I’ve been away – hence the silence – but even while travelling (and taking pictures on my ‘grown-up’ camera) I couldn’t help reaching for my iPhone and taking a few pictures here and there.

Not because the camera is great, but because of the Best Camera application, which is simply fantastic.

I’ll write about the application itself more in the next few days, but today I just want to mention Chase Jarvis, the guy behind this application.

Today a prominent American photographer, blogger and podcaster Scott Bourne announced Chase Jarvis Photographer of the Year 2009. And I think that this is a well-deserved title. I would possibly modify it to Photographer-Innovator of the Year.

So why does Chase deserve the title? Here’s Scott:

His work is as different from anything I’ve ever seen as it can be. And I admit to sometimes being unsettled by it. Sometimes I don’t get it. Most of the time, I’m blown away by it. But even the unsettling stuff and the stuff I don’t get are very valid reasons to recognize the work. Chase is never satisfied with the conventional or with good enough. He doesn’t rest until he gets what he wants. And he has VERY big vision. It’s probably the key to much of his success. He shoots like a five-year-old. And I mean that as a compliment. There’s an old saying. All children are born artists. The key is to keeping them that way. In the case of Chase Jarvis, it worked. He works with freedom and abandon that is empowering.

And to understand what Scott means you must have a good browse through Chase’s portfolio. Yes, the words ‘different’ and ‘unsettling’ are fully justified. Great man, great photographer, great shots.

Oh, and did I mention The Best Camera…?