Claim OwnershipLensWork - Photography and the Creative Process
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Random Observations on Art, Photography, and the Creative Process. These talks focus on the creative process in fine art photography. LensWork editor Brooks Jensen side-steps techno-talk and artspeak to offer a stimulating mix of ideas, experience, and observations from his 50 years as a fine art photographer, writer, and publisher. Topics include a wide range of subjects from finding subject matter to presenting your work, and building an audience.
Included in this RSS Feed are the LensWork Podcasts — posted weekly, typically 10-20 minutes exploring a topic a bit more deeply — and our almost daily Here's a thought… audios (extracted from the videos.) Here's a thought… are snippets, fragments, morsels, and tidbits from Brooks' fertile (and sometimes swiss-cheesy) brain. Usually just a minute or two. Always about photography and the art life.
Brooks Jensen is the publisher of LensWork, one of the world's most respected and award-winning photography publications, known for its museum-book quality printing and luxurious design. LensWork has subscribers in over 73 countries. He is the author of 13 books on photography and the creative life -- the latest books are The Best of the LensWork Interviews (2016), Photography, Art, and Media (2016), and the four annual volumes of Seeing in SIXES (2016-2019).
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HT2545 - On Long-term Survival
Just as a thought experiment, let's assume the long-term survival of your artwork is a concern to you. What could you do that would increase the odds of your artwork surviving into the long-term future? Would it be making prints with the most archival materials and techniques? Are you sure?
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HT2544 - Famous or Decor
I may be wrong about this and I'm more than willing to admit that, but I think photography on the wall divides itself into two fundamental types. There are photographs we frame and hang for their value as decor (goes good above the couch) or it is a photograph that is celebrated for its maker (often a collectable master). This is the main reason why I so rarely frame my photographs for display on the wall. My work tends not to be decor because it is too personal and I'm not famous nor collectible. Worse, I'm not interested in chasing fame nor chasing those kinds of images that make great decor.
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HT2543 - Choosing Your Preferred Medium
Let's say you want to read a book. Do you go to the library or bookstore, get the book and consume the miles of text across the physical pages? Or do you download the e-Publication onto your tablet or e-reader and consume the miles of text across the screen? A live symphony performance or a recording? Physical prints, or a PDF? Such decisions used to be about fidelity of the experience, but I'm not sure that's true anymore. I have countless images in my mental gallery about which I can no longer remember the medium in which I first saw them. It seems as if medium has become a matter of personal preference and choice.
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In 2007 I conceived a long-term project that I still believe in. I decided I would do an annual project consisting of five images each year whose subject would always be winter trees. (This was before Seeing in Sixes) This started off as an annual folio project but quickly expanded to an accompanying PDF version. For reasons I can't quite pin down. I did an annual five-image project for 7 years in a row and then stopped. I shouldn't have. In fact, I'm thinking of restarting this annual series. The reasons for continuing this project are still valid and have overwhelmed my lethargy.
HT2542 - Cameras and the Limits of Human Vision
We all need new, better, more feature-packed cameras, right? That is what we are being told everyday by the makers of cameras. But do we really? Has it occurred to you that today's cameras can resolve more detail than human vision? Can register more dynamic range than our media of presentation? Think and execute focus and the exposure triangle calculations faster and more reliably than is humanly possible? What more — from a technology point of view — do we need?
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HT2541 - The Element of Fun
I tend to be pretty serious about my photography and creative life. Sometimes, I'll have to admit, that seriousness becomes an impediment to something important — fun! When we lose the element of fun, we lose one of the best reasons to be involved with photography. Fine art photography can be a serious pursuit, but it becomes a much more enjoyable pursuit if our creative decisions include a sprinkling of fun and simple joy. Instead of working hard for a picture, can we instead play hard for a picture?
This RSS feed includes only the most recent seven Here's a Thought episodes. All of them — over 2500 and counting! — are available to members of LensWork Online. Try a 30-day membership for only $10 and discover the literally terabytes of content about photography and the creative process.
Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!
HT2540 - There Is No Favorite
I received an email I had to think about before responding. The writer asked if out of the 180 projects I've published in Kokoro, did I have a favorite? I couldn't help feel this was like asking which of all the breaths I've taken today is my favorite? The answer, of course, is the next breath and, no doubt, the next project. This did have me thinking, however, about what work I choose to exhibit, publish, submit, or produce as a digital publication. As the producer, I may value the most recent work, but our chronology of production may have no impact on how others select their favorite work of ours.
This RSS feed includes only the most recent seven Here's a Thought episodes. All of them — over 2500 and counting! — are available to members of LensWork Online. Try a 30-day membership for only $10 and discover the literally terabytes of content about photography and the creative process.
HT2539 - The Medium That Encourages Your Productivity
Simply said and factually undeniable, the medium you choose for the production of your images will either support and encourage more work or it will erect barriers that can make your work more difficult, more expensive, more discouraging. It's a matter of balance. We need a medium that challenges us, but not too much. We need a medium that allows us the freedom to create, but is substantial enough to require our sincere effort. We need a medium that allows us to connect with the audience we value.
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HT2538 - Recognizing Excellence, Second Attempt
"Even those who fall flat on their face are at least moving forward." In the spirit of true confession, yesterday's Here's a Thought was not my best effort. Let me try again from a slightly different point of view, hence "Recognizing Excellence, Second Attempt."
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HT2537 - Recognizing Excellence
I attended my first workshop 40 years ago. I did so because I wanted to learn the specific techniques that were being taught by the instructors. Looking back on that experience, I realize the most important thing I experienced was seen hundreds of wonderful prints by the three instructors. The techniques I learned back then have been replaced during the digital revolution. The way I learned how to see and recognize excellence in a photograph is still one of the most valuable lessons of my creative life.
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HT2536 - You Cannot Fake Sharpness
I'm always hesitant to say that we can't do something because there may be a way to do it that I just don't know about. To date, I have no idea how to fake sharpness. I can process an image to fake dynamic range, exposure, contrast, etc. But once an image is captured with soft focus, it's going to look like soft focus forever. At least it will until the software engineers figure out how to resolve this for us.
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Photography, we hope, is an art medium that can have an impact on our life, add content and meaning to our viewing experience. If a photograph succeeds at the highest level, it's not only memorable, but has the ability to change our life. Not many photographs are that powerful and even fewer are universally that impactful. Here are six images that literally changed my life and why.
HT2535 - Sitting Patiently, Waiting for the Response
One of the most challenging formats I produce is what I call "One-Picture Stories." I pull up an image and then just sit with it until an idea, a response, a question, perhaps some sort of reaction occurs. This might take a few minutes; it might require an hour or more. My job in this exercise is to be quiet, be aware, be receptive, be open. It's a quiet meditation where I try to empty my mind of interference and just let the process unfold on its own.
Here is the Special Edition PDF of "One-Picture Stories" that was discussed in Brooks' Here's a Thought
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HT2533 - Congratulations On Your Photographic Skill
Do we admire Dickens for his extensive vocabulary? Do we admire Beethoven because of his chord progressions? Do we applaud the work of Ansel Adams because of his masterful use of depth of field? I've thought for years that if someone compliments my photographic technique the photograph has failed entirely. Tools and techniques are not supposed to be noticed accept perhaps by students and academics.
This RSS feed includes only the most recent seven Here's a Thought episodes. All of them — over 2500 and counting! — are available to members of LensWork Online. Try a 30-day membership for only $10 and discover the literally terabytes of content about photography and the creative process.
HT2532 - Twelve Significant Photographs
I'm not sure if this assertion by Ansel Adams is apocryphal or true, but I know I've heard it my entire photographic life. "Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop." In light of today's realities, is this still valid? It's clearly not valid from a technical point of view. So what did he mean? What are the implications for photography if it's now possible to produce hundreds, perhaps thousands of good prints per year? What's the difference between significant and good?
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HT2531 - Earth-Shaking, Mind-Blowing, Breath-Taking Photographs
Must we? Does every photograph have to blow our socks off in order to be worthy of our attention? Are we so addicted in our entertainment that everything must be a car chase that concludes in a massive explosion? When did art become so connected to an adrenaline rush? When did subtlety, sensitivity, a quiet connection, a moment of insight or understanding fall out of favor with artists? Not everything has to be cranked to 11.
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HT2530 - Photography Is Fundamentally an Act of Sharing
A case could be made that a photograph without an audience doesn't exist. Think the proverbial falling tree in the forest when no one is there to hear it. "Yes," you might say, "but I just photograph for myself." I understand because most of our photographs will never be seen by anybody but ourselves. But isn't that still fundamentally an active sharing, at least with our future selves? This seems to imply a few questions. What is it we're trying to share? What is the most effective way to accomplish sharing? How does thinking about that audience influence what and how we photograph?
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HT2529 - Processing the Goldilocks Way
Artists are often encouraged to push the boundaries. That's my philosophy when it comes to processing individual images. Simply said, I never know if I've gone far enough until I go too far and then come back just a bit. I apply this strategy with every step of processing from sharpening to color balance to contrast and clarity. I never know beforehand when a processing step is going to require pushing to the extremes or restraint to the extremes.
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We do live in fascinating times in the history of photography. There are so many changes happening simultaneously. One of the biggest changes that is rarely discussed is the increasing separation between content and its medium. In my youth, if there wasn't a print, there wasn't a photograph. The two were inexorably intertwined. Doesn't that seem quaint?
HT2528 - Made for the Purpose
I know of only two effective strategies that photographers use with consistency. They search for something to photograph or they manufacture something for the purpose of being photographed. I've never done the latter, but we've published quite a number of these portfolios in LensWork and they're always impressive. Find or make. Are there other options I should know about?
Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!
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Interesting thought. Would you argue that this holds for AI generated photographs as well, so long as the artistic concepts in the prompts is relevant/innovative and the result artistic? It seems like this is the next logical step given today's technology.
Brooks Jensen has a great way of making the creative side of photography feel approachable. I’ve found a lot of the “Here’s a thought…” snippets surprisingly thought-provoking for how short they are—nice quick hits of inspiration https://karlaannephoto.com/.
Their team of professional editors is highly trained to match your style, ensuring your creative vision is always preserved. Every project, whether big or small, is handled with meticulous care, attention to detail, and a strong focus on customer satisfaction. https://cerafphotoediting.com/service
great podcasts by the way all your wanted camera updates I fully agree with, I did contact Panasonic a long time ago about implementing on screen picture review and determining focus. I suggest to them maybe they could highlight the in focus areas of the screen about like the manual focus highlighting. I thought this would save a lot of time zooming in and out.
So glad I happened across this podcast - two episodes in, I'm hooked! Thanks for the production.
I find this to be the most continually inspiring and insightful podcast on the creative process of photography and of creativity in general. Brooks has the perfect vocal style and pace for podcasting, which I think adds a good deal to it's overall success. I've heard all of them and have started over recently.
Lenswork Magazine is the finest photography magazine, bar none. It has superb photographs and thoughtful essays about photography. These podcasts are in the same tradition, thought provoking and inspiring short essays on why we photograph. I would not miss a single one. Start from the beginning if you can, they are worth it.
Brooks Jensen's random thoughts about photography are brilliant and thought provoking observations that every person with an intrest in photography should listen to. Brooks is truely a great word smith in addition to a very skilled photographer and one cannot help but be inspired by his words.