Canon: Jimmy Chin
Jimmy Chin is a photographer, filmmaker and world class mountain climber. In early 2015, I began a six-month long push to convince Canon to sign Jimmy as an Explorer Of Light — an officially sponsored Canon photographer. At the time, Canon’s roster was, to be frank, a bunch of old white guys. They needed a big push to step into the future with a more diverse group of artists that produce great work AND understand social media. I’m proud I could help push Canon in the right direction by bringing Jimmy into the fold as the star of the program, years before he won an Oscar for directing Free Solo, the Best Documentary of 2018.
Our first branded campaign with Jimmy was for Canon Professional Service & Support — a huge differentiator for Canon versus Nikon and Sony. We captured our content up in the Gunks with help from an incredibly talented drone pilot and Mikey Schaefer, another world class climber/photographer.
Jimmy doesn’t just have a million followers on Instagram because he posts pretty pictures. He’s a bonafide celebrity within the outdoor/climbing world. Walking around with him in a climbing environment during our shoot was like strolling down 5th Avenue with Brad Pitt. Girls swooning, climbers asking for autographs.
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