Podcast: Creative Innovation & Visual Voodoo, with Chase Jarvis
Release Date: 03/27/2025
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Industrial expansion has left an indelible mark on our natural world, fundamentally altering landscapes and ecosystems for the sake of material progress and modern convenience. This transformation has created an environmental challenge of unprecedented scale. In today’s show, we’ll connect the dots between the raw materials that make up our planet and the industrial forces visually altering our contemporary landscape in a chat with a photographer who’s documented these profound global changes firsthand for the past 50 years. Applying visual principals rooted in abstract expressionist...
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Every photographer dreams of publishing a book of their photographs. But what exactly does that entail? In today’s show, we’re going to peek behind the scenes of this complex and daunting process in a chat with two complementary figures who’ve spent their respective careers helping to redefine what a photo book can be. Starting with three basic questions—Why a book? Why now? And what is the role of a book in your career at this time?—our discussion expands to cover a broad range of concerns. From distinguishing between the many different publishing models available today, to insights...
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Reshape Your Skills Throughout Your Photo Career, with Aaron Anderson & Chris Orwig
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At first glance, photographers Chris Orwig and Aaron Anderson seem an unlikely pairing—with the natural light and high key palette of Chris’s portraits forming a sharp contrast to the cinematic lighting and film noir aura featured in Aaron’s work. Yet, their heartfelt discussion about creative reinvention in today’s podcast celebrates the notion that opposites attract. Adding to our core topic of reshaping skills at every stage of your career, we’ll also delve into keeping abreast of creative trends and remaining relevant as a creator in an increasingly competitive commercial...
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High-Octane Motor Sports Photography, with Camden Thrasher & Jamey Price
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Nothing beats the thundering energy and human drama that unfolds across the surface of an automotive racetrack. Photographers who specialize in this adrenaline-fueled niche are best served by nerves of steel and the high endurance to lug multiple cameras and the long lenses needed to freeze the action. In today’s show, we plunge headfirst into what it takes to cover the many facets of auto racing with two of the finest professionals in the field, photographers Camden Thrasher and Jamey Price. From stories of unexpected hurdles to access when scouting an unfamiliar course to the mix of...
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Photo Industry Tips from High-End Assistants, with Mike Foley & Alex Savidis
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Podcast: Creative Innovation & Visual Voodoo, with Chase Jarvis
B&H Photography Podcast
Above Photograph © Chase Jarvis We’ve all heard the saying “The best camera is the one that’s with you.” But do you know how this catch phrase ended up as a mantra of the mobile economy? In today’s show, we speak with Chase Jarvis, the man behind Best Camera—the wildly successful photo sharing app that predated Instagram—to get an inside look at his wild ride. A born entrepreneur and self-made photographer with a hunger that always worked against the grain, Chase’s meteoric rise in action sports/lifestyle photography dovetailed with the dawn of the sharing economy,...
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AI-Powered Wedding Photography Workflows, with Sam Hurd & Justin Benson
B&H Photography Podcast
Photographers often react instinctively against artificial intelligence, typically focusing on controversial generative AI. Meanwhile, a different branch of AI technology—machine learning systems—has been making remarkable progress helping photographers manage overwhelming image workflows under tight deadlines. In today's show, we explore this trending topic in a discussion with Justin Benson and Sam Hurd, both accomplished wedding photographers and tech entrepreneurs. Justin begins by clarifying the distinction between machine learning and generative AI before taking us...
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Picturing the World from Immersive to Eternal, with Claudio Edinger
B&H Photography Podcast
Above Photograph © Claudio Edinger When it comes to photography, Claudio Edinger has a Midas touch. Equally celebrated for his immersive photo series, the intimacy of his portraits, and his aerial views that conjure a sense of the eternal through selective focus, his compulsion for research drives adjustments to his photographic strategy from one project to the next. In today’s show, we unpack the many facets of Claudio’s storied career, from his arrival in New York and early documentation of Brooklyn’s Hasidic community in the late 1970s to the environmental portraits he made inside...
info_outlineAbove Photograph © Chase Jarvis
We’ve all heard the saying “The best camera is the one that’s with you.” But do you know how this catch phrase ended up as a mantra of the mobile economy? In today’s show, we speak with Chase Jarvis, the man behind Best Camera—the wildly successful photo sharing app that predated Instagram—to get an inside look at his wild ride.
A born entrepreneur and self-made photographer with a hunger that always worked against the grain, Chase’s meteoric rise in action sports/lifestyle photography dovetailed with the dawn of the sharing economy, leading him to a moonshot idea. The ensuing saga of Best Camera’s viral success, subsequent demise, and Chase’s quick pivot into his next visionary business model—Creative Live—is both a cautionary tale and a redemption story. All told, you’ll gain fascinating insights into the nexus of creative innovation and big business at the highest levels.
When asked about his biggest take away from Best Camera given the benefit of hindsight, Chase doesn’t miss a beat, responding, “If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together.”
Guest: Chase Jarvis
Episode Timeline:
3:44: How Chase’s mastery of sports and the gift of his grandfather’s camera gear led to a passion for teaching himself photography.
9:33: Channeling real-world examples from his grandfather and father into early pictures, along with library books about the masters’ and photographic techniques.
15:35: The development of Chase’s early entrepreneurial spirit and how his second-grade teacher stifled these efforts.
22:50: Bucking trends and connecting with the uniqueness you bring to your images as a creative style.
26:32: Embracing social media and the sharing community early on and the ability to see around the corner as an entrepreneur.
35:53: Chase’s fast track to commercial success, technological innovation, and developing the Best Camera App.
46:20: Episode Break
47:48: The lessons learned from the Best Camera failure and how Chase channeled these lessons into the success of the first livestreaming learning platform, Creative Live.
52:24: Making the pivot from the first live photo feed to building Creative Live as a way to answer questions the questions asked by a massive global audience.
1:00:51: Creative Live’s pioneering approach to a freemium business model, plus offering access as a core company value.
1:05:29: The most popular offerings at Creative Live: the fundamentals, the business of classes, and the big name thought leaders.
1:12:38: Chase’s views on the current—and future—landscape in social media, creativity, and AI, plus advice for getting comfortable being uncomfortable.
1:20:43: What success means to Chase, and the message in his recent book Never Play it Safe: A Practical Guide to Freedom, Creativity and a Life You Love.
Guest Bio:
Chase Jarvis is an award-winning artist, entrepreneur, bestselling author, and one of the most influential photographers of the past 20 years, whose diverse portfolio spans from advertising campaigns for Apple, Nike, and Red Bull to collaborations with athletes like Serena Williams and icons such as Lady Gaga and Sir Richard Branson. As an early adopter of social media and the sharing economy, Chase created Best Camera (the first photo-sharing app) in 2009 and co-founded the online education platform CreativeLive in 2010. Chase has spoken on six continents and advised Fortune 100 companies, with invitations to both the Obama White House and Buckingham Palace. Based in Seattle with his wife Kate and their dog Bodhi, he hosts the widely successful Chase Jarvis LIVE podcast (over 50 million downloads) while serving on several nonprofit boards.
Stay Connected:
Chase Jarvis Website: https://chasejarvis.com/
Chase Jarvis Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chasejarvis
Chase Jarvis Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chasejarvis
Chase Jarvis Twitter: https://x.com/chasejarvis
Chase Jarvis YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ChaseJarvis
Chase Jarvis Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chase_Jarvis
Chase Jarvis Best Camera App: https://chasejarvis.com/project/the-best-camera/
Chase Jarvis Creative Live: https://www.creativelive.com/instructor/chase-jarvis
Chase Jarvis Never Play It Safe book: https://chasejarvis.com/never-play-it-safe/
End Credits:
Host: Derek Fahsbender
Senior Creative Producer: Jill Waterman
Senior Technical Producer: Mike Weinstein
Executive Producer: Richard Stevens