Jan 10

Leading a Visual Life: The Sartorialist

I didn't grow up dreaming to be a photographer. I didn't assist for anybody. I just started doing it... The way I do it is just the way I do it.Beautiful piece here about Scott Schumann, aka The Sartorialist. In the unlikely event you're not familiar with his work, he's an ex-fashion guy turned street photographer. Plenty to be learned here for any creative discipline. Brilliant, simple style. Confident in his vision. Living... read more ›
Jan 05

The Joy of Discovering Un-deveolped Film [a video]

From my early childhood I have a memory of my parents shooting a couple photos during the holiday season, a couple more during my birthday party, maybe ten or twenty on the family vacation and then--when the roll of 24 exposures was used up--they'd pop the film outta the back of the camera and throw it in the drawer. Usually after about another month or two they'd re-discover the roll. And they'd run it down... read more ›
Jan 03

Communicating Emotion: Review of A vs B Photo Discussion

I love how opinionated this community is. There is no right, no wrong - just a good bit of discussion... In case you're lost, I promised to follow up this earlier popular Which Photo is Better A or B? post. The discussion on these is always spirited--in this case the post received more than 1000 comments in 24 hours--of which I read them all. A breakdown by numbers, my particular take (it was different than... read more ›
Dec 30

Reason #2,525 Why I love HDSLRs [Erik’s Guest Post]

[Reminder: Since each of my staff are experts in their own right, you’ll be seeing more and more posts from these talented people in weeks and months to come. Today, Erik--our video guru--takes you on a ride down the HDdSLR road to extol yet another reason he loves this cool new format. (It also is a pretty fun recall of some fun behind-the-scenes moments from 2010.) Take it away Erik...] My interest in becoming a... read more ›
Dec 21

The 60 Second Portrait [Mike Horn]

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,... read more ›
Dec 20

Tips on Black & White Post Production [Scott’s Guest Post]

--- Since each of my staff are experts in their own right, fielding a growing amount of questions from you fine folks--and it's nice to get a change in perspective--you'll be seeing more and more posts from these talented people in weeks and months to come. Today, Scott takes the reins and answers a popular question about making great black & white images, with a case study to show you how. Take it away Scotty...... read more ›
Dec 17

Chase Jarvis SHORTS: Don’t Forget to Have a Laugh [video]

So much of the discussion in the photography and advertising worlds online is about the serious side of things. Creative problems, budgets, timelines, travel, gear, etc. And, indeed, there's a lot of serious aspects therein. But in truth--especially when shooting on location--there's a whole helluva a lot of fun that happens. And that fun is an important part of it that rarely comes across in all the photo/film industry ranting online. It's that... read more ›
Dec 16

Get Some: Tasty Holiday Tidings Like Wine & Chocolate

Quick diversion from the normal banter here... What goes well with the holidays and photo books? Wine and chocolate. Wine and chocolate? Hopefully you're aware of my latest photo book project, Seattle 100: Portrait of City (hardback 10x10" 240 pages, 300 photographs - all my proceeds go to non-profit www.4culture.org). I've alluded to it in some posts before, but as a side show, we got together with a few friends and made some very tasty... read more ›
Dec 13

To Want To Be Successful is Not Enough

To want. To be ambitious. To want to be successful is not enough. That's just desire... In this 90 second clip, the actor Kevin Spacey gets to the core of what it takes. Some amazingly simple, powerful words for us all to live by. Happy Monday.
Dec 10

In Case You Missed it: Jeremy Cowart on Chase Jarvis LIVE [Rewatch]

If you missed the Jeremy Cowart episode of chasejarvisLIVE last week--bummer cause it was a really good one. LOTs of good info about the struggles involved in turning pro. Gear talk, starting your business, agents, stories of the lean times, amazing gigs and more. And here's some good news: the above YouTube vid is a rewatch of that broadcast. Jeremy is a great photographer and a uber-talented, hardworking and humble guy. And he's... read more ›