CHASE JARVIS NEW iPHONE APP, BOOK, COMMUNITY
©2009 Chase Jarvis Blog
I am floored, speechless, amazed and inspired by something I can’t even get my brain quite around yet, although to the gazillions already downloading Chase Jarvis’ “The Best Camera” Apple iPhone application and book of his iPhone images, as well as those many who are uploading and sharing their iPhone pix on Chase’s new community site it probably seems bloody obvious. See what I’m talking about here: thebestcamera.com – The Best Photos
So what is the new business model for photographers? We’ve been riding a razor rollercoaster through this down economy combined with the rise of “free” as a suposed way to engage with the digital revolution. Give your work away for free has been the clarion call, especially among the undereducated mobs of young people struggling to break into a career in photography. I’ve been asking here on my blog as well as at my talks around the country, and brainstorming at my workshops, to find solutions to the onslaught of the free thinking as to what could be a viable model for making a living as a photographer. What’s wrong with copyright law? Why do we suddenly need to give away all we worked for because of disruptive new technology that has created cheaper distribution methods?
Well, Chase has just shown the way forward. Raised the bar a skyscraper’s height, but still, he has shown how to take the new media of social networking and create something financially rewarding AND actually meaningful because people responded, en masse, to participate. And anytime you can create a community around something you have shown that you are doing something worth doing.
We all need to pay attention to this development. I mark it as the most significant synthesis of new media thinking and action within the photo community since… Photoshop?? Well, you can decide if I’m smoking something or not for yourself, but please check out what Chase is doing, it’s truly groundbreaking.
It’s a nice app. People make their photos look nice, and share them.
But what is the new business model for photographers? You raise the question here, but I don’t see how Chase is showing the way forward. Are we photographers supposed to create iPhone apps and free photo sharing sites? I would genuinely appreciate any clarification as I am missing the business model.
Yeah, I guess that sounds a bit insane. No I don’t mean the model is exactly what Chase did. Apologies, and let me try to clarify. I mean that photographers should try to think of other ways to pull together the new social media with their work in similar ways. If you can create a product from your work that also creates a community and promotes your work, all the better. It’s a high high bar but it does at least point to another way of creating revenue from your photographs and related activity. Social networking builds awareness and an audience, which Chase then offered his app and book, both of which generate income. And the book promotes his work. The community is a brilliant way to make it self sustaining and continue indefinitely. So can all of us think of something exactly like this? Not easy, but can we take parts of this and adapt to our own niche, yes of course we can.
Elements of this model can also be seen with David DuChemin’s Within the Frame. He set up a Flickr group and a podcast that went with his book. Similarly Chris Orwig’s Visual Poetry has a website and several Flickr groups for readers to use to post their photos. I think we are just scratching the surface of some kind of interactive publishing movement. Specifically what Chase did was to take his concept and make it easier for people to experience it through the app, the book and the website.
Paul, so cool and thanks for the references! I think it’s the tip. Especially in regards to how we feed our families. Chase is selling a ton of apps and books. The book is of his work. His pictures. That is significant as it’s easy to see this just in terms of community or how to use technology. Photographers getting paid for photography is what I’m interested in supporting most in the age of FREE.