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).
1461 Episodes
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HT2408 - Viewer Fatigue vs Disinterestedness
We've probably all had the experience when showing a body of work that the viewer doesn't complete the entire project from start to finish. Does this mean they've lost interest somewhere along the way? Or is it possible that it's viewer fatigue and they've simply absorbed as many images as they can?
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HT2407 - Paul Strand
Paul Strand has been a favorite of mine for over 50 years. Three of his books are in my top 10 all-time favorites list. Time in New England (1950), Un Paese (1955), and Tir a'Mhurain / Outer Hebrides (1962). One of the aspects of his work that I love is the mixture of portraits, architecture, life style, landscape, and nature — all in the same project.
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HT2406 - GPS EXIF Data
I can connect my cameras to my cell phone in such a way that each image I photograph records the GPS information from my cell phone into the ex of data of the image file. For some time now, I thought that was a pretty neat trick. But I've come to realize I never used that data, not even once, and the extra drain on my camera batteries is inconvenient. So, I've stopped capturing GPS data and haven't missed it a bit. I'm sure for some of you it's incredibly valuable, but for me it's turned out to be superfluous and completely unnecessary.
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HT2405 - I Am Not a Landscape Photographer
Don't get me wrong, I do photograph the landscape. But the purpose of my landscape photography is not to make a statement about the landscape but rather to use the landscape as it means to explore other ideas. For example, I have a project that is solitary trees in a vast landscape. The project is not about the solitary trees, but about how I was feeling after my wife passed away. Photography as metaphor, as Minor White advised us to photograph what else it is.
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HT2404 - From the Overlook
I was recently at a scenic overlook where there were quite a number of others using what appear to be fairly modern digital cameras and long lenses. It occurred to me that probably all of them, or at least almost all of them, would end up with a very lovely photograph. The light was beautiful, the view from overlook was breathtaking, and their cameras quite capable. A lot has changed in the last 50 years of photography.
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HT2403 - Sales Are Not a Measure of Success
Unless, that is, your objective with photography is to provide an income. When someone tells me it's their best-selling image, what I hear is that this is the most expected, most cliché, most common photograph they've made. This does not mean that your worst selling photograph is your most personal, most unique, most treasured photograph that you've made.
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I've been a presenter at two different events in the last 10 days, and in both events I was asked about my camera. I'm not a gear-centric guy and this isn't a gear-centric podcast, but the truth is that we do need to use gear. The right gear makes the task easier and the wrong gear can easily become a barrier to what we want to accomplish. With this in mind, let's consider gear for just a few minutes. First, when you look at a famous image, so you need to know what camera was used?
HT2402 - Has photography become too easy
What are the implications when thousands of photographers are making tens of thousands of spectacular images? What happens to the value of accomplishment when the product ceases to be rare? The photographic priesthood has dissolved. In its place we have a perfectly democratic medium. This is a good thing for the simple reason that it will refocus our efforts toward meaning and content rather than impressive technological accomplishments.
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HT2401 - Where the Mona Lisa Was Painted
Photographers are compelled to include location information in their image captions. Why? Does the viewer need to know this? Maybe we should reveal the location where the image was printed. Or the date we signed it. Or who was with us when we framed the print. Or how old we were when we photographed it. Or who our travel agent was to the exotic locations we visited. Which information will do the most to connect our viewer with our artistic intent?
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HT2400 - The Importance of Being Thick-skinned
Photography at times can be so cruel. Our best plans can evaporate in technical failure. Our precious artwork can be rejected by a monstrous editor. Ahem. The work we love like children can leave others cold. No one said the life of an artmaker would be lollipops and rainbows every day. To quote one of my favorite lines from The Princess Bride, "Life is pain. Anyone who says differently is selling something."
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HT2399 - My Theory on Locations
I continue to believe that location is an overrated commodity in photography. Perhaps this doesn't prove my idea, but in the last month on the road I've captured images for 15 small projects from 13 different locations I never anticipated or never knew existed.
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HT2398 - Food Clothing, and Shelter
In my twenties I work for the 9th largest retailer in the United States, a company called Fred Meyer, located in the Pacific Northwest. Mr. Meyer had a fascinating philosophy. He observed that everybody needs three things: food, clothing, and shelter. Everything else is a luxury. I suppose that includes photography. It's an uncomfortable reality for us photographers but no one needs what we produce. At the same time, making art is one of the most important activities we can pursue.
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HT2397 - What You Can Do
The Greek philosopher Heraclitus advised us that the only constant is change. This is so true in our creative and artistic lives. When I hit the road for my great travel adventure in 2021, I had to give up production of things like folios because I didn't have my studio. Rather than have that interruption to my creative life, I found it useful to adapt to what I could do rather than to bemoan the loss of what I could no longer do. The operative question is always, What can I do with that?
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HT2396 - Quite Possibly the Last Time
I remember during the last months of Maureen's life, she would often ask if this was the last time I she would do something or other. At the time I thought this was a bit morbid, but I've come to understand how connected she was to living every moment with sensitivity. Perhaps that attitude is a useful one in our artmaking, too.
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Brooks is under the weather today, so here is an excerpt from his most recent workshop where he discusses the necessity for artists to have a bit of a thick skin. You can't please all the people all the time.
HT2395 - The Eye of the Beholder
Brooks is under the weather today, so here is an excerpt from his most recent workshop where he discusses the necessity for artists to have a bit of a thick skin. You can't please all the people all the time.
Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!
HT2394 - We Are Being Trained Against the Still Image
Next time you are watching TV or a movie, take note of how many shots use a moving camera. Typically, the subject will be still, but the camera is moving left to right, or slowly zooming in. All this camera movement makes our still photographs seem static and even unexciting. This is not good.
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HT2393 - Mourning the Loss of Prints
I know, I know, I'm probably being a bit reactionary here, but it seems to me that the world is slowly letting go of prints as a medium for photography. I had a fascinating experience in a Zoom conference last night that became one data point of interest. But the more I thought about it, I realized how many times in recent years I've heard some photography influencer make the case that we all need to make more prints; of course they say that because so few people do.
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HT2392 - Response Before Capture
Yesterday, I was asked if I have any rituals I use when I'm out photographing. I assume her question was about routines, not religious actions. The more I thought about her question, the more I realized that I do have a precursor to clicking the shutter that I use with consistency.
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HT2391 - The Only Way to Know with Certainty
Some photographers advise us to turn off IBIS when we use a tripod. Others say it's okay to leave IBIS on all the time. Who's advice should you take?
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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.