This is a beautiful series of images by photographer Pieter Hugo, shot over a period of two years on the outskirts of shantytowns in Nigeria. These images show men and young children with wild animals such as hyenas and monkeys that have been trained to perform, often acting as the sole source of income for these families.
Hard drives are something we all need. But in an industry that advances (i.e. depreciates) so quickly and with increases in price due to flooding in Thailand, how can we be sure we’re getting what’s right for us? And how can we stay technologically flexible with upcoming releases when we have ‘old’ hard drives? Do I need Thunderbolt? Do I need more than two hard drives? How can daisy-chaining help me? These are some of the starter questions that lead into an entire breakdown of what you might need in certain situations. [more]
Today we can finally wrap up the Fstoppers 2011 behind the scenes video contest. This contest ran for 4 months in 2011 and ended on December 31st. In January Patrick and I watched each of the 120 video submissions and narrowed our favorite down to 12. We then sent those 12 videos to our celebrity judges and they chose their favorites. without further adieu, these are the top 3 winners.
We’re so excited to announce the finalists for our 2011 Behind The Scenes Contest. Thank you to EVERYONE who participated. The videos this year really blew us away! We were forced to choose our top 12 videos to make it to the finals instead of the the top 10 we had planned. From this stage, they will be sent off to our celebrity judges for the final round who will choose a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winner! Good luck!
I’m not sure what has gotten into Chase Jarvis lately. First he decided to be a judge for our 2011 Behind The Scenes Contest. Next he flies over to Hong Kong to test a new Lego camera. And now I come to find that he’s running his own “Will It Blend” campaign with the brand new Polaroid Z340 instant digital camera. Whatever the reason is for his latest antics, I’m glad Chase made this video because I’ve been wanting a digital AND film Polaroid camera since I picked up a camera. Sure they would be fun during trips and parties but what if you passed one or two of these out at your next wedding for the guests to have fun with? How big of a hit would that be! If Chase has any pull with the folks over at Polaroid, we’d love to see a version with a simple hotshoe on top so we could use bounce light or a pocket wizard with these things. With paper refills at $17, it wouldn’t be the cheapest thing you could bring to a wedding but I’m sure your clients would be talking about it for years! What do you guys think?
Okay, I know my title is a bit dramatic but nevertheless I really think this is one of the best videos I’ve seen this last year for any working professional. Yesterday, Chase Jarvis had Ramit Sethi on his Chase Jarvis Live site, and the conversation was a cornerstone pillar for any working professional photographer. You see, Ramit is a New York Times and Amazon best seller book author (his book I Will Teach You To Be Rich is a classic), and he dropped by Chase’s studio for some candid yet blunt answers on how a professional should run his career. Ramit covers how to book worthwhile jobs that satisfy you both creatively and financially and a ton of great advice that can be very psychological at times. The interview is super long so pace yourself, but if you stick with it I think you will be 10x more successful than you currently are (but hey I’m no fortune teller). Oh and if you want an early start on a great career in photography, why not let Chase Jarvis judge your own work by entering into our behind the scenes contest he is judging! Sorry about the sound at times.
The Fstoppers 2011 Behind The Scenes Contest has been picking up momentum as we near the submission deadline (December 31st). We are giving away over $20,000 in prizes which is pretty exciting on it’s own but I’m happy to say that things are about to get even better. We have finalized all of the judges for this competition and these four are some of the best in the industry. Check out the full post to see each of their bios.
Last week we featured part 1 of ReDefine’s interview with Chase Jarvis. The second half of the interview was just released and Chase talks a little about pushing yourself and being your own biggest critic while at the same time taking all the negativity that comes with being in the spotlight with a grain of salt. Lee and I have seen so many ridiculous comments about photographers and their work here on Fstoppers and other popular websites (heaven knows I’ve taken a few punches myself). In today’s uber web social world, sometimes it seems if you haven’t caused a stir of criticism of some sort then perhaps you haven’t made something profound. It seems as photographers, most of us are driven by creativity and competition but the best competition you should have is with yourself. I hope you guys find Chase’s words encouraging as he reminds everyone that even at the top of your career you are going to face people who question your vision. Stay strong and keep truckin’ because the light at the end of the tunnel, may be you! Goodnight!
Chase Jarvis has become one of the most inspiring figures for both amateur and professional photographers alike. His successful career as an advertisement photographer has only been eclipsed by his overall entrepreneurship. Recently Chase sat down for an interview with Tamara Lackey to explain his self proclaimed “10 year overnight success”. I absolutely love his statement “what makes you hirable is not your technical proficiency, that is assumed…it is your vision: how you see the world.” So many photographers focus entirely too much on their lighting and completely overlook creating an image that resonates with their viewer. There is a quote that says something like “a photograph that requires a caption is a failed photograph” but I think a photographer could go further and say “people don’t care about what you had to do to create the photo, they just want to be wowed by the final image.”
Chase Jarvis is most well known for his commercial images and a history of sharing his inspiration freely on the internet. If you’ve followed his work at all then you know he frequently heads down to New Zealand to gain a head start on marketing campaigns for the northern hemisphere since the seasons are opposite. In this video Chase is shooting landscape shots of New Zealand with the Hasselblad H3D (now the H4D) for a personal project of his. The footage is amazing and I’m sure the photographs will be spectacular too once he gets done with this project. Do I smell another coffee table book brewing from the Jarvis camp?
After starting off as a graphic designer, Jeremy Cowart stepped onto the photography scene with a sink or swim mentality. I love the series Chase Jarvis is doing over at Creative Live with real photographers, and this one with Jeremy is top notch. Chase definitely subscribes to our mentality of sharing knowledge freely, and I think you can learn a lot from this video whether you are a professional photographer or just someone who enjoys it as a hobby. I almost did not post this because the audio at the beginning is really rough on the speakers so be forewarned. Also while you are watching this video, head over to Jeremy’s website to see a wide variety of images within his portfolio.
Howdy and welcome to the Wednesday Rundown. Tonight I had the chance, with a bunch of fellow fstoppers, to see Chase Jarvis speak and sign his newest book in person. It is pretty cool how Chase gives back to the community of photographers and encourages all of us to stay involved. I had the chance to meet several new people and hope to stay in contact. Thanks to Matt who sent in a video this week of a fashion shoot. contactfstoppers@gmail.com
Nikon just announced a bunch of new gear and one of the new cameras is the new D7000. While I’m personally a little disappointed in it’s lack of 720 60fps the camera does finally put 1080 video into a moderate Nikon body. All my wishful thinking aside, Chase Jarvis was approached by Nikon to shoot a short video showcasing the new video feature. Here is a little short behind the scenes promo video of Chase playing with the new camera and putting it through the ringer. Let’s hope we get our 60fps on the D300s/D700 replacement so we can stop having to borrow Canon gear to shoot our videos :) Click the full post to see Chase’s short film Benevolent Mischief and get on the Pre Order List
Chase Jarvis has started a really cool idea called Creative Live in which he gives back helpful information to other creative individuals. In this video Chase sits down with Jasmine Star who is one of the top wedding photographers in the business. I first came across Jasmine through David Jay and instantly fell in love with her. I love how they express their frustrations with living a typical 9 to 5 lifestyle and how professional photography allowed them to live the life they wanted to live. Just like them, I too went to school for something compeletely opposite of photography, and it was conversations like this that eventually lead me to change my career path to become the photographer I am today.
Chase says it really well when he says, “There is no prescription for how you get to become a photographer.” This video is not about fstoppers and shutterspeeds but rather about how to take control of your life and your passions and turn them into a business. I know wedding photography often gets a bad wrap but through wedding photography, I have been able to support myself financially every weekend and still have time to pursue other fields of photography during the week. Jasmine Star’s story is about as good as it gets, and it’s inspiring to hear her share her success story with everyone so candidly. I hope you guys enjoy this video as much as I have and I’m only half way through it!
What does a guy have to do to find a high quality, informative BTSV around here? Apparently I have to start looking at videos that were released years ago.
Here is a quick BTS Chase made over 2 years ago. We haven’t ever posted it but if you have seen it, don’t get mad at us; good BTSVs are hard to come by these days.
