Chase Jarvis Tells Forbes How He Became The Photographer Everyone Wants to Work With

Chase Jarvis Tells Forbes How He Became The Photographer Everyone Wants to Work With

Dan Schawbel, a contributing writer for Forbes online and author of the best selling book "Promote Yourself," recently met up with famed photographer Chase Jarvis. The interview that resulted is an interesting look at how he became such a force in the photographic world. The interview of course touches on CreativeLive and how it came to be, but it also goes into the philosophies that have shaped his entire photographic career.
That's the part that I think most of you will really want to dig in and pay attention.

It wouldn't be right to pull the entire interview into this post, but there is one part I want to make sure you see since many of you may not go on to read the entire piece. When asked what career advice he would give, Chase listed three things. This first one is incredibly powerful:

Scratch your own itch. What problems/challenges/stories are you currently living through? Whatever your answer - it’s those stories you should be telling with your art, it’s those solutions that you should be providing with your business, service, startup, etc. If you’re going to change the world – or at least make a dent in it – then you’d better be carrying some real energy and passion into the challenge, because you’re gonna need it. If you’re trying to solve other people’s problems you’ll probably run out of gas before somebody else (someone who actually cares about the itch) beats you to it.

It's a little hard to hear I know, but the man speaks the truth. I highly recommend that you click the link below and read the entirety of the interview.

Via Forbes

David Bickley's picture

Award winning photographer, Fstoppers writer and entrepreneurial consultant David Bickley is wholly engaged in helping people become more. Be it more confident via the portraits and fitness photos that brought him world-wide recognition, or more profitable in business through mentoring... David lives to bring his client's voice out into the world.

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23 Comments

Whether you like Chase or not, you have to admit the dude knows what he is talking about.

I'm not sure if you're even able to not like Chase. He's just a cool dude...

Totally agree, he's the man, but there are always haters for some unknown reason.

I love the last video he did for DigitalRev where he was "dressed" as Kai.

Trust me, it's possible :-)

The "this is how I became a success" stuff gets old after awhile.

Did he hire a DJ to spin hipster hits while he gave the interview through a black and white monitor?

Behind every successful photographer is a DI artist...

Dl artist?

yeah. Digital Imaging Artist.

he is a jerk.. and society love jerks these days.
look at all the b promis who can NOTHING have no SKILLS at all.
but make millions just showing how dumb they are.
don´t go to school.... be ridicolous that what makes you real money.

Don't be jealous. The guy worked hard and became very successful, something you will never do.

I'd like to see you take good photos with a piece of crap camera made of lego. (Hint. Search Chase Jarvis: Lego camera on youtube)

I like his photos but...

Dat ego. It doesn't really come out here but his bio of his website is...It's probably the greatest photog humblebrag I've ever read.

And you feel threatened by his ego because of yours? I mean, I read him as an inspiration and goal, not as if I was offended by his "bragging". Envy is a bad thing that only keeps you from improving.

Like I said, I enjoy a lot of what he says and find it useful.

But no, I don't necessarily feel threatened. It's just a notable observation that contrasts to other observations that I've made about other photographers like Zack Arias.

I also have a professor at the university that I attend who is a successful Texas editorial photographer. He's much too busy teaching others his passion and creating work of his own to toot his own horn.

And why would I feel threatened? He's in his mid-forties with 20 years of photographic experience and he lives in a completely different area? I'm 20, still in college, with at most 5 years experience? It would be like me being jealous of an NBA player when I'm just an intramural dude who plays on the weekends.

It's pointless and doesn't make sense.

I just don't like people who build themselves up like that, intentional or otherwise. Just let your work speak and quit telling people how good you are.

Just saw this today and thought it was awesome:

"Remember, when you're good at something, you'll tell everyone. When you're great at it… they'll tell you."

Not sure who it's originally from.

I don't find his bio page to be brag-ish actually. A little bit being playful maybe. Some people 'brag' humorously and some even would intentionally 'brag' to challenge people to bring out the best in them. Then again I haven't met him in person, so it's too early for me to judge.

All hail the king of neckbeards.

HAHAHAHAHA!!!

Wonderful article. Real talk coming from Jarvis.

He is a photographer, and we are photographers, like him or not we are all the same. Being negative towards a fellow photographer or anyone for that matter is not helping you or anyone else.

While you can be positive towards the person, you can be negative towards their work. Criticism is healthy if taken in this respect.

The only problem is that some people don't know the differance between being negative or giving a critique of work.