Chase Jarvis At CES 2011. Learn From Your Mistakes.

by jared1January 14^th, 2011

I originally shot this for my personal site Wide Open Camera but think it may have relevance here on C5D.
Chase Jarvis was chilling at the Polaroid lounge at CES and I got the opportunity to hit him up with a few questions. He recently teamed up with Polaroid along with Lady Gaga to be part of their creative team. Chase has propelled himself to photographer super stardom. I really admire the way he has put together an amazing team and built himself into a brand name. I truly believe that this is the new way for creative professionals to present themselves to potential clients. Letting your work speak for itself, is simply not enough. In today’s super competitive world we must do something to set ourselves apart from the pack. Chase Jarvis and company has done this perfectly. They have managed to retain a personal feel to everything that they do. This is a key element in today’s impersonal world. This philosophy has resonated soundly for me personally.
I have never been afraid to show both the good and bad work that I have done. In a way, I feel that it shows growth. I would attribute my own personal success to this. In today’s world I believe that it is important to connect with potential clients. Putting myself on camera is my way of doing it. I will admit that it is not nearly as much fun as being behind the camera but I felt that it was a risk I was willing to take to get the information out to my viewers. This eventually snowballed into a mass number of informational videos. We are shooting an average of twenty videos a month, mostly crap. Every once in a while we hit the sweet spot. I am not suggesting that this is the only path to success. However, the still market is rapidly moving into a hybrid of Motion and Stills. A concept we have embraced whole-heartedly at Wide Open Camera. This process has given us the opportunity to shoot almost every day of the week. In the course of doing it, we have learned much about the craft and about ourselves, something that cannot be learned by sitting at a desk. So, heed Chase’s words and get off your ass and away from your computer and go “Shoot More Pictures!”