Selfies Using Camera Awesome and the Interval Timer

Most of you who read my blog know that I take photos while I am out running. Occasionally, I take a running selfie and I am often asked how I manage to capture a selfie of me running down the street. Obviously my arms aren't that long and I'm not using a "selfie stick"!

The trick - using an interval timer. With an interval timer, the user sets a time interval (in seconds) and the camera takes a photo once that time has passed. It continues taking photos at that time interval until you tell it to stop.

All of my running photos are taken with my iPhone, but the native camera does not have an interval timer built in, so it's off to find an app. While the similar Self Timer functionality comes pretty standard with most camera apps, an Interval timer is rare. At the time (two years ago), I could only find an Interval Timer on the Camera Awesome app and that is what I've used ever since. You set the time interval from 1 second up to 60 seconds. I normally set mine to 3-5 seconds. In the screen shot below, it is set to 4 seconds.

Camera Awesome Interval Timer

Once I initiate the timer, it counts down to 0, takes the photo, resets the timer, counts down again, takes the photo and repeats until you hit the stop button. The app signals the interval countdown with beeps so you know when the camera is going to take the next exposure. All the photos are stored within the app. Then you choose which photos to keep and export those to the camera roll.

Things can get tricky when determining where and how to place the phone to take the photo. The "best" way is to use a little tripod - the Joby Gorillapod has bendable feet to wrap the phone around posts or other objects. I'll be honest - I own a Gorillapod, but rarely use it (because I'm lazy and I don't want to carry it with me when I run). Instead, I find all sorts of things to prop my phone on - the ledge of a park bench, the lip of a mailbox, wedged in between a rain downspout and the building it is attached to, in a snowbank, in the crook of a tree's branches, just to name a few:

iPhone Wedged in a Tree - Leaves From Branches Framed this "Selfie" Group Shot

iPhone Stuck in a Snow Bank

Note - I protect my phone with a LifeProof case, which allows me to stick it into a snowbank without the fear of damaging it.

So there you have it - my selfie tricks, revealed. The Camera Awesome app has other great features, like filters, frames, etc, but in the end, I mainly use it for the Interval Timer. And the app is free!