As a springboard from all the portrait work I’ve done over the past three years, I, at some time during that process, became really attuned/enamored/moved by people’s faces and started experimenting with a new creative study. Internally we’re calling it “60”. In short, it’s really simple: I’m taking 60 second video portraits of people. No instruction, no direction, no coaching, nothing. Just the camera pointed at them for a minute.
Although the concept is simple, I’ve found the results to be pretty interesting. At a fundamental level, the human face says a lot, even without the person saying anything at all.
While I’ve been at this for a while, I thought it would be time to start sharing some of these portraits here on the blog. This chase jarvis 60 features world-renowned explorer Mike Horn. You may remember Mike from my Pangaea experience across the South China Sea with Panerai watches. [Lots of posts here, here, and here.] It was a life changing experience for me, and a good bit of it was getting to know Mike. Hopefully you’ll get to know him a little here as well.
Love to know your thoughts.
[aside: if you are interested in seeing these videos when I post them to youtube, rather than just the occasional ones that make it here to the blog, you’re invited to subscribe to my youtube channel here. thx]
Shout out to McKenzie Stubbert for the music.
The feel i get from this is discomfort. He looks like he feels uncomfortable the way he moves his mouth and jaw, and of course the squinting. His lips look dry and chapped, the environment looks harsh and bright.
So what do I see about hiis character from this one 60 second portrait? He seems shy, withdrawn, beaten. He seeems like he has been through a recent hard time. I don’t see this man laughing or exerting himself. He does not seem to have personal power except for passive resistance of force.
I would be interested to see more of these. The subtlety of facial movement is interesting. Having shot a lot of still portraits, I do wonder how much of it is simply starting down the camera in discomfort for the subject.
Chase,
which music is are you using here – it kind a adds to the total experience. Using other music would give a completely other effect.
greetz,
Werner
The music is an original composition by our friend McKenzie Stubbert. You can hear more of his work (including the full piece from this video) on his website http://www.mckenziestubbert.com
Interesting… Watched several times with & without sound and find the san sound version much more intense and intriguing. Not sure if others found this the same way or opposite as more attention was given to the conceptualization and technical aspects of the “60”.
Wow! what a face! and a very interesting concept.
Possibly a few shorter segments taken at different times could capture more of the character and personality.
Very interesting concept, I like, I like alot.
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