95% of the gear I use to create high-end advertising images, videos, and commercials is the highest end stuff you can buy. Tens, even hundreds of thousands of dollars in equipment and production often comes together for much of the commercial work you see. This gear all serves its purpose, and there's good reason for every single piece of it, but.... PROBLEM: I understand that, for a huge cross section of this community,... read more ›
Jun
17
Jun
15
Whew! What a week it was last week... Last Wednesday, I brought pal and photog instructor guru Zack Arias into my studio for another episiode of chasejarvisLIVE. We chatted photography for 2 hours and took questions from the live Twitter audience via #cjlive. Was a blast. While about 20,000 of you caught the interview LIVE--it seemed like I got at least that many tweets/emails/fbook requests to post it again here on the blog,... read more ›
Jun
14
Controversial? Perhaps. But I love it. From the New York Times: The project, called YouTube Play and conceived as a biennial event, is intended to discover innovative work from unexpected sources. It is open even to entrants who don’t consider themselves artists, and actively encourages the participation of people with little or no experience in video. “People who may not have access to the art world will have a chance to have their... read more ›
Jun
10
Remember when I did the original chasejarvisLIVE photo shoot way back in winter? If you recall, I was shooting the album cover image for alt/punk country band Brent Amaker and the Rodeo. We also did post production and editing on the images LIVE as well a few weeks after the shoot. Well now it's time to print these suckers on a limited edition run of vinyl and there is somewhat of a debate on which... read more ›
Jun
08
I'm pumped to bring two new episodes of chasejarvisLIVE to your desktop this week. I hope you'll tune in to join me. First, tomorrow I'll be hosting my good friend, one-light guru, photo instructor, and the best beard around: Zack Arias. We're bringing Zack to Seattle for his creativeLIVE workshop, and I'm stealing an hour of his time before hand to talk shop in my studio. Think Barbara Walters meets Jon Stewart meets Photography (meets... read more ›
Jun
07
I wish I had a better plan, but I’m trying to make a film about the world right now through my eyes. I’m trying to use some of this technology we have right now, like our cinema truck and our snowmobile systems and our helicopter systems, to tell the story of the world today in a different way. -Curt MorganWhat do you get when you get when you combine some military spec gyro stabilization with... read more ›
Jun
03
There's some fun and evocative smack talking going on over at Uproxx.com that caught my attention:"Granted, some of this is entirely the fault of the indie film scene itself, which is always rife with idiocy, and these days is basically celebrating incompetence because competence is just too Hollywood, man. The hot movement, mumblecore, seriously got its name from the fact that the filmmakers lacked the technical competence to point a microphone at an actor’s mouth.... read more ›
Jun
02
Seems like every week I'm reading another story of the rights of photojournalists getting stomped on. Today, no exception. In this Virginia case, the cops seized unpublished photos from the James Madison University newspaper using a search warrant that violates journalist's privilege under the First Amendment, the Virginia Constitution and common law. "The settlement ends a month-and-a-half long debate over the photos, which began when someone from the prosecutor's office called the student newspaper a... read more ›
Jun
01
Yes, I know you're a master of lighting, that you've used every light modifier known, that you've been going to PhotoPlus for ten years, that you were one of the first bloggers, you used Twitter before it was cool and you can gauge light temperature in your sleep. Yes, I know that you sit in front of your computer reminding other photographers that they're using the wrong gear for this job or that job. But... read more ›
May
26
Two short films. Two amazing people I'd love for you to meet. 1. Soren. You know TV's reality drama "The Deadliest Catch" about the world's most dangerous profession. Well Soren Sorenson has lived that hardcore commercial fisherman's life for 50 years, and he's lived it without an ounce of bravado or showmanship, despite his record-breaking catches and the fact that 6 of his boats have ended up on the bottom of the ocean. Now at... read more ›
