My Favorite CameraBag of Tricks
Hey photo friends. Erik here with a quick recommendation for an inexpensive photo editing solution. I’ve been playing around with the CameraBag 2desktop software for the last couple months and I’m blown away at the capabilities packed into this affordable editing tool. If you’re new to photo editing and wanna save a few bucks, or you’re...
Selective Focus Can Be Your Friend — Tilt Photography on the Cheap
Hey photo friends – Erik here. While I’m typically the video guy around these parts, I wanted to hop on the blog to quickly tell you about a piece of camera gear that I’ve been enjoying lately. I picked up a Tilt Transformer from Lensbaby about a month ago and it’s now a permanent piece...
The 50 Greatest Cameras of All Time?
Hey photo friends, Erik here. I recently stumbled upon Photography Monthly’s article on “The 50 Greatest Cameras of All Time”. I was a little surprised that my beloved Olympus E-P3 didn’t make their list, but I put together this little collection of some of my other favorites with some bits of information about them for...
Buying Mics & Hacking Audio for Your DSLR Video Setup
HDSLR video is a great way to get high quality footage on a micro budget; and a great way to keep that budget micro is to be picky about what accessories are right for your setup. I recently received an email question focused on this and–in particular–if I had to choose between the Rode Stereo...
When The Music Matters–Interview with Commercial Composer McKenzie Stubbert
Erik here…As the resident video editor here at Chase Jarvis Inc, I’m on a never ending search for music. Often times the music drives the edit. The rhythm of the music can have a huge influence on the pace for the cuts and the mood can make a hilarious moment tragic. In other instances I...
Gear Details: How We Shot “Dasein: Art of Being” Documentary
Hey friends. Erik the video guy here. We’ve had a bunch of YOUR questions come in about what gear/process/technique we used to make the Dasein docu-short we posted a couple days ago so I thought I’d chime in with a quick gear- and technique-specific follow up on how this film was made. First, Chase was...
Conversation with Vincent Laforet on Gear, Career, Vision and More
The following is a transcription excerpt from a conversation a while back on #cjLIVE between yours truly and my dear friend, Pulitzer Prize winning photographer and filmmaker Vincent Laforet where we discuss gear, professional career, creative vision and more. We’ve got it on video (link at end of this post), but I think the transcript...
Open Discussion: Why Go Retro?
Hey all, Erik here with a quick guest post about a subject that’s raised a lively debate in our studio. Everyone on our crew has long been shooting with Polaroids, rangefinders, micro 4/3 cameras adapted to accept vintage lenses…even processing digital images to look like they came out of an old dusty camera. Surveying the...
The Passage of Time [60 Second Landscape Results]
Hey friends, Erik here with the results from the 60 Second Landscape challenge I issued a two weeks ago today. We were blown away by the volume and quality of your entries, and we’re excited to show you our 4 favorites. Chase’s personal fav is above, 3 other freshies after the jump. Hit ‘continue reading’...
60 Second Landscape Challenge
Erik here with a quick little weekend video challenge for y’all. In the spirit of Chase’s 60 Second Portraits, we’ve been toying with AND wanna see some of YOUR… 60 Second Landscapes. So here’s a challenge from us to you: Grab your video-capable capturing device and hit the streets/mountains/beaches/what-have-you’s and roll a quick one minute...
Essential HDSLR Gear: The Rode Stereo Video Mic
[Alrighty gear heads. Erik here with a continuation of the series of posts where I elaborate on the gear that I consider essential for my video job here at CJinc. I previously discussed how the Zaucto Z-Finder helps me guarantee the visual quality of my video, and in this post I'll explain how the Rode...
10 Minute Film School with Robert Rodriguez
[Erik here with a quick guest post about some videos I wanted to share. I find them incredibly informative and inspiring, and I hope you do to.] Robert Rodriguez is a special breed of filmmaker, a breed that we’ll continue to see more and more of as filmmaking technology becomes increasingly accessible and affordable. The...



