iPhone Photography road, I was writing, trying to create characters who’d jump off the page into people’s imagination. With my iPhone, I am trying to do the same, create images or capture characters that stimulate the imagination. I still think about my latest book project every day, and expect to return to it, but I get great satisfaction from taking my photography walks and returning home to coax an image out of a snapshot that I hope will allow people to see the reason I thought it was important enough to publish or print.

Counter Attack, 2017

Do you use an iPhone to take photos? If not, what do you use?

Let's Get Resilient!

photo by bottled_void

LUCY BURDETTE: I like to read the Tuesday Science section in the New York Times (not as much as the Wednesday Dining section, but that’s another story.) The articles remind me of those I used to read in women’s magazines—chock full of interesting facts about exercise, diet, new scientific and medical discoveries in health, etc. This past week an article about cultivating resilience caught my eye. It maintained that people in middle age may be better at resilience because we’ve had lots of chances to practice. And most important, it’s a skill that can be learned. Their tips included practicing optimism, questioning the life story you tell yourself and replacing it with a more positive version, not blaming yourself completely for bad outcomes, remembering times when you bounced back from something hard, supporting others, taking stress breaks with activities that feed you emotionally, and not avoiding challenging and stressful situations—they help you build your resilience muscles!

One of my biggest health challenges over the past few years was discovering I had Meniere’s disease. Here’s a post from 2015 that I went back to look at. My conclusion at that point was that I needed to look at the problem as a challenge, rather than an impossible hurdle. I do think that helped!

Do these suggestions sound right to you? 

Money by Thomas's Pics

RHYS BOWEN: I think these are great suggestions, Lucy. In recent years I have found I am less stressed, more optimistic. I have to say in part this is due to being financially secure. There is nothing more worrying than knowing college tuition is due and you have no idea how you are going to pay it. But having paid off our mortgage and my books doing quite nicely that worry is gone. Also I find I am practicing positive thinking much more. I am able to ask "What's the worst thing that could happen?" and then think that I could handle that. But health issues... they are worrying. I was really stressed about John's condition and surgery earlier this year and I worry about my daughter's bad migraines. No good answer to tell myself about those. But things like flights being late, missing connections: annoying but I can find the positives in them. More time to work at the airport!

JENN MCKINLAY: Rhys, I am the exact same way with the minor inconveniences like delayed flights or long lines. I always look at it as an opportunity to study my fellow man, write, or stare off at the horizon and give my eyes a break from screens. I do think I'm resilient -- no one can receive as many rejections as I did for writing and not have the hide of a rhinoceros. LOL. When the hooligans were born, I did go into a panic, thinking the parenting thing was beyond me and that I was going to muck it up. I worried about everything from the quality of the water they drank to who they might partner with in life. It was exhausting and really sucked the joy out of parenting. Then I found a book called Happiness is a Choice by Barry Neil Kaufman and it really spun my head around about the pointlessness of worrying and how to master my emotions and choose positivity. I highly recommend it!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: And I think flight delays and traffic jams and robo calls--very first world problems, right?  We're so lucky to get to deal with those!  Something truly terrifying--being sick, or a family member being sick, or being..in grief, I guess--is much more difficult. So yeah, we do the best we can. I count blessings, look for the bright side, choose happiness. And it seems as if we are all learning this! As the challenge/disappointment/fear/change increases though, then we are tested. Lucy, you are a stalwart! Each of the Reds, I know, has faced some really tough stuff. I guess we have a choice: handle it, or not. One step at a time.

INGRID THOFT: I second Jenn’s point that you need to have a certain degree of resiliency to survive as a writer.  Rejection is just part of the deal, and if you can’t manage it, writing is probably not the right path to take.  Someone once asked my mom what she most hoped for her kids, and she said, “good coping skills” i.e. resiliency. The questioner was surprised; didn’t she want them to be happy or rich or successful?  Of course, she responded, but bad things happen, and if you can’t manage those inevitabilities, than happiness, success, and wealth will be much harder to attain.  I think she’s right.  There are two concepts I try to keep in mind as I navigate life’s challenges.  The first is, “this too shall pass.”  The next is the first Noble Truth of Buddhism, that “all life is suffering.”  Accepting that life can be difficult and that that is its very nature is a useful reminder when life is throwing curve balls.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Ingrid, I love "good coping skills!" I hope I can pass that example along to my daughter. I've never really thought of myself as being resilient, but it occurs to me that I know people who let the slightest setback throw them into a pit of despair, and that that attitude really tries my patience. My response is, "Well, just do it again," or "Try something else!" I know my dad struggled with depression for many years and that he made a very deliberate choice to have a positive outlook on life, and that I admire enormously. I hope I can mostly do the same. (My agent jokes--sort of--about my eternal optimism on the speed of writing. My response is, "Well, I do always finish the book, don't I?"

As for the small things, I don't get upset about traffic jams or waits in airports, etc., etc. Why get your knickers in a twist over things you can't change? And if you are stuck somewhere, it is always a chance to read or write (or take a nap!)

Reds, do you consider yourself resilient? What tips would you share?

"Oh, Kaye!" chats about Root Beer Floats

Did you know today is National Root Beer Float Day?

So.  Let's go float a scoop of vanilla ice cream in an ice cold mug of frothy root beer.  It’s National Root Beer Float Day!

Also known as the “Black Cow,” the root beer float got its start in Colorado in a mining camp. Frank J. Wisner of Cripple Creek, Colorado, gets the credit for inventing the “Black Cow”  way back in August of 1893.

One night Wisner, owner of the Cripple Creek Cow Mountain Gold Mining Company, was staring out the window and thinking about the line of soda waters he was producing for the citizens of Cripple Creek when he came upon an idea.  The full moon that night shined on the snow-capped Cow Mountain and reminded him of a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  He hurried back to his bar and scooped a spoonful of ice cream into the children’s favorite flavor of soda, Myers Avenue Red Root Beer. After trying, he liked it and served it the very next day.  It was an immediate hit.

Wisner named the new creation, “Black Cow Mountain” but the local children shortened the name to “Black Cow”.

Since its inception, thousands of root beer floats have been enjoyed around the country each day.

Several by Don Barley, who may be the biggest 

Annabelle says, "Wow.  Want, please"

So, of course she got one too.  Sans the Root Beer.

There are also several recipes for "Adult Root Beer Floats"


Vanilla Vodka Root Beer Float - 
Scoop 2-3 scoops of vanilla ice cream into a glass. Fill halfway up with root beer.
Pour 1 shot of vanilla vodka (about 1.5 ounces) and then top with root beer to fill to the top of the glass.





Rum N’ Root Beer Float -
Vanilla Ice Cream
Root Beer
2 oz. Dark Rum
Fill a tall glass with several healthy scoops of vanilla ice cream, pour in the dark rum and top off (slowly as it foams up) with the root beer

And . . . 

my fave,

Rachel Ray's Root Beer Russian Float

2 shots vodka

2 shots Kahlua

1 shot heavy cream

6 to 8 ounces root beer

1 scoop coffee ice cream

Whipped cream, for garnish

Maraschino cherry, for garnish

So.  Dear Reds.  Any Root Beer Float fans out there?  Or do you have a different fun drink you favor?

And how do these adult versions sound to you?  Donald said, "No Way!  Don't mess with a good thing!"

Annabelle says, "just give me the ice cream, please, and I'm a happy girl."