HT2477 - Your Philosophy of Photography The mechanical, chemical, and technical aspects of photography do not need a philosophical basis as their foundation. Science is needed and perhaps a certain intuition about the processes will help us develop our craft. The aesthetic aspects of making images do employ a philosophical foundation, even if we're not aware that we do so. Why do you make pictures? Is it to share the truth? Is it to promote beauty? Is it to attain a measure of immortality through the artifacts you leave behind? Do you hope to contribute to culture or history? Or are you fully satisfied with having fun with your photography and that's as much as you hope for? However you think about it, you do have a philosophical foundation for your efforts in photography. This RSS feed includes only the most recent seven Here's a Thought episodes. All of them — over 2400 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.
HT2476 - The Balance Between Doing and Finishing These last few months have been a particularly busy time for me photographically. I've been doing lots of work, processing images, organizing files, keywording, brainstorming ideas, getting to know the 3,500 captures I came back with from my trip to the West Coast. I've been doing a lot, but I haven't accomplished a thing. That is to say, I haven't finished anything. This exposes one of my failings as an artist; I can so easily confuse activity for accomplishment. I've been known to spend an entire day working on my to do list but not actually doing anything from that list. It goes without saying that without finishing, no artwork is made. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!
HT2475 - Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor I suppose everyone listening to this commentary would, to one degree or another, describe themselves as "a photographer." But how we define ourselves and how that creates our self-image can be helpful or hurtful to our creative life. Self-image and the psychology behind it can be a powerful influence on how we think and what we produce. By the term "photographer" do you mean someone who makes images to be framed and displayed on the wall? Do you define yourself as a seeker of truth? Do you define yourself as someone who does photography to make money? If asked, how would you describe the kind of photographer you are? Has that been consistent through the years and decades of your involvement in photography? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!
HT2474 - Validation via Publication Last spring, I had an opportunity to show some work to a new acquaintance. They were complimentary and then asked where the images had been published. I found that a curious question. When I told them the work had never been published, they expressed a visible dismissal as though without publication the work was unworthy of their attention. How and when did publication of a photograph become the high water mark of accomplishment in the eyes of the public? I found it doubly curious when I later realized they had not asked if the work had ever been exhibited. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!
I'm a believer in sustained effort. I know this puts me in direct conflict with today's instantaneous culture, but I'm first and foremost a pragmatist. My 50 years in photography have provided evidence over and over of the virtues of longevity. What do I mean by that? Simply this: if you stick with something long enough, good things will result.
HT2472 - The YOU Who Photographs When I go out photographing, I often begin with the sense that I need to shift mental gears from everyday thought to artmaking thought. I feel the need to begin the process of "seeing aesthetically." What does that actually mean? How is my aesthetic Self different than my ordinary self? Is it possible that my aesthetic self is simply more in touch with the rules and conventions that define the medium throughout history? If so, is it possible that "shifting gears to art making mode" is actually a barrier to creativity? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!
HT2471 - Predictability and Art Lynn and I have been watching a series on Netflix that has become totally predictable. Every plot twist, every character reaction, every conflict between characters has become so predictable that it has turned into a game for us to make such predictions as we're watching. Curiously enough, its predictability has us slowly becoming less interested. Does predictability play a role in all other art media as well? Turning this to our chosen medium, does a perfectly predictable photograph become less interesting because it lacks an element of surprise? This RSS feed includes only the most recent seven Here's a Thought episodes. All of them — over 2400 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!
HT2473 - Sorry Disney, Snow Is Not White With the turn of the weather, we photographers in the northern hemisphere can start thinking about snow photography. I've always found snow to be one of the trickiest things to photograph because I think of it as being white but photographically it's not. It's bright, but bright and white are not the same thing. What makes snow look like snow are the very delicate gray tones that give pure white its three dimensionality. Snow is an example where ETTR fails us. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!
HT2466 - Postpone or Intensify Photography has the ability to lead us to two completely different relationships with existence. We can use photography to postpone our relationship with the world, or we can use photography to intensify our relationship with what is right before us. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!
At its most fundamental and simple terms, artmaking something that expresses something. Notice that in that statement is no specific thing that is produced and no specific thing that is expressed. The question worth pondering is which comes first, the structure of the thing produced or the sentiment that is the expression?
HT2465 - Rotating Batteries Here's one of those dumb little practical ideas that can be so useful. It has to do with using multiple batteries and amortizing the wear and tear on them evenly. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!
HT2464 - A Most Welcome Winter Photography Tool Perhaps you've heard the advice, "There is no bad weather, there is only bad clothing." When I woke up this morning, it was -2° F outside. For reasons I assume are obvious, this has me thinking about cold weather photography. One of the most useful tools for hands and batteries are reusable hand warmers. I swear by them. This RSS feed includes only the most recent seven Here's a Thought episodes. All of them — over 2400 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!
HT2463 - The Responsibilities of Owning Artwork I had a water leak that dripped into a couple of portfolio cases where I housed artwork from other photographers. I lost 13 pieces of wonderful work that were completely destroyed. Forever. I feel a double sadness in this in that not only did I lose some work that was important to me, but also lost that work to any future it might have had after I'm gone. Owning artwork implies a responsibility to protect it, preserve it, care for it. This is one of the reasons I never give away my prints unsolicited. I don't want to impose that burden on anyone without their consent. This RSS feed includes only the most recent seven Here's a Thought episodes. All of them — over 2400 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.
HT2462 - My New Phone Has Adaptive Display My old phone finally gave up the ghost when its battery wouldn't hold a charge anymore. So off to the phone store and a new phone, and that sizable project of getting the new phone and its settings adapted to my needs. Unfortunately, with this new phone, I was unaware of an "improvement" that Android calls Adaptive Display. Now that I've turned off adaptive display, my images look so much better. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!
HT2461 - Variations on a Theme I'm a fan of Sergei Rachmaninoff's piano compositions. I was not aware, however, until last night, of a composition he wrote titled Variations on a Theme of Corelli. The backstory of this work is simple. Corelli wrote a short piece of music in which there is a central tune. That tune captured Rachmaninoff's imagination. Rachmaninoff then took this short musical theme and composed 20 variations that are different in every regard, but still identifiable because of the basic tune. As I listened last night, I couldn't help but think how we could use this idea in our creative photographic expressions. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!
HT2460 - With the Passage of Time I'm certainly not the only photographer who looks back at their earlier work and feels a sense of embarrassment. What was I thinking? Of all the negatives or digital captures I had to choose from, why did I think this one was worth printing, matting, and (God forbid) framing? Isn't it equally odd that a few images from those early years seem to have held up pretty well? Can I trust my own aesthetic judgments? Will the images I'm producing today seem ridiculous 5 or 10 years from now? Each finished artwork is a product of its time. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!
HT2459 - AI and the Ideal When we say that one photograph is better than another, how do we arrive at that conclusion? When we are processing our images, what is the criteria we use to take the next step in processing? As I've thought about this, one answer keeps reoccurring: all of the decisions we make have the intention of revealing an ideal. What do we mean by "the ideal"? Why is our goal not the truth? When did photography change from a sensitive pursuit of truth into a technological and aesthetic pursuit of a fictional ideal? Now that AI makes the ideal so accessible, will that change our aesthetic objectives? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!
Borrowing a phrase from Carl Chiarenza and his book, Pictures Come from Pictures, I'd like to propose that "projects come from projects." We may not be aware of the threads that run through our creative life as we are living it, but in retrospect we can often see how one artistic effort begets another. This is precisely why preserving creative momentum is so important. But, how to do it?
HT2458 - Every Capture Is a Teacher The core of artmaking is the twin fusion of learning and producing. It's easy to see that if there is no producing there is no artwork. It's not so obvious that if there is no learning there is no artwork. Learning comes from many sources, One of the most important is our past decisions. Here is a simple exercise that can amplify the importance of learning with every capture. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!
HT2457 - One of One In 1989, I commissioned a metal shop expert to create an adapter for my Arca Swiss monorail view camera that would allow me to use Polaroid 3¼ by 4¼ film packs. This led to a summer-long project that today exists as a box of matted Polaroid originals that are all unique prints. I recently found this box of prints and reviewed that 37-year-old work, completed half a life ago when I was 34. A lot of those prints are wonderful, but what do I do with them? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!
Victoriajohn
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/.
haider ali
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Justin Photo Coe
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.
Stephen Blankenship
So glad I happened across this podcast - two episodes in, I'm hooked! Thanks for the production.
iTunes User
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.