Deconstruct This Photo 2.0

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

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

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

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

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)

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

"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?

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

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

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

"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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