Chase Jarvis Blog

Introducing creativeLIVE.com: Worldwide FREE Creative Education [updated]

2010-04-07T11:48:00.000-07:00

[updated 8-April 2010: I added the recording of the live announcement after the jump]

Hello Friends! I'm happy and proud to announce today that over that past year I've been working together with my super-tech friend Craig Swanson to bring you the world's first LIVE creative education internet channel. And the best news? It's FREE. That's right, it's free to watch any and all live feeds from some of the world's best creative instructors. Tune into creativeLIVE.com and check it out. Calendars, courses, archives and more.

On the photography side of things, we excited to announce in quarter one featuring Vincent LaForet, David DuChemin, Zack Arias, Scott Bourne, Art Wolfe, and many others. Wanna learn how to have vision in photography? We've got the instructor. HD Dslr Cinema, we've got it. Lighting? We've got it. Software? We've got that too. And if we don't have it? Tell us and if there's demand, we'll create it for you.

I'm not an instructor, but it's been a huge goal for the past year to connect the community with many of my friends who ARE instructors and ARE amazing at what they do. The goal here is to help democratize creativity.

In addition to all the photography gurus and course, we've got design classes, painting and other fine art classes, and programming classes up the wazzu. You'll find ...[click continue reading link blow]
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...classes in Adobe CS5 (that's right the NEW Abobe suite), Aperture, Lightroom, FINE art iPhone programming, Android programming, HTML programming and more.

How can we give away many of the world's best instructors for free? Well, here's how: You only pay for classes if you want to see them beyond their original LIVE performance. If you miss some classes, see something in the archive you like, or want to download it and put it on your iPod, iPad, or wherever, you can pay to download the class for a fee that's minuscule in comparison to what that instructor normally charges. No streaming, no bologna. You get the file. We use money from downloads to pay the instructor and cover our time and costs for producing and distributing the content.

I'm proud of this model. I thinks it's a model where truly everyone wins. We hope you support this idea. We're open for feedback and we're looking to help make the creative world a better place. A rising tide floats all the boats.

To check out calendars, classes and more, and to register for email/rss updates, please visit creativeLIVE.com Thanks!

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LIVE Broadcast: Special Announcement + Q&A

2010-04-06T14:46:00.000-07:00

What: special LIVE announcement + Q&A followup

Where: at the url www.chasejarvis.com/LIVE

When: Wednesday April 7th at 10:40am USA west coast PDT.
(1:40pm USA east coast USA EDT)
GMT -8 on the international clock.

Hi Friends. If you've been tuned in here, then you know we've been doing a good bit of LIVE broadcasting lately. It's been really fun. And there's more of it to come WEDNESDAY. I've got an exciting announcement I'd like to share with you on our LIVE channel, and that announcement will be followed by a worldwide, live Q&A via Twitter.

If you can be available please tune in tomorrow (maybe today depending on where in the world you live!) at the above time!

Hope to see you there.

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How To Shoot A Car Commercial: One Tenth the Size, But 10X Cooler.

2010-04-05T10:03:00.000-07:00

Too often advertising is a lot about BIG. Especially automotive advertising. Big budgets, big gear, big egos. Big and boring. This latest Nissan commercial from TWBA Toronto, however, isn't big in those traditional senses. Instead, it's big on spirit, innovation, and effectiveness. Plus big points on photography/cinematography. Seriously great camera work. Enjoy the making of video here above, but be sure to click the 'continue reading' link below and enjoy the finished commercial after the jump...
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See more at SERproject.ca.

Thanks for the tip Allan!

So dope.

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I'm Live at TEDx This Sunday. Fearlessness in Creativity.

2010-04-02T11:24:00.000-07:00

Hopefully you've heard of TED talks. If you haven't, you must check them out. The annual big TED conference happens every winter in California, but there are a series of smaller events that happen worldwide year round... Just so happens that I'm delivering one of those talks at Carnegie Mellon University on this coming Sunday, April 4. Easter for those of you who observe it or like eggs and bunnies.

I'll be talking about Fearlessness in Creativity somewhere in the vicinity of 3:30 and 4:30pm EAST coast time. Which is 12:30 - 1:30 West coast time. The event is sold out, BUT good news: it will be streamed LIVE right from the stage to your desktop or (ahem) iPad by clicking on this link: http://tedxcmu.com/watch.

I highly recommend you tune in to several other speakers, like Raghava KK for example, earlier in the day, starting at 10am EDT. A complete list of speakers and times can be found here.

Hope you're able to check it out. Wish me luck. Have a happy weekend.

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New iPhone Photos in My Portfolio: Be My Editor

2010-03-30T06:05:00.000-07:00

I began posting portfolios of images shot with my iPhone more than two years ago now. And my love affair isn’t wearing off, it’s growing stronger. The best camera still is--and always will be--the one that’s with you.

I post iPhone snapshots everyday to my twitter, facebook, and www.thebestcamera.com, but I haven’t updated my iPhone portfolio page in quite some time.

Until yesterday.

I dug through a huge pile of images and completely refreshed the gallery with some new favorites. Scott and I are in a little disagreement as to which ones are hot and which ones are not. As such, I’d love some of your targeted feedback. Please visit my new iPhone portfolio page here and tell me in the comments below which image is your most favorite AND which is your least favorite image. We’ll did this crowd-sourced edit once before and it was really helpful. We'll make some changes if a pattern emerges.

Since there’s work involved in your edit, I’ll give some shoutouts and send a signed book or three to some randomly selected people who are willing to lend a hand with editing thoughts. Thanks in advance for your time.

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[Shameless plug: In case you're new here or just wondering, I created--and shared--most of these using the app I developed last fall called Best Camera, available on iTunes.]

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4 Days Left To Snag $10,000 from SanDisk

2010-03-29T09:00:00.000-07:00

Remember the campaign I shot for SanDisk down in New Zealand last autumn? T'was the campaign where SanDisk was cool enough to let me blog/tweet/facebook about shooting the ads in real time, which made it the first global campaign of its kind. In part, those ads I shot have been used to promote their Best Photo Sequence contest in partnership with Freeskier and Snowboard Magazine.

Plain and simple, the best skiing and the best snowboard photo sequence selected from a panel of judges (include the photo editors from both magazines and yours truly), will EACH win $5000 in cash and have their image run in the mags. That contest submission period ends on this Thursday, April 1st at 5:00pm MDT. So if you don't have a half dozen or so epic images in the running and if you live in the US of A (sorry foreign friends...us dullard yanks are working on changing things for these contests in the future...), get your gear, hit the slopes for the big spring dump, and go make some pictures.

Submit your images here, plus lots more info at www.bestphotosequence.com and after the jump...['continue reading' link below]
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Related videos + posts from the SanDisk job to further whet your palette for $5-$10,000 bucks:
[Now You Know, Sandisk Extreme Pro]
[Photo Gear Mania]
[Chase Jarvis CURRENT: SanDisk Q&A Follow-up]
[Behind The Curtain: Guts of a Commercial Shoot Video]
[Video Report From the Heliworks Barn]
[Video: Packing Quick 'n' Dirty]
[Chase Jarvis RAW: NZ Basecamp]
[UPDATED behind-the-scenes snapshot gallery]
[...and look for the TV show we made on our last trip to NZ for SanDisk on RSN and The Ski Channel]
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The Price Of Admission

2010-03-26T09:22:00.000-07:00

I had a mini-epiphany after receiving some comments and re-reading a post I wrote earlier this week called Bet on Hard Work Over Talent.

That epiphany is pretty simple. I forgot to include one or two key sentences: We shouldn't celebrate or over-dramatize that we work hard, because no one cares. If you're a professional creative, then working hard and being good at your job is the price of admission.

We don't hear PGA golfer Phil Mickelson telling the press how hard he works. Instead, he wakes up every morning and practices. And then, on game day, come rain or shine, in front of 10 people or 10 million people and hits the ball right down the middle. And you know what? That's the price of admission. You don't get to be a pro golfer without it. Yo Yo Ma isn't reminding us how much he's practiced the cello. Hugh McLeod doesn't remind us that he draws thousands of cartoons in order to produce a book. You're not in the PGA, you're not a concert cellist, you're not a professional cartoonist until you have worked really hard and actually seen results.

It should be of no surprise then, that we all--you and me and the rest of us professional creatives--are subject to the same laws. Hard work is the price of admission. It's what happens after you get in the show that really matters.
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Chase Jarvis RAW: Cameras at Risk

2010-03-24T09:30:00.000-07:00

Even after years of doing this stuff, I still get excited watching $70k worth of camera hanging 30 feet in the air off a couple of measly bolts.

Last week I posted two 3 minute films that I've been commissioned by Russell Investments to create exploring the topic of 'risk'. In these vids (please check them out here if you missed them), our crew hauled a RED One digital cinema camera and a handful of Nikon D3s HD dSLR cameras into a skateboarding park and glassblowing studio with the goal of making some pretty pictures. In the process, we put these cameras to work in some pretty fun ways and I thought it would be cool to share those with you.

Thus, here's another Chase Jarvis RAW behind-the-scenes video where you'll see the RED One being shot handheld, slung from a jib, on a dolly, and on an Easy Rig. You'll also see the D3s handheld, in shotgun mode, on a steadicam, and remotely chasing a skateboarder on a fun new three-wheeled dolly. There will be no cameras on tripods anywhere in this video.

Hopefully this vid answers a lot of the questions that poured in last week in the comments section, via my @chasejarvis twitter handle (I'd love your follow), Facebook (fan me?), and via email. If I missed something, give a holler and I'll do my best to respond in the comments below.

A dozen or more behind-the-scenes photos plus some links to worthwhile gear after the jump. Click the 'continue reading' link below ...
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My DP, Chris, with the RED on a small dolly...

Chris using the Zacuto Z-Finder.

The Easy-Rig in action. I'm looking on with a portable monitor to see what the camera is seeing.

A fleet of Nikon D3s' in action. Bounce card at camera right. I'm asking Jason questions.

Scott operating a Nikon D3s on a Merlin Steadicam

Scott and me running from the Humble Monkey camera truck.

Skater shredding from POV of the Nikon D3s on the Humble Monkey camera truck.

View thru the 17" monitor of the view thru the RED on the jib.

The RED One on a 30' jib arm. Jib operator Dave...I'm camera right looking at the monitor.

RED mounted to the jib with multi-directional electronic head.

If we missed anything, lemme know.

And once again, if you missed the two original videos showing the results of all this camera wrangling, please check it out here.

Happy shooting.
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Bet on Hard Work Over Talent

2010-03-22T11:43:00.000-07:00

"If I’m going to be in this industry, I’m going to want to be the best at it. And yet I couldn’t guarantee is that I was going to be the most talented in this business. But one thing I could guarantee is that I was going to work harder than anyone else." -David Droga, Founder of droga5 Agency

Creative talent has always been a wispy thing, although you may know exactly where you fit in along the 'talented' spectrum. If you've got "it", then--of course--enjoy sleeping in and waiving your magic wand. Seriously. I'm jealous as hell.

If, on the other hand, you're like the rest of us and unsure if your talent alone is enough, don't bet on it. My suggestion is to work your ass off. That way, whatever talent you've got under the hood will be amplified and you'll at least have a well-earned chance at success. Hard work is where the rubber meets the road.

The video snipit from where I snatched the above quote, plus a couple of other tasty streaming bits from Droga and friends over at Black Bag, Diary of a Creative Director.

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5 Photoshoot Ideas Worth Stealing

2010-03-19T08:43:00.000-07:00

Running dry on ideas to push yourself and your photography portfolio? Here's 5 ideas worth stealing. Perhaps one might catch your attention, or inspire to you do something similar. Or very very different.

1. Photograph one of your grandparents extensively. Might sound boring, but I assure you it will be profound. If you're lucky enough that your grandparents are still with you, spend an entire day--or better, a week perhaps--photographing your grandma or grandpa. 1,000 images at least. Portraits, close ups of her eye, her hands. Fill the frame with her face. Photograph her in her home or wherever she lives, those places tend to be visually wonderful and strange at the same time. Amazing still life's everywhere... You'll connect with your grandma in a very deep way and you'll have made some amazing photographs. And when he or she passes on, you'll have the world's best images to remember them by. Cost: $0.

2. Flood a space with an inch of water. Have a dancer perform, or some sports stuff, shoot from overhead. Capture an ethereal moment of where it looks like someone is performing on water. Shoot any, some, all of this from a tall ladder. Or flood a tennis court and shoot some crazy cool shots. Logistically this isn't as tough as it sounds. You'll need the right space, some visqueen and sandbags, and a good bit of water, but this could be a portfolio opener. Some really cool post production will take this shot to the moon. Think of the reflections and the depth. Estimated costs: under $500.

3. Get 5 friends to drive their cars onto the freeway at bumper-to-bumper rush hour traffic... Have your friends jockey their cars into position side by side. You're waiting at the next freeway overpass with your camera. As your friends approach, the all stop for about 10 seconds in a line. The traffic in front of them continues to pull forward under your overpass. Start shooting. If you're friends are as crazy as mine, have them hop out of their cars and pose for a couple of seconds while you grab the shot. Imagine the final images, 5 cars in a row with 1,000 cars lined up in the background. Estimated costs: $0. Unless of course...[click the 'continue reading' link below]
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...you realize that you're breaking the law and get caught, that you're putting people at safety risk (moderate) and inconveniencing 1,000 people (although just for 10 seconds). Disclaimer: I'm not recommending this. If you do this one, you didn't hear it from me. It's illegal and dangerous. But I might get this image before you do ;)

4. Roadtrip with a twist. Take a trip with 4 of your best friends out to the coast camping in the summertime, or the desert in the autumn. Tell them to bring interesting clothes and props. Whatever they can dig up. Seek the strange. Stop off at a thrift store and buy some strange stuff that will act as muses for you. Shoot at least 500 images...all the 'off' moments, not single posed image. And here's the kicker. Do it with film. The oldest film you can find, expired Portra 400 color print film. And an old camera. A holga perhaps, or an old hasselblad (cheap rental). Or (gasp) a 35mm point and shoot. Get the negs scanned at the local lab when you get home. Price: Gas plus food plus $400 in film expenses. $40 in junk from the thrift store. You'll get priceless moments of those people closest to you. And you'll be experimenting all the while...

5. Find a huge trampoline on a perfectly blue-sky day. Get a couple models--friends, pros, whatever. Dress them up really interestingly...fashion, sports, whatever. Wait till just before sunset then hose them down--I mean soak them-- and have them bounce on the trampoline, over and over, high into the deep blue sky. Photograph them from your position on the ground so they're floating in a sea of blue. With some interesting post production and the rich light of sunset, it'll seem like they're underwater, but not. It'll read very surreal.

So, obviously, whether or not these ideas are worth stealing is completely up to you. The real point is that I came up with these ideas in 5 minutes and you can too. You can do better in fact, because you know what you like to shoot. But perhaps even more important than what each of us does with any particular idea, is the underscoring f the notion that ideas aren't meant to be hoarded, they're meant to be shared. Create yourself as an idea machine. Appropriate ideas an put YOUR twist on them. After all, there are no original ideas, just variants on existing ones. Borrow ideas and give ideas away. Treat them like the fleeting and changing things that they are, and they will come back to you in hordes.

And btw, I stole this idea from these guys. Have a great weekend.
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Exploring Risk: Conversation Yields Innovation

2010-03-17T10:30:00.000-07:00

The times they are a changing. We're finally breaking into a new era, one that's much less about companies filling formulaic advertising buckets like single page ads and 30-second spots, and much more about finding new approaches to connect meaningfully with an audience.

As a professional creative, this is a huge breath of fresh air for me.

It’s with that in mind that I’m excited to introduce some of my latest work: two short films exploring the topic of RISK. Risk is something we all experience everyday. It presents itself--and is mitigated--in a myriad of ways. What are YOU risking in pursuit of your job, your hobbies, your profession? How do you deal with it?

The two shorts above are the beginnings of a five-part series that I’ve been commissioned to create, thanks to an amazing company called Russell Investments and their latest campaign Conversation Yields Innovation (please check it out).

Few clients give the kind of freedom to the artists they hire as I've been given on this gig. The normal escapades usually require that we dress-up advertising imagery to simulate real-life. This project is entirely different. At its core, Russell has asked me to find and interview...[click 'continue reading' link below]

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...a handful of not-so-everyday people, and understand how they feel about real-world concepts like risk, security, and innovation. They are genuinely interested in the conversation. The only requirements for these films are that I reveal interesting insights and make them beautiful. I hope that I'm on the right track. I’d love to know what you think about what we’ve created.

For the techies, we shot all this using the RED one and Nikon D3s cameras and we used a variety of cool techniques to capture the footage. We'll deliver a behind-the-scenes look in the very near future...

But more important than all that, is this: since risk is such a part of expressing yourself as an artist and since it plays a huge role for those of us that are independent business owners, I'd love hear from YOU about about risk in your life. How do you engage, mitigate, and live with risk?

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Creativity Alone is Not Enough

2010-03-16T09:47:00.000-07:00

There was a time when good advertising photos and commercials stood out because they were creative. When just having a picture in your ad could set you a part. But those times are long gone.

In today's crowded, noisy world good advertising photography and video must transcend just 'creative'. Arguably, everything that is made is creative. But if you flip through any magazine or browse any interesting site, there are images that engage you and images that don't. Gideon Amichay, the ECD of Y&R in Tel Aviv, helps us understand that we must press beyond base creativity. In this new era of media we must be...

Brilliant. In a word, this is easy to say, but hard to do. What is brilliance? It's insightful. It works harder. There's more happening on a deeper level...more neurons firing when you look at the work. But beyond being just brilliant, for work to get 'noticed' it also has another characteristic. It is....

Different. Some professional creatives roll their eyes at 'different' because they argue that different for the sake of being different isn't worth much. I agree. That said, 'different' with brilliance works. If you haven't seen something before--say a fresh camera angle or a unique treatment on an image or video--you're more likely to [click the 'continue reading' link below...]
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...stop on that page. Like it or not, different is effective. But while being creative, brilliant, and different you'll get great gigs, lots of attention and perhaps even a high five from the award people. But the real thing we should all aspire toward is...

Innovative. This comes in many forms, but my understanding of creative innovation is when you've created something truly unique, when you haven't just provided a solution to the problem, you've asked more questions, answered those questions too and solved the problem in a way that nobody has before you. It's more than just working harder, finding a better camera angle and shooting the ad. It's re-defining an entirely new expectation of what's possible. It's the iPhone. It's the opening sequence to Saving Private Ryan or the 3D in Avatar. It's Warhol or Banksy. Seth Godin or Gregory Crewdson. It's Cartier-Bresson.

And while this list might be intimidating, there's an abundance of room in every single craft or industry for innovation. In fact, it's required for progress. So which of us will innovate? I'm banking it's the ones that start out with creativity, sprinkle in some brilliance, and do things differently on a regular basis...Those folks are most often standing on the edge of innovation.

Admittedly, beyond a list of things, it's hard to say what innovation is. But if I can't say exactly what it is, I most certainly know what it is not. It doesn't look or sound at all like the status quo. It doesn't resemble boring pages in a source book, or a direct mailer. It's not f8 at 1/250th with a main light and a fill. It doesn't feel like a 30-second spot on prime time or a headshot on the cover of Time. Innovation often seems like it's a far cry from what pays our bills as professional creatives, but I have no doubt that it's worth aspiring toward.

The thing I do believe is that we can get there with intention and hard work. But how in the hell can we get somewhere if we haven't defined where we're going? Well that's the purpose of this post. Let's put a target on creative innovation. Let's figure out where we're going and go there now.

[original post and inspiration via the fun blog at Makin' Ads]

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Deconstruct This Photo 2.0 - REVEALED

2010-03-12T11:08:00.000-08:00

It was good fun poking through all the great comments as hundreds of y'all deconstructed the advertising image I posted on Tuesday. Tons of great insights, lots of great ideas I didn't use (but might next time) and, while it was a tough choice, I think J. Harrington was the first person who most accurately pulled apart the technical aspects of this image. We'll send him a signed book or something fun. In the meantime, here's the de-brief. Numbers on the image sorta correspond to the numbers below:

[Update: I also posted a jpg of the RAW image with no post production after the jump]

1. Overhead lighting. Indeed the image was strobed. In this case we fired a Broncolor Scoro A4s pack with 2 heads and PAR reflectors through a 12'x12' one stop silk, parallel to the floor and cranked overhead at about 10' using some beefy stands.

Why? This creates a huge light source and the falloff in the corners of the gym (and in this case, our shot here) which simulates the sorta crappy light that gymnasiums from this era almost all have...sorta bright enough in the center, but mediocre to crappy everywhere else. We overemphasized this a bit as well to add to the drama of the image. This gym was pretty dark, so creating this really big source of light was quite important.

2. Fill light. Most of you were correct in nailing that there was a second light source above the model and camera left. In this case, we fired the Broncolor Mobil A2r pack using one head equipped with a beauty dish.

Why? This helped bring out some definition in the model's musculature and cheekbones--toughed him up a bit--and ...[more details along with a larger version of the image after the jump. Click the 'continue reading' link below]
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...at the same time bounced a little light off the floor back up onto his underside, giving us a more light-balanced image. This was especially helpful given that he's wearing all black and was sorta 'muddy' before we did this.

3. Lights on the wall. Would have been a miracle if you guessed this part...Most of you made a smart guess that we fired some small flashes there using Pocket Wizards. In reality, those lights were a part of the gym and were hard mounted to the under-ceiling (note the conduit on the wall). We simply removed the actual fixtures in post production, but left the light. For good reason, nobody got this...

Why? I like how the lights help define the background space. Plus it was pretty dark under that overhang, would have been muddy without a little lighting help.

4. The Talent. This is a real yogi, doing a real pose, in the actual location. It is not a composite. He held this position numerous times for 10-30 seconds per 'take'. FWIW, it took us a bit of work to find a posture that had the balance, power and grace that this posture did. There was another yogi on set who helped us work through a number of possibilities. We finally agreed to this one based on how aesthetic and strong it was, plus it allowed us to really frame him up nicely on that back wall and above the chairs.

Why? In my opinion, it's almost always better to create the image 'in camera' if possible. In most cases, if the activity in the scene is humanly possible, a little extra work and perhaps even costs on set on the front end of creating the photo can save dozens of hours--and likely some money--in post production afterward. Exception are numerous, but I tend to default to this mentality when appropriate. In this shot, he would pull himself into the posture and I would fire off 10-20 shots while coaching his facial expression, then I'd give him a break. We did this about 10 times, tweaking different aspects of the shot to get the one we finally wanted. This Yogi was a stud.

5. The scene overall. Yes a lot of you picked up on the intentional styling...Mostly on the symmetry and balance of the shot. For example, the four chairs balancing out the four steps. The red circle on the gym floor and the LuluLemon logo, etc.

6. Camera stuff. Nikon D3x. Handheld while laying down on my frontside. f5.6 at 1/160. ISO 1000. Nikkor 24-70 2.8 shot at 32mm.

Why? D3x is a no brainer for single strobed shots. Lots of megapixels if we need to drill in on something, great dynamic range and high ISO capabilities. I chose the exposure so as to grab a little bit of ambient light, but not too much. Mostly I gauged the exposure off the walls under the hoop. I wanted to catch the lights on the walls at a certain level that read 'grungy gym'. We then built the rest of the shot around that exposure. f5.6 gave me all the depth I needed for the subject and allowed the foreground to go outta focus for the logo, and the background to go outta focus to help set off my subject but still get a solid read on the environment.

7. Post production. We cranked this thru Aperture to generally make it moody and grimy and then did some blemish fixing--and some blemish enhancing (floor, hoop, etc)--in Photoshop.

Well, there ya go. Congrats again to J. Harrington for getting close, and a shoutout to everyone who shared in this. If you like these, we'll keep doing 'em, just let me know below.

Also, if there's anything you'd like to know about the shot that I didn't reveal here, ping me and I'll do what I can to share some more.

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Deconstruct This Photo 2.0

2010-03-09T04:12:00.000-08:00

Deconstructing the work of others has been--and continues to be--one of the most influential things in my technical development as an artist. I’ll always bring my own vision, but I’m constantly asking myself, how in the hell was this, that, or the other photo made?

That said, we’ve dug into this before on a similar post that proved to be quite popular and--according to feedback--fun and helpful. As such, I’m interested to hear how YOU think I created the above LuluLemon Athletica advertising image. Was it in studio? Location? Composited? What was the lighting? The circumstances? The camera settings? The equipment used? Tricks?

I’ll reveal the details in a followup post. The person who gets the closest to describing the actual means of my creating it gets a signed book, a high five, or something interesting. G’head and let ‘er rip, love to hear your thoughts. Please don't be shy... [...click the 'continue reading' link below]
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The Best Photo + Video Locations in the World

2010-03-04T07:45:00.000-08:00

In the era before blogs really hit the mainstream, it was very unpopular in photography circles to share thoughts, techniques and insights about the craft as well as the industry/trade. It was taboo. Well, the monopoly on information has obviously crumbled and, while it upset a handful of ivory-towered folks in the photo, film and video industries, we've broken out of that paradigm to a new era of more democratized creativity.

Let's consider doing the same thing with photo and video locations around the world.

It occurred to me some time ago that I'm in the remarkably lucky position of getting to shoot in some of the best photo and video locations in the world: the beaches of the South Pacific, the peaks of European Alps, the deserts of the Middle East, the markets of South America, the warehouses in Brooklyn, the streets of Paris and countless others. It's a perk of the job, for sure. It also occurred to me that, it would be really cool to share the privilege of the knowledge of these locations with the world and, perhaps in return, get to learn about dozens, hundreds, even thousands of new locations that I'd never known of otherwise.

I'm admittedly in the very early stages of this idea, but I'd love to see if there's an initial interest from this community such to spark--or help me motivate--a sort of crowd sourced aggregator of cool places to shoot images. If you have an interest, please take a few seconds and list a location or two you love that you'd like to share in the comments below. Whether it's beautiful... [click 'continue reading' link below]

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...sublime, gritty, or downright dangerous but fascinating, let me know if this is a good idea by listing a couple of your favorites. I'm looking for not just popular ones, but remote, unknown, etc. Under a bridge, next to a stream, in a warehouse or in an alley, etc. No limits. And the more specific the better. And let go of your fears that this information should somehow be sacred. Let's turn that upside down.

If there's a small groundswell around this idea, I'll put in some more effort. If not, then at least this post can be a cool list of some new locations for those not in the know.

To start it off, I'll offer a beautiful place I shot some winter lifestyle images yesterday--atop Chairlift 12 at Telluride Moutain Resort in southwest Colorado. An utterly sublime snow scene, with a warming hut not more than 100 meters away to stash gear and get some coffee. The iPhone snap above is sort of dark because we'd just finished shooting, but you get the gist. This was just one view of the backdrop next to the open snowfield (looking northwest).

So do you have a few places you wanna share? Where do you love to shoot?
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Making Old Spice Sausage with Wieden + Kennedy

2010-03-02T06:40:00.000-08:00

Ok, I promised a follow up to Friday's funny video post about making sausage. If you missed it, my point was largely that shooting ads and making commercials is much like making sausage--you love the taste of it, but you'd probably risk losing your appetite if you watched it being made.

That last part of that statement is of course tongue-in-cheek, since learning more about how we make this sort of stuff--as it relates to professional photography and video-- is likely a prime reason that this community exists, but hopefully you get my point.

That said, I thought the above vid was a great run-down of some more sausage being made, this time not by me, but rather by the fine folks at Weiden + Kennedy (specifically Craig Allen and Eric Kallman - respect!) This piece is in reference to their Old Spice deodorant commercial that ran during the Superbowl (my fav from that day). Here, they appear on Twit TV with Leo Laporte for the full breakdown. I especially like the lines "...we built half a boat", "...it's like a poor man's roller coaster..." and "...those diamonds are pouring over a fake hand..."

Surprised at all that went into this? It's never a pretty thing, yet it's beautiful at the very same time. Enjoy this tasty behind-the-scenes morsel.

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Building Sets, Making Sausage and Making Fake Snow

2010-02-26T13:42:00.000-08:00

There's the fancy part of photoshoots that, frankly, gets too much press. Because real photoshoots and films are made in the trenches. Might be an epic and cinematic image looking through the camera, but more often than not you're standing next to a freeway composing the shot with snot running outta your face, the models is standing on platform painted to look like the background because they're too short for the set, and the PA is running the wind machine which is really a lawn-mower that uses a fan blade instead of a grass cutter. Not pretty. Very real, but far from glamorous.

Sometimes I call this the outside-looking-in-view the Black Box of Photography. That's the pretty name. More often, though, I call it 'making sausage'. As in, it tastes good when it's done, but you certainly would lose your appetite for the stuff if you watched it being made.

As it happens, a lot of photoshooting is really making sausage. Such was the beginning story about the video above. Here we are making a set with corn starch snow when there isn't any snow for miles. In fact, it's about 50 degrees out. The original intent of this vid was to show you a little behind the scenes about building sets, but alas something pretty funny happened, which just had to be shared.

So more about 'making sausage' in a later post. For now, enjoy this little clip of us...er...making some snow. Happy Friday, have a great weekend.

[click the 'continue reading' link below]
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R.I.P. CR Johnson

2010-02-24T22:57:00.000-08:00

Just got off the phone with some good friends at Freeskier and Snowboard Magazines and learned some painful news. The news of the sudden death of a friend and one of the great skiers of our generation, CR Johnson. I feel compelled to share this here, in large part because we connected through photography.

According to eyewitnesses, CR got caught up on rocks going off a cliff on Light Towers at his local Squaw Valley, went over the handlebars and hit his head and neck on rocks on the landing. According to Squaw Valley spokeswoman Amelia Richmond, witnesses immediately notified ski patrol and medical personnel arrived on the scene within minutes. Despite efforts to revive Johnson, who was wearing a helmet at the time of the incident, he succumbed to his injuries.

CR, you will be missed.

I had the good fortune of getting to know CR by way of photographing him extensively through his meteoric rise to skiing fame in the early part of last decade. We spent a good bit of time together on movie segments in Alaska as well time at his first X-Games appearance many years ago. (I grabbed the above shot of him at X-Games practice in 2003. Check the amplitude and style, even 7 years ago...).

I can say with conviction, he was a person of enormous character and will be dearly missed. Words from his one of his recent social media posts say it best: "Live your life, love your life. Don't regret... Live, learn, and move forward positively." -CR

I'm thankful that photography connected us.

Great messages at Freeskier.com as well as news story at ESPN.com if you're interested in reading more. Respect.

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Another Chase Jarvis LIVE Event Tomorrow (Thursday)

2010-02-24T10:00:00.000-08:00

If you happened to tune in on January 29th, we broadcast an all-day, 100% LIVE feed of a commercial photoshoot from our studio in Seattle. (Original post here.) We had a great time with it and got a nice bunch of feedback from y'all. So, as a followup, based on your request, we're bringing the next installment of Chase Jarvis LIVE back at you again Thursday, February 25th from 10am to 12:30pm (PST, which is GMT -8). This is tomorrow for most of you, but today for some. And again, we're asking for your help.

How do you tune in to this worldwide Chase Jarvis LIVE thingie? It's easy. Just go to this url: www.chasejarvis.com/live at any time during the hours specified above.

What you'll see when you get there? This time, rather than broadcasting the set building, styling, wardrobe, gear and the full photoshoot--we're broadcasting all the nitty gritty that happens AFTER we've captured the image. We'll take you through our complete workflow, from editing and all the way through final image post production on the images we shot in our original LIVE broadcast. (Yes, you'll watch us work up the final image, right there on the spot, no rehersal.) And remember, it's designed to be an interactive experience. You'll be able to see and hear everything, ask questions of one another, me, Scott, Dartanyon--or any of the 8 awesome peeps in the studio--via twitter (@chasejarvis) AND a live chat embedded in the url above. (please use hashtag #cjlive).

Also, of course, there is...[more info + schedule, click the 'continue reading' link below]

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...another qualifier: this is still in BETA. We had reasonably good technical success last time, but tomorrow, we're adding multiple cameras, multiple microphones and a screencast view direct from Scott's computer. So again we need your help. We need your participation. We might break stuff, but in order for us to dial in this concept, we need your eyeballs, keystrokes, questions, feedback, and your network of friends. Please help us further test out this concept. Whether it breaks or it's a smooth-sailing success you'll have helped this community either way. Alas, we're all in this together.

Here's the rough schedule:
**all times are Pacific Standard Time, Seattle (GMT -8), everything is subject to change and probably will....

10:00am - 10:45am Recap, workflow, gear, and editing.

10:45am - 12:00noon Raw conversion, initial retouch through final workup. Cover image #1

12:00noon - 12:30pm Raw conversion, initial retouch through final workup. Cover image #2 (in case you missed #1 and/or to reinforce what we did first time around).

12:30 - 1:00pm Followup Q&A, clean up.

1:00pm Off the air

If you have questions or comments below, we'd of course love to hear 'em.

Thanks and see you tomorrow!

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Creative Advice from Carl Jung

2010-02-23T11:00:00.000-08:00

"The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves." -Carl Jung

I read this quote right about the same time I stumbled on Aaron Gustafson's work. Aaron, a recent MFA graduate from Parson's, it seems has a love for skydiving. Aaron is creatively compelled to shoot with a 4x5. Aaron is letting his mind play with the objects he loves: photography, skydiving, and creative innovation.

When I think about my own personal experiences, the times I've fused my creativity with that which I loved and cared deeply about, I was always made better, more interesting pictures, videos, art. Yet, I'm boggled everyday when I learn about photographers who continually lose sight of that--or worse--never know it. I'd by lying if I said it didn't take me years to figure this out, and lying again if I said I'd never gotten off track, but let's take 5 minutes right here and make a concerted effort to refocus on this as a community.

Take pictures of what engages you and moves you. The world--and Carl Jung--will know it by the outstanding quality of the work you will produce.

Props to Aaron for doing just that. Some of Aaron's photos, a clean shot of his 4x5 helmet-cam, and a full press release on his efforts if you click the 'continue reading' link below...

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More of Aaron's work here.

Press release from his recent body of work below:

ARTIST BECOMES FIRST TO TAKE LARGE-FORMAT PHOTOGRAPHS WHILE IN FREEFALL
Seattle artist Aaron Gustafson shot a series of large-format landscape photographs while skydiving using a custom-designed 4x5 helmet-camera.

Seattle, Washington, 8 February 2010 – Seattle-based artist Aaron Gustafson recently completed a series of large-format landscape photographs that he shot while freefalling through the skies of New York and Washington State. He became the first person to take large-format photographs while skydiving.

“I wanted to upend the norms by making a [large-format] camera to be used in a wildly different way,” Gustafson said. “This is what you’d get if you threw Ansel Adams out of a plane.”

Gustafson designed a helmet-mounted 4x5-inch film camera, and during the period of several months he made one photograph per jump while skydiving at speeds greater than 130 miles per hour.

“There is a long history between photography and adventure,” artist-photographer Arthur Ou said of the project. “Gustafson's work … continues on this lineage, though not without a sense of wit and sincere irony.”

Artist Miranda Lichtenstein added, “Gustafson contemplates the sublime by jumping into it—literally … Picture [Dutch conceptual artist] Bas Jan Ader working for the [US] Geological Survey.”

Gustafson specially designed the camera that he used for the series. He made a prototype and then worked with a machinist and a plastics specialist to realize the final design. The camera is a cube-shaped acrylic and aluminum box that contains a wide-angle lens and houses a single sheet of 4x5-inch film at a time.

After learning to solo skydive, Gustafson made approximately 25 photo-dedicated jumps in New York and Washington State. The photographs show expansive aerial views of the Shawangunk Ridge in New York, and the Cascade Range and Puget Sound in Washington State. Subtle blur in the images alludes to how they were made.

“Photography is in a strange place now where everyone is taking camera-phone snapshots and posting them online,” Gustafson said. “But photography can still be grand and larger-than-life. This project came out of a desire for that. It’s a hybrid of new and old, calm and chaos.”

Aaron Gustafson is a 2009 MFA graduate of Parsons The New School for Design, New York. The freefall 4x5 project was a part of his final thesis, which was shown at Arnold & Sheila Aronson Galleries, New York, in 2009. Gustafson was born in Washington State and is currently based in Seattle. Much of his work deals with man in relation to nature and challenging conventions of photography.

Web site: http://www.aarongustafson.net/
Video document: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEmpSRro5EE
High-resolution photos available upon request
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Who Says You're A Great Lover?

2010-02-19T07:02:00.000-08:00

In any business, some people are better at getting their name out there than others. Artists are no exception.

Advertising, Marketing, Public Relations, or Branding? Don't know the difference? These cartoons should help.

Are you strong where you want to be? Are people talking about your work, your creativity, your vision? This is laced with some humor, but we artists have a good bit to be learned from this, actually. The rest of the options after the jump...where do you fit in? [click the 'continue reading' link below]
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So which bucket are you in? If nobody is talking about you being a great lover, I suggest you think about ways to change that. Errr...you know what I mean.

Happy Friday, everyone. Thanks to the zig blog for the cartoon.
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To Shoot or Not To Shoot

2010-02-16T10:45:00.000-08:00

I heard a revving engine. Then a screech. Then a crash. And then I saw a man get hit by a car. Just moments ago.

Actually, he wasn't simply hit: I caught view of him milliseconds after he'd been struck by one car, while slammed momentarily between it and another car, this one parked. They were smashed--bumper to bumper--and as the two cars recoiled off one another, he crumpled to the ground.

I was the first on the scene along with Mikal and Kate from the studio. Mikal was on the line with 911 in seconds. The stricken man writhed on the ground grabbing his thigh, pelvis, shin. Groaning. A young driver emerged from the car, in shock, pale-faced, horrified. Hyperventilating.

The driver was the man's 15 year old daughter.

He'd been helping her learn to parallel park. He'd gotten out of the car to direct her. She mistook the gas from the brake. And it went badly.

It was only after getting the man stable on his back, his head on a pillow with help on the way, that I was able to take a moment to think along a non-mission-critical path. I had my camera with me, as I always do. But I wasn't about to take a photo. I couldn't fathom it. For another brief moment, I felt dirty for even thinking about it. But some people can and some people do take photos in times like this. During war, during trama, during accidents, and sometimes these images are deeply important. Other times it's cold and shallow to shoot. And a horrible invasion of privacy.

So how do we know when not to shoot?

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[For the record, I wrote this yesterday intending to publish it immediately. Decided I needed to let it sit for a bit. This morning with some clarity, decided I'd love to hear from some others.]

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Magnum Print Collection Sold to Michael Dell

2010-02-13T12:23:00.000-08:00

One of the most famous print collection in the world was this week acquired by the private investment arm of computer man Michael Dell. All told, over 185,000 photographs from the likes of Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, Elliott Erwitt, Ernst Haas and Eve Arnold were unloaded. I was shocked. I couldn't find details of the actual sales price, only estimates which indicated the sale was valued at around $30 million, and insured for $100 million.

There's a third party involved too--thankfully, the well reputed Ransom Center--has been tasked with scanning and cataloging the work. From all I can tell, they have the chops to do things right. They're taking care of the images will scan every print, front and back, which will inevitably lead to uncovering new insights and new material.

The good news: during the 5 years that the Ransom House will be doing its work, the collection will be able to be studied, with more historical work of epic quality and proportions being uncovered and shared.

The other good(-ish?) news: we think our friends at Magnum (respect) just sold the print collection off and not the rights to reproduce those images. Lots of pluses for our community there--if that indeed is the case--but I haven't heard the definitive word. I know that the photographers keep their copyright, but I haven't heard if the scans derived from those prints (the MEAT of the archive) are license-able by Dell's group after the Ransom House finishes their handy work. Could be great to have some of the images in the public domain for educational reasons, could be a shared rev model with Magnum photographers, but unsure how the Dell machine might pull this one off.

The bad news: if you ask me...[click the 'continue reading' link below]
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...If you ask me, there doesn't seem to be any bad news. As of now. Something smells a little odd, but I can't find reasons to sink this ship. I think kudos might go out to Magnum. I'm guessing that Magnum sewed this up pretty tightly, and my fingers are crossed that, as much as I'm not crazy about Mr. Dell's computers, that there is a "historical record/buying art for its value as investment" thought from his investment group.

I'm an optimist and have a solid belief/high hopes the collection is celebrated and tastefully popularized, and doesn't get churned into some ugly machine. Gotta believe...

Only time--and some more details from the deal--will tell.

Photo: Burt Glinn.

(Via Wired.)
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Let Fear Become Your Friend

2010-02-11T10:24:00.000-08:00

"I'm sitting here a week before my first big gig, a magazine shoot. I've only been shooting 2 years, about 6 months at the sort of level I'd class as "semi pro". And I've been given a chance that not many others would, yet im sitting here doubting my ability! Thinking what am I doing im out of my own depths? Maybe I should quit! How did you take it before your first major shoot? Did you have the same nerves and emotions?"

This question came in recently via email. Seemed like a good one to share.

How did I handle it? Did I have the same nerves and emotions?

Hell yes, I was scared shitless.

But weren't we all scared the first time we did anything of substance? You can even take 'substance' out of the equation entirely....[click the 'continue reading' link below]
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...I was scared the first time I rode a bike, drove a car, sang karaoke, and kissed a girl at the Skate King roller rink.

Fear--most certainly in art--can be an amazing motivator if you can harness the nasty side of it. The key is repetition. The more you shoot, the more art you make, the more things you send out into the world, the more gigs you get under your belt, the more mistakes you make, the more you fail, the harder you fail, the more you learn, the more comfortable you become.

And when you start feeling too comfortable? That's when you do something for the first time all over again. Let fear become your friend.

And so it goes.

Which reminds me, here's an interesting book: Art & Fear: Observations On the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking
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Apple Aperture 3.0 Awesomeness

2010-02-09T06:00:00.000-08:00

I’m usually a flag waver for artistic vision rather than gear or the tools of our craft, but this calls for an exception: just minutes ago Apple announced the much anticipated Aperture 3.0. And it’s the bomb. I’m lucky enough to have been using it for several months now.

There’s few things I think photographers will want to know about this new release. First, and most importantly, driving this software feels like you’re driving a German sports car. Aperture 3.0 has the power and grace that we’ve come to expect from Apple. Second, it’s got new features for days...

My favorites off the top of my head:

_Brushable, scalable, adjustments. Yep. They nailed it. Full selective controls on every adjustment you want.

_Video. Apple nailed this too. Aperture 3.0 has full multi-media capabilities. That’s right. Finally something that handles all those video files from your HD dSLR. Import, rate, scrub video, trim your clips. Add audio. Make a full-on MOVIE within Aperture or export to Final Cut Pro. Insanely cool. (Update: FYI it supports Nikon D300s files, D3 files, Canon 7d and 5d files, you name it, and a range of audio files from all manufactures as well.)

_Adjustment presets on import. Also seriously cool. Fast. Shoot tethered in your studio and want the photos to look sexy before the model or art director can see the RAW file? No problem. This kicks ass.

_Customizable. I’m a whiner when I can’t configure my software the way I want it. No worries, here. Fully customizable.

_Best little hidden nugget you wouldn't know? The skin smoothing feature is absolutely unbelievable. When we need to smooth the skin of a model, it’s usually quite a process. Now it’s so damn easy, I’ll probably even smooth my skin up before I send pictures to my mom.

For the full kahuna, check out Apple’s Aperture page here. Since I’ve been using this software for a while, I’ve got a cameo video at Apple.com that features my Songs For Eating and Drinking series. Check it out if you've got time today. And of course, holler at me with questions or comments. I had a blast playing with this stuff, and I'm not shy on opinions.

Aperture is available today for $200 for the full version, or $100 to upgrade, with a 30-day free trial here.

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