Career info:
Chase Jarvis travels the world and operates also in Europe trough his satellite office in Paris. Chase Jarvis Inc. Seattle and Chase Jarvis Inc. Paris are the centers of all his activities. His campaigns have taken him to the deserts of Dubai, the mountains of Austria and the beaches of Hawaii.
Jarvis started as a 100% location shooter with extreme sports. He attended College with a soccer scholarship, and though he was majoring in philosophy and premed, it was the passing of his grandfather that changed everything in his life. He became the beneficiary of his grand-father's camera with a few lenses and from there Jarvis taught himself to shoot when he went to Europe with his girlfriend and now wife and business partner Katy. Back from Europe, Jarvis then bailed out of med school. Instead of becoming a doctor, he moved to Colorado to live and started taking pictures of his friends who were extreme skiers and wait tables at night. "Losing, winning, getting hurt and upset were among my favourite subjects. And I just loved skiing, snowboarding and hiking mountains" says Jarvis. He started working with big names in extreme skiing and snowboarding and then many magazines and people were asking Jarvis to license his pictures. "Ski all day, take pictures and get 500$ at the end of the day for my pictures was the best job in the world for me"
Soon Jarvis became popular and was poised with SUV companies to get a X-Games look for their print and television campaigns. Despite being a self-taught photographer, soon major companies began licensing his work and from there Jarvis never looked back.
His success in the commercial photography world also allowed him to pursue personal interests on the side. His project "Songs for Eating and Drinking" raises funds by attracting many famous artists like Pearl Jam and Jarvis takes stills and videos of those events that he posts online.
Jarvis uses Nikon and Hasselblad for print campaigns and Canon for video. He was the first pro to use a video-capable DSLR, the Nikon D90 that Nikon offered him to test and work on the worldwide launch campaign. But Jarvis doesn't emphasize on gear too much. He believes creativity is the thing that he thrives for and he is addicted to: "Creativity... what a great drug to be addicted too"
Jarvis is known to push the envelope with regard to leveraging both his talent as an image-maker, and his knowledge of emerging technologies to stay engaged. He is moving, shaking and changing photography and this is one of the reasons why professionnal photographers are a little irritated by him. What makes Jarvis very unique is his presence online. Many photographers in the industry cringe at unveiling the details behind their processes but Jarvis revels in sharing his techniques and ideas behind his work such as live behind-the-scenes videos, step-through on gear and Jarvis' on creative process. Not every photographer in the industry agree on Jarvis' way of doing things but "unless my lawyer advises me not to, everything goes online". He strongly believes that this way of doing things brings him a lot of business.
"I was the first pro to share as much online and I was getting hated on by the long time pros of the industry for revealing secrets". But Jarvis believes his transparency is what brings him so much business. He is very interactive with his audience through Twitter and Facebook and downloadable podcasts via iTunes. His other project "The Best Camera Is The One That's With You" became instantly an Amazon bestseller. Comprised of shots taken with his iPhone, it's a gallery of fine art which pushes him to shoot constantly to refine his art everyday. Apple is also one of his major clients and he created an iPhone application where filters and effects replicate Jarvis own style and look.
Being a professional photographer since 1996 Jarvis is convinced that times are changing and tomorrow's photography will be very different from yesterday's and today's. Photographers are now facing an onslaught fierce competition online and getting traffic to your website is today's biggest challenge. Only the ones who understand very well where photography is now going and the new kind of technology it involves will become successful. Jarvis believes that any professional scared of the "anybody with a DSLR today can become a professional photography" are photographers who need to become much better photographers and businessperson.
Chase Jarvis' enormous success is due to his awesome creativity and his way of understanding where the industry is moving and how it's changing.
