When a listener asked Chris, Jordan, and Jaron to share how their careers (all the highs and lows) have gone over the years, the team decided it was worthy of a main story segment to itself.

Speaking of creative journeys, OM SYSTEM has announced their last call for entries in their contest and community-based project Tell Your Story which is aimed at promoting and showcasing the capabilities of the OM SYSTEM OM-5 camera. Renowned for its class-leading performance and weather-sealed design capable of handling any environment, the OM-5 offers remarkable computational features such as Live ND and Starry Sky AF.

Building upon the success of last year's initiative, Tell Your Story II strives to identify and empower emerging talents to advocate for OM SYSTEM products within their social communities. Through March 25th, 2024, photography enthusiasts of every skill level are invited to participate in Tell Your Story II. The project will be showcased on Instagram, on the @omsystem.generation channel. Candidates selected for Tell Your Story II will receive support from OM SYSTEM, including the OM-5 camera, lenses, and mentorship by esteemed OM SYSTEM Ambassadors, including Brooke Bartleson and Peter Baumgarten, to bring their projects to life.

Details about the program and how to participate can be found at explore.omsystem.com/petapixel.

Did you know that Chris Niccolls was very disinterested in photography for most of his young life? Did you know that Jordan Drake used the money from a canceled trip to Europe to buy a video camera, forever changing the course of his career? Did you know Jaron got his start working at a photographic lighting company? Humble beginnings all, and the three share what sparked them to continue in the photography and video space, how teaching is important to them, and how that despite the lows (of which there are many), the highs still get them excited about every day.

Burnout is real, but the trio explain how they either avoided it or worked through it to be where they are today.

We use Riverside to record The PetaPixel Podcast in our online recording studio.

We hope you enjoy the podcast and we look forward to hearing what you think. If you like what you hear, please support us by subscribing, liking, commenting, and reviewing! Every week, the trio go over comments on YouTube and here on PetaPixel, but if you’d like to send a message for them to hear, you can do so through SpeakPipe.

For those curious about our Audacity compressor settings:

• Threshold: -16 dB • Noise floor: -40 dB • Ratio: 3:1 • Attack time: 0.10 secs • Release Time: 1.0 secs • Check both "make-up gain for 0 dB after compressing" and "compress based on peaks."

In This Episode

00:00 - Intro, where Jordan asks what our first jobs were 10:24 - Leica Will Deliver a Mirrorless Medium Format Hybrid Camera ‘Within 2 Years’ 16:23 - The Hydrus Underwater Drone Wants to Be the DJI of the Sea 21:39 - Logitech joins Micro Four Thirds with the Mevo Core 26:27 - The $230 Full-Frame 50mm f/1.8 is 7Artisans’ First Autofocus Lens 30:09 - Chris, Jordan, and Jaron talk about their professional photo and video journeys 1:06:18 - What have you been up to? 1:10:23 - Tech support 1:23:23 - Never read the comments