Chase Jarvis RAW: [not] Getting To Portland

You should know that the above video is not my typical video. Sure it’s a Chase Jarvis RAW – the series where I normally show a bunch of behind the scenes footage from a shoot – but this is different because, while this certainly is the backstage of “a shoot,” there are ultimately no models, no cameras, no lighting, no wardrobe or props anywhere to be found in this video. Huh? I understand that sounds weird. If you need these things in your photography videos, I totally understand, but wait for my next vid and don’t watch this one. Seriously. No hard feelings. On the other hand, if you can do without those things, and if you want to share in the less-well-known side of the coin, then please read on, and do watch.

In truth, we just whipped this thing together in about 8 hours. It isn’t at all a video I set out to make initially, but when I realized what it was turning into, I didn’t try to change it either. It deserves to be out there because it’s pretty real and also:

1) it involves personal work, for which I’m a huge advocate. Personal projects–like my Songs for Eating and Drinking project–are deeply important to me and I think they should be to all creatives.

2) much of being a professional photographer is a lot broader than f-stops, megapixels, and lighting mods – the ironic cornerstones of photography vids on the web. The problem solving, the travel, the budget, the will, the pre-production, the art for art’s sake, and having fun while doing all those things actually take up a most of the typical day, yet they’re rarely discussed or explored. This video has peculiar instances of each of those things, and I hope we can now begin to explore them more fully.

3) I’m an advocate of saying yes, and giving a shit and trying, even when it’s sometimes recognizably not in the cards. Stupid? Maybe. But it’s historically yielded good results. I’ve advocated this before in a popular post called To Go Or Not To Go. I suppose this is just an extension of that same idea with a different outcome.

4) There’s a couple great elements of community. First, there’s my crew. I love them. So cool and fun. I’m grateful to have somehow tricked them into working with me. Second. If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you may know of — or, hell, may even be one of those generous people who responded to — my outrageous requests for private jets just a couple days ago. The funniest part? You made it happen, and that is freaking cool. I wasn’t able to take you up on the offer for a variety of weird reasons, but you made it a possibility. So in a quirky way, this vid is a thank you, thank you too.

So again, you might think this has no place in the behind-the-scenes-photography video realm, but I think it fits just fine.