Whoa. Pinch myself. I’m today en route to China on an epic assignment for the luxury watch brand Panerai, sailing this here 105 foot sailboat through the South China Sea from Shanghai to Hong Kong, and across to Taiwan in a mere 8 days. And I was just recently given this cool news: I can share with you the adventures of this campaign along the way.
Assuming I can get satellite uploads from the middle of nowhere, I’ll be able to keep in touch with daily images, words and occasional posts here to the blog, my Facebook page, and via Twitter. I hope you follow along. This is unlike any assignment I’ve ever done, really. It’s just me and my manager Jerard. No assistants, no “crew”. We have hand (carry on) luggage only, just two cameras (D3s and D7000) and a handful of lenses. I’m told by my photojournalist buddies that this “builds character”, well…, we’ll see about that.
My mission is to come back with some amazing images and video for Panerai of renowned explorer Mike Horn. Mike is an amazing man. He’s circumnavigated the earth at the equator without any motorized power via foot, bicycle, canoe and sailboat. He’s traversed South America on foot to the source of the Amazon and then swam the length of the river. And he’s also the first man in the world to solo circumnavigated the 20,000km Article Circle without motorized power, using only foot, ski kite, and kayak. Suffice to say, he’s legendary – one of the world’s greatest modern adventurers. I will meet him for the first time in just 24 hours. I can hardly wait.
As I mentioned above, the client side of this epic assignment is the luxury watch brand Panerai. Italian-based and Swiss made, this badass brand was founded in 1860 and has been keeping time and looking good while doing so for more than a century. As someone whose never sported a luxury watch before, there are definite perks to picking up a fresh new client. Ahem…check out the photo below (is this real life?). My bicep is already larger on my left hand after wearing it for just 2 days.
Literally running to my gate here at the airport as soon as I hit ‘post’. Gear details, travel details, behind-the-scenes stuff and general debauchery as much as I can muster from the road. Wish me luck.
Look forward to reading all about this! You are truly an inspiration!
Amazing Chase – So thrilled for you!
Sounds like a great assignment! Looking forward to the updates and images.
awesome! i can’t wait to see how the d7000 performs, and this seems like it will be a great topic for you to shoot/video, very excited. I’m sure i can look forward to plenty of BTS footage of you barfing over the side too?! haa haa.
I am anxious to know if you will be able to do uploads from the middle of nowhere LOL, but more excited to see what you got yourself into out there because I know it will be bad azz!!
Hope you brought a gyro!
Congratulations, looks like a wonderful assignment!! I hope you have a great time sailing, and I can’t wait to see your shots of it.
Epic. Can’t wait to see the results on your tear sheet.
“They think me mad–Starbuck does; but I’m demoniac, I am madness maddened! That wild madness that’s only calm to comprehend itself!”
- Herman Melville, Moby Dick
I want stories boys…godspeed.
- alex
Great Chase, wish you a lot of luck and may you have a great experience.
Cool. As a sailor and sailing photographer I’m stoked to watch this unfold. Combining you two envelope-pushing creative types has got to lead to some kick butt stuff. I’m hooked in and watching…
thats awesome…I cant wait +]
Very exciting. And nice watch!
I say meetup in Taiwan when you’re done. I can show you around.
Great Work and Great Adventure!!! I’m jealous.
I love this type of works “middle of nowhere”.
Enjoy the travel on the sea!!!
Chase, did you bring the D7000 solely for video or for still as well? Is it really that powerful of a camera for an adventure such as this? Or for a pro shoot for that matter? Trip looks awesome, can’t wait to see pics.
Chase, you’ll find Facebook and many other sites are unavailable in Shanghai because of Chinese censorship. I travel there frequently and subscribe to Express VPN. It’s a service that allows you to bypass the Chinese censors by using a server in the states. No censorship problems in Hong Kong.
Frank
Fantastic news you’ve picked up such a mega client and it’s awesome you can enlighten us along the way…. Thanks for that! Damn you get get great jobs (deserved of course!)
Can’t wait to see the gear list. Thanks for continuing to share all of this and be safe!
wow this is going to be an amazing shoot. not only for the fact that chase makes great photos but that this will be done with 2 cameras.
simply awesome! keep inspiring us!
good luck and enjoy the adventure!!!
Hi Chase,
Chase the wind & have fun! Looking forward to see the results and the BTS stuff!
So jealous I can’t even speak. I was shooting in Hong Kong earlier this summer, your going to love it!
sounds like this assignment was made just for you!!!!;)
Have fun! I will follow u.
Chase this sounds awesome! Shanghai is an amazing city, and I’ve heard that coffee is a lot more easy to come by since I was last there in 2005
Can’t wait to see your behind the scenes videos. They are always the highlight for me and it helps us folk live a little vicariously through you!
Okay I’ve always been jealous of you, but now i’m starting to dislike you! j/k!
what an amazing job/life you have.. and congrats on the new watch!
It’s a tough life brotha. I trust you can survive.
Epic to the MAX! Damn boy! Living it up!
I can’t wait to see you in Hong Kong (i live in hong kong)!
All i can say is have fun while your at it! Soak up the experience and share it with us. A bunch of us is gonna follow you!
arrrh that sounds like a crap job mate.
i don’t envy you at all.
if you fall into the drink, and get eaten by a whale, can i have your D3?
cheers.
Good for you Chase, although I would consider you as the last photographer to do this kind of job. Thus, huge kudos to you for landing the assignment.
You have serious business skills which are often overlooked by the people visiting this blog. None of them can be bought like a new camera or developed while taking pictures.
Best wishes to you, Chase!
i understand why you might think this isn’t up my alley, but @confused it is squarely in my alley. it’s a little known fact that the first half of my career was spent in the action sports area of photography…skiing, snowboarding, motox, winter, summer, etc. It was all about documenting and creating and storytelling. So it turns out this is pretty much the same thing. we’ll see….;)
Oh, I have no doubt you’re a great photographer for action shots, yet my concerns were related to the more “static” part of the campaign where you shoot the close-ups of the watch – which, I figure, you won’t be making at all. Thanks for clarifying
In that case, I’m sure you are going to nail this job without any trouble, you’re a natural for that kind of job.
Best luck on the trip and I’m eagerly awaiting the results!
I am sure that many will be interested in your further experiences and images with the new D7000.
wow! you really have the life, so excited for you! what a fabulous opportunity, and adventure (well deserved of course). can’t wait to see every post, good luck and be safe.
Greetings from another Seattleite here in Shanghai right now–how cool. We should have a Seattleites-lost-in-Shanghai meet… And yeah like the previous commenter said, Facebook is blocked here as well as Twitter. However, I may be able to hand-carry important messages back to the Emerald City.
Anyway sounds like a sweet project you’ve got. 
Good luck sailor!
Please share as much as you can, so we can all live vicariously through you. Hoping for some great sailing images. Safe travels.
Very much looking forward to the daily updates!! Keep them coming. N
Chase, I am not going to be another person who just says “I want your career”. But what you do, and how you do it, inspires me to do something awesome, I don’t know what it will be, or when it will happen, hell im still 18. Just wanted to let you know, your the man. Think my firstborn will be named Chase.
Stoked for the post, stoked for more to come.
Looking forward to see this campaign, Captain CJ
Well this is going to be cooooool. Nice watch!
Chase, thanks for sharing, this is really exciting, I’ll certainly follow along.
Have fun!
Mike Horn and Chase Jarvis, wow!!! It’s will be a success!
I will follow you
I’ll follow you Chase throughout your trip…………………………….good luck and come back soon
Sounds awesome!! I’ll be following your adventures from the comfort of my home.
You are truly blessed bro! Safe travels and cannot wait to read the ‘rest of the story’ (Paul Harvey voice).
Wow, enjoy this one Chase. I’m looking forward to seeing this epic adventure.
Hi Chase,
SOooo coool, I always like this special heavy duty assignments. “This one will build character” hahaha. It is good to get out your normal envirronment and experience other sides of the world. That is one aspect I really love about my job.
Be safe, and looking forward to the updates.
P
Wow! Your life is one great big adventure! Enjoy every minute!!
I’m half asleep (5am) but have every intention of re-reading this once I wake up he 2nd time… Hahaa! Excited for you!! Happy sailing! 