2011 February | Chase Jarvis Blog

Archive | February, 2011

Vincent Laforet on Chase Jarvis LIVE [This Wednesday]

By Chase on February 28, 2011

This Wednesday I’ll be hosting pulitzer-prize winning photographer, award winning director, and my good pal Vincent Laforet into my studio for another broadcast of chasejarvisLIVE. In this 90 minute show, we’ll talk shop, cut thru all the fluff, cut past Reverie and all the hubub to the meat of the things that matter. We’ll also be taking your questions LIVE via my @chasejarvis twitter handle, hashtag #cjLIVE.

It’s free. It’s live. Just point your web browser to http://www.chasejarvis.com/live on Wednesday.

Who: You, Me, Vince Laforet + a worldwide gathering of photographers and filmmakers
What: Get to know the real Vince Laforet and his career + answer your questions LIVE
When: this coming Wednesday, March 2nd at 10:00am Seattle time (1pm NYC or GMT -8)
Where: just visit www.chasejarvis.com/live
Want to get Vince to answer YOUR questions?: ASK THEM IN THE COMMENTS BELOW

New Audio Podcast

By Chase on February 25, 2011

Wanted to announce that we officially have a new AUDIO podcast. This Audiocast will feature long form content where my photographer, filmmaker, guests, friends, and/or yours truly are primarily talking…things like all the chasejarvisLIVE interviews (featuring worldclass creative talent), #AskChase episodes, talks, etc.

You can find our audio podcast and/or subscribe to it here on iTunes. If there are another place we should also put it, let us know.

This won’t adversely affect our ongoing video podcast which features downloadable behind the scenes videos from my YouTube channel. [VIDEO podcast is here.] If anything, that will continue to improve. Technology is getting better and we’re getting our systems dialed so expect more–and better–there too. As always, all this stuff is free.

And speaking of getting things dialed in… I was outta town last week. And while I was away–completely unknown to me–Scott, Erik, and Norton decided to rope in an MC buddy of ours, Tilson, to “surprise me” and record a fun audio intro for the new podcast. Tilson is a character, and a man of many words. They filmed this process for a laugh. If you want to check out that video after the jump, hit more or ‘continue reading below’… Continue Reading →

Erik’s HDSLR Video Essentials: the Zacuto Z-Finder

By erik on February 24, 2011

Our digital cinema guru, Erik, wanted to take a minute to chat gear with you. This is his second guest post, so please give him another warm welcome… This post is another installment of a series that our staff is doing about the gear that we consider essential for our work…the stuff we don’t leave home without.

When shooting behind the scenes videos and even some of our commercial work, we shoot with HDSLRs whenever it’s the right tool for the job. They’re lightweight and quick and produce amazing visuals, but they’re first and foremost still cameras, so they require a few extra accessories to make them function more like a cinema camera. It’s those accessories that I’ll be blogging about, beginning today with the simple but crucial challenge of keeping your footage in focus. For that I use the Zacuto Z-Finder.

On larger film/video sets there’s a small team of camera assistants dedicated to maintaining and combatting the shallow depth of field you get when shooting on large formats (35mm, RED cameras, etc). Now we have that same depth of field in easily affordable and accessible HDSLR’s, except most of us don’t have the means of bringing along a camera assistant to measure and mark focus points on our lens. There are a lot of options out there to keep your video sharp, from monitors, to follow focus systems, to my personal favorite; loupes. I’ve been using Continue Reading →

Back to the Future with Photographer Irina Werning

By Chase on February 22, 2011

The same faces and places, just completely re-created 20, 30 or 40 years later.

This isn’t the first time a photographer has gone back to recreate moments from the past, but this series by Argentinian photographer Irina Werning is just done exceedingly well. Great concept, great execution. The attention to detail is impressive. The images are charismatic, even dynamic in their stillness. Not just with wardrobe and set, but with film stock, blur, image damage, etc. The self-described “obsessive” Werning says:

I love old photos. I admit being a nosey photographer. As soon as I step into someone else’s house, I start sniffing for them. Most of us are fascinated by their retro look but to me, it’s imagining how people would feel and look like if they were to reenact them today… A few months ago, I decided to actually do this. So, with my camera, I started inviting people to go back to their future.

Check out a few more very worthy images, along with a link to the entire collection on Irina’s site after the jump… Continue Reading →

Printing & Hanging a Photography Show

By Dartanyon on February 22, 2011

Seattle100 Pop Up Gallery - Quiet Before the Storm

Everyone on the our team brings an expertise and excellence to the group that is unique. As an example, Scott’s Photoshop chops are stellar, Kate is an uber-producer, Erik is the bees knees with digital cinema, and the list goes on… One of Dartanyon’s strong suits is digital printing. He’s been around digital output from the near beginning of color desktop printing. For previous gallery shows, we’ve always outsourced the printing and the framing. For the Seattle 100, I wanted for us to take on these roles. As such, I learned a ton from D–even if it’s just the basics–in the process of printing this pop-up show last fall and thought it would be good to have him share that knowledge here. Take it away Dartanyon…

Dartanyon here…and I’d like to take you on a little tour of how we went about printing and hanging the Seattle 100 Pop Up Gallery show. I should forewarn you though, this is just one method for printing. There are many ways to skin this cat. This way is by no means the only one, and it’s not the absolute BEST one. It’s simply one that I think has broad appeal because almost anyone can tackle the project with the right equipment, time, and understanding. As such, I’ll be walking through the following with the Seattle 100 project in mind so that we have something concrete to discuss, along with a rationale/decision process for the choices we made in hopes you can apply this to your future fine art printing needs.

1. Printer Selection
2. Paper Selection
3. Profiling and Printing
4. Drying
5. Mounting and Hanging

1. Printer Selection and Setup. Chase was adamant that we bring the printing of this show in house. We wanted the creative control. Great blacks and Continue Reading →

Behind the Scenes at Fashion Week NYC

By Chase on February 21, 2011

You could probably assume as much, but in the event that you didn’t know, NYC Fashion week is a huge event from which many of the forthcoming year’s fashion statements and styles emerge. It’s big for the fashion industry, and fashion PHOTOGRAPHY of course follows suit. But while the fashion mags and fashion blogs and fashion photogs always go nuts during these semi-annual events that smatter the globe–and I admit to dig following along from the sidelines–I’ve grown to think a lots of those photos seem from inside the fashion industry take on a similar stance/look/gravitas.

And it should be of little surprise, right? This happens in every industry–things from within often carry the same torch, the same vibe, the same message, just with subtly different content to the others within/around them. The challenge of “working from within” any industry is how to differentiate. Breaking that mold of sameness–IMHO from whatever industry or perspective–is what helps draw notice.

I guess it’s for that reason, that I was so interested and impressed when stumbling upon a behind the scenes gallery of images from NYC Fashion Week from the Boston Globe. These images were stunning and different. And born not from fashion photogs, but from journalists and news photogs with some sort of palpable undercurrent of fashion within them. A fashion “approach”? What I love about them, is that the images seem somehow suspended between the two genre. Or perhaps they bash both genre. I’m not sure. Are they news? Are they fashion? I suspect that news photogs would call them too fashion-y and fashion would call them pure news. The challenge rears it’s head again.

Regardless, I hope you’ll agree the gallery is stunning–some images more so than others, of course–but overall I am intrigued and damn impressed. A few more shots plus a link to 30 others after the jump… Continue Reading →

Adding Video to Your Photography Skill Set

By Chase on February 18, 2011

Adding cinema/motion/video to my base skill set as originally a still-only photographer has been a big, fun challenge for me. Creatively, professionally, and technically. It’s also been good for business. I’ve noticed that, like anything engaging, it’s an ever-evolving, never-satisfied skill set that can be grown quickly by learning from–and with–others.

That’s precisely why the fine folks at creativeLIVE.com have brought back one of the top HdDSLR instructors in the world, a good friend of mine and a great filmmaker in his own right, Vincent LaForet. Vincent has successfully made the transition from Pulitzer Prize winning photographer to award winning cinematographer, DP, and Director. And you can too. So, If you’ve got a HDdSLR, are thinking about getting one, or are interested in expanding your skills beyond the still image and into video–for free–then this course is worth checking out. And good news, this online workshop starts in just 2 weeks from today.

What: Moving From Stills to Video with Vincent Laforet
Where: anyone can watch at http://www.creativelive.com
When: course runs March 4, 5 and 6. Registration is now, here.

Get more details and/or reserve your spot online for free, right here. [and if you’re interested in attending the class in person at the new creativeLIVE Seattle studio – now’s your chance…seems there’s a way to get in Continue Reading →

How to Scout Locations for Photo & Video: Part 3 – Gear & Planning

By Scott on February 17, 2011

[Howdy, Scott here again. This is the third of a three part series on the steps I take when location scouting as Chase's lead assistant. In the first two posts we discussed virtual scouting and weather. Now we've done everything that we can do from a desk and it's time to put the rubber to the road. Good old fashioned Location Scouting.]

Let’s assume we have decided on a region we think will have the right physical characteristics and weather to meet the client’s needs. Kate and the rest of the production team have kicked into high gear and booked flights, lodging and ground transportation for the crew. We’ve said goodbye to the spouses and pets and have hopped in planes, trains and automobiles. Now after a weary day or two of travel we’ve arrived. It’s time to check in, hang up the shirts, grab a nap, head down to the pool for a refreshing swim and a cocktail, gotta energize, there’ll be work to be done tomorrow. Oh, were it only so easy…. Continue Reading →

Two Paths for a Photograph: Arresting Vs. Welcoming. [Discussion on A vs. B]

By Chase on February 16, 2011

Whoa. Again, love how opinionated we all are. Over 1000 opinions in 18 hours. Love love it. If you happened to miss yesterday’s post, we asked for your help in choosing between two images during an edit. And, just as in previous A vs. B posts, I promised to follow up with MY preference of images and a discussion about the comparison. So here are my thoughts….(hit ‘continue reading’) Continue Reading →

Which Photo is Better: A or B?

By Chase on February 15, 2011

Alrighty. Regardless of the fact that this A or B series (here, here, and here) has been really interesting for us, helpful, and popular with you (the last such post received over 1000 comments in 24 hours)…

This time it is of even greater interest for us. You see, we’re doing some image editing around here and we’ve stumbled into a little internal debate about which one of these two images is actually better, A or B. [You might remember these shots from the Nikon D7000 campaign...]

Hearing from you will help really help us. No qualifiers, don’t worry about our objectives, or the “assignment”. We want to know which one of these shots you like better. And please tell us in the comments below, not via twitter. Raw preference. Period. If you can add some “why”, that would be nice too. Full 600 pixel wide images after the jump. Hit ‘continue reading’ below [and btw, I've got a $1 gentlemen's bet riding with Erik about which one will win, so don't let me down!]… Continue Reading →

Care, Time, & Vision Beat “Budget” Every Time.

By Chase on February 14, 2011

I’ve been enamored with projection (onto art, buildings, cars, what have you…) for some time. But few people have made flat surfaces come to life like Davy & Kristin McGuire. I think this is simple, stunning and beautiful.

And if you think creativity requires a lot of gear, think again. The visuals above were created simply using paper cut outs, a 5d Mark ii, a projector, an old Macbook with After Effects, some builders lights (a la Home Depot), and some green cloth improvised into a “green screen”.

The Ice Book is a miniature theatre show, a pop-up book that comes to life as if by magic. It tells the story of a mysterious princess who lures a boy into her magical world to warm her heart of ice. It is made from sheets of paper and light, designed to give a live audience an intimate and immersive experience of film, theatre, dance, mime and animation. We created the show during a four month artist residency at the Kuenstlerdorf Schoeppingen in Germany…Before we started we had no idea how to make pop-up books let alone how we could combine them with projections. With a lot of care, love and arguing the idea eventually came to life. -Davy & Kristin McGuire

Now to my point. Whether you like HdSLR’s, projection, pop-up books, or not there are a few essential take-aways from this piece for any creative…namely Continue Reading →

The Photo/Video Travel Drive: Dartanyon’s Essential Gear

By Dartanyon on February 11, 2011

G-Tech Mini SSD that I use as a travel drive Hey there y’all, Dartanyon here making a guest post appearance… In this installment of [my] Essential Gear, I’d like to talk about something I don’t leave home without: my travel drive.

A travel drive is an external hard drive filled to the brim with the software, tools, and settings, that are so often overlooked as part of location computer setups. There are several scenarios where you may need to carry one of these, perhaps you’re traveling without a backup computer, or even without a computer at all, maybe you’re renting one on location. I would advocate always carrying one of these drives: A tech’s first responsibility is to be prepared, a digital eagle scout, if you will. When things start going sideways with the computers [and they always do], everyone on set is going to be looking to you to fix it, fast, and with grace. Want to be the hero? Hit ‘continue reading below’…
Continue Reading →

Stealing Photos? Now This is Bulls**t.

By Chase on February 10, 2011

Stealing digital photos has long been a pasttime for some web junkies, and we as photographers have always dealt with it. Sign of the times. But this week’s theft of Jason Lee’s Polaroid portrait of actor Dennis Hopper is straight-up bull shittake.

The art collective ThisLosAngeles last week reported that, after a gallery opening called These Friends, they agreed to let a patron use the restroom just before closing. Turns out that this particular patron visited the toilet, but also paid a visit to the incredibly valuable (and beautiful) one-of-a-kind-polaroid-portrait of Dennis Hopper (shot by artist/actor Jason Lee) in the back of the gallery…and he swiped it. Pulled the art off the wall and walked out.

G’head and blame the gallery, blame the collective, blame the attendant who let the guy take a leak, blame whomever. The point is that I’m blaming the perpetrator and you should too. Stealing is bad, stealing one of a kind art is worse, and that the thief is amongst us… Continue Reading →

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