LensWork - Photography and the Creative Process

HT1891 - Grabbed by Artwork I suppose all of us have, from time to time, been mesmerized by a piece of artwork. It grabs us, it seduces our attention, it fills our consciousness. Why? What is it about a piece of artwork that gives it this power to influence us so deeply? Maybe not 100% of the time, but most frequently I find this happens when the artwork engages my imagination, when it allows me to drop my normal awareness of the world and to be transported to a world of its making.

HT1890 - Experiences or Things A friend of mine is downsizing in preparation for moving to a retirement community. She can't find anyone who wants her extensive collection of sheet music. Another friend is finding it difficult to find a home for her collection of dinnerware and silver. No one wants them. It seems like the younger generation values collecting experiences far more than collecting things. I've come to regard this as the joy and burden of ownership. What are the implications for our fine art photographs?

HT1889 - A Self-assessment On a whim, I decided to look back at the entire collection of my work that has been published in Kokoro. So far, that consists of 172 projects containing 2,432 images. I was happy and proud to publish every one of them - - at the time. Needless to say, some have not stood the test of time as well as others. That's good. All 1880+ episodes of Here's a Thought . . . are available in their entirety to members of LensWork Online, our extensive resource library of our 30-year publishing history. Learn more about LensWork Online.

HT1888 - Photography's Fascination with the Rare Ask most people what makes a fabulous landscape photograph and they will unhesitatingly say a fabulous landscape. That is, the magic is out there. This implies that the photographer is simply a faithful recorder of the scene. Ask most photographers what they actually do when they are out photographing and they will tell you they are looking for the spectacular scene. All previous episodes of Here's a Thought . . . are available to members of LensWork Online. 30-day Trial Memberships are only $10. Instant access, terabytes of content, inspiration and ideas that expand daily with new content. Sign up for instant access! You might also be interested in. . . Every Picture Is a Compromise, a series at www.brooksjensenarts.com that looks at failures as a way to learn. and... "How to" tutorials and camera reviews are everywhere on YouTube, but if you're interested in photography and the creative life, you need to know about the incredible resources you can access as a member of LensWork Online.

HT1887 - Obscurity Is Inevitable I distinctly remember in my youth being encouraged to consider archival properties and longevity of my images as one of the primary goals of processing my prints. It was just assumed that it was important that our work survive 50 or 100 years when it would be valued by generations yet unborn. But now that I've been in photography for 50 years, I can't help but notice that my bookshelves are filled with photographers who have disappeared in the obscurity of time. I know that's the fate for my work, too, and that prompts me to consider other strategies.

HT1886 - Private Work The real work of the artist all takes place outside of the spotlight. If a pianist doesn't enjoy practice, they will never be an accomplished performer. If a photographer doesn't love the darkroom or studio work, that will be obvious in their prints. Toiling away on one's own is the heart of the art life.

HT1885 - The Most Important Tool in the Darkroom Ansel Adams used to preach that the most important tool in his dark room was the garbage can. I believe the corollary in the digital workflow is the virtual copy. I've often thought that the terms "making art" and "editing" are synonyms for the same activity. If you don't progress through at least a half a dozen drafts, I think you are fooling yourself.

LW1400 - A Book vs a Collection of Images To us photographers, a book is most frequently a collection of great images. To the rest of the world, a book is a collection of great ideas or stories. Perhaps this is the reason why the market for photography books is primarily other photographers. For example, I suspect many of you are a member of a book group of one kind or another. Have you ever heard of a photography book group? All previous episodes of our weekly podcast are available to members of LensWork Online. 30-day Trial Memberships are only $10. Instant access, terabytes of content, inspiration and ideas that expand daily with new content. Sign up for instant access! You might also be interested in. . . Every Picture Is a Compromise, a series at www.brooksjensenarts.com. and... "How to" tutorials and camera reviews are everywhere on YouTube, but if you're interested in photography and the creative life, you need to know about the incredible resources you can access as a member of LensWork Online.

LW1399 - Your Photographic Lineage In most every walk of life, lineage is a big deal. This is particularly true in religion, politics, and nobility. It might seem less true in photography, but I'm not so sure. We each see ourselves as the inheritors of an approach to the art life that not only informs our self-image, but can heavily influence what we produce All previous episodes of our weekly podcast are available to members of LensWork Online. 30-day Trial Memberships are only $10. Instant access, terabytes of content, inspiration and ideas that expand daily with new content. Sign up for instant access! You might also be interested in. . . Every Picture Is a Compromise, a series at www.brooksjensenarts.com. and... "How to" tutorials and camera reviews are everywhere on YouTube, but if you're interested in photography and the creative life, you need to know about the incredible resources you can access as a member of LensWork Online.

HT1882 - Seeds Often, while I'm working on a project, I'll try something that doesn't work at all for the project I'm developing. It ca be tempting to just delete the failure and move on. Instead, I've come to realize that perhaps the failed idea is a seed for a new project. I guess what they say is true, "The harder I work, the luckier I get." All 1880+ episodes of Here's a Thought . . . are available in their entirety to members of LensWork Online, our extensive resource library of our 30-year publishing history. Learn more about LensWork Online.

HT1881 - Taking Notes Creative ideas rarely manifest on demand. Be brilliant, right now, this instant. You can. Creativity doesn't work that way. In my mind, there is no doubt that one of the most important activities about the art life is capturing ideas when they pop into mind. How you capture ideas is a strategy that is worth thought, planning, organization, and commitment. All previous episodes of Here's a Thought . . . are available to members of LensWork Online. 30-day Trial Memberships are only $10. Instant access, terabytes of content, inspiration and ideas that expand daily with new content. Sign up for instant access! You might also be interested in. . . Every Picture Is a Compromise, a series at www.brooksjensenarts.com that looks at failures as a way to learn. and... "How to" tutorials and camera reviews are everywhere on YouTube, but if you're interested in photography and the creative life, you need to know about the incredible resources you can access as a member of LensWork Online.

HT1879 - Twenty Times, a Variation As a follow up on yesterday's conversation about music and looking at photographs, I could apply the exact same logic to locations where I photograph. The first time I go anywhere I tend to photograph the fairly obvious compositions - - and perhaps do so without nearly as much depth as I would like to. I need to return to a location a half a dozen or a dozen times before I feel I've gotten to know it. Weather changes, seasons change, but most importantly, I change.

HT1878 - Twenty Times To really appreciate a new piece of music, I need to hear it at least 20 times so that I can own it in my mind. The same can be said for photography. I have to spend time with an image before I feel like I've seen it. I have to think about it. I have to search for metaphors in my responses. Sometimes I need to know a little bit about the photographer so I can put their photograph in the context of their career. The idea that photography is something to be glanced at just sits wrong with me on so many levels.

HT1877 - The Thought That Goes With Every Photograph Photographs are visual, but that does not mean they are devoid of words, devoid of thought. Every photograph sparks a thought. A photograph might spark thoughts of the beautiful, the trite, the irrelevant, the desirable - - there is probably an example of a photograph for every word in language. Artwork is a gateway to thought. How does knowing this change what we do and produce?

HT1876 - Before You Process an Image Here's an exercise you might find fun. What happens when you spend time with an image before you begin processing it? Seriously, try this exercise next time you are working on images in Lightroom or Photoshop. Before doing anything to the captured file, spend 20 minutes or so just looking at it. Write down any words that come to mind, any thoughts, any ideas. Challenge yourself to write 10 things before you begin processing the image.

LW1398 - Life, As Lived When you decide you want to make a photograph of this particular thing, why is that thing chosen over all others? What is it in that thing that makes it more photogenic than all others? I've thought about this a great deal lately and I'm not sure I have the answer. I do, however, think I have one answer: Idealism. So much of photography as it is practiced is the pursuit of the ideal. All previous episodes of our weekly podcast are available to members of LensWork Online. 30-day Trial Memberships are only $10. Instant access, terabytes of content, inspiration and ideas that expand daily with new content. Sign up for instant access! You might also be interested in. . . Every Picture Is a Compromise, a series at www.brooksjensenarts.com. and... "How to" tutorials and camera reviews are everywhere on YouTube, but if you're interested in photography and the creative life, you need to know about the incredible resources you can access as a member of LensWork Online.

HT1875 - Question or Statement The common perception of a photograph is that it is a fact. Even a fanciful, imagine-based photograph is a statement of how the photographer sees the world. But what doors to creativity are opened if we change that perspective and think of a photograph (or a project) as a proposal to consider? What if your photograph says, "Here's a question" rather than "Here's a truth"? All 1870+ episodes of Here's a Thought . . . are available in their entirety to members of LensWork Online, our extensive resource library of our 30-year publishing history. Learn more about LensWork Online.

HT1874 - Composing Using Focus Tracking Here is a slick focusing technique I never thought of, but it works. It replaces the half-press and hold, then compose technique. It's much more intuitive in my brain than back button focusing. It uses "focus tracking" or something I like to call "sticky focus." You really should try this one. All previous episodes of Here's a Thought . . . are available to members of LensWork Online. 30-day Trial Memberships are only $10. Instant access, terabytes of content, inspiration and ideas that expand daily with new content. Sign up for instant access! You might also be interested in. . . Every Picture Is a Compromise, a series at www.brooksjensenarts.com that looks at failures as a way to learn. and... "How to" tutorials and camera reviews are everywhere on YouTube, but if you're interested in photography and the creative life, you need to know about the incredible resources you can access as a member of LensWork Online.

HT1880 - Mat Boards and Margins The convention in photography is to finish the print by affixing it to mat board. There various methods to do this, but they all have in common the physicality of the board itself. This adds expense and bulk to the finished work of art. Is it the physicality or the margin that is important here? Once the print is in the frame, is the physicality of the mat board still important?

HT1873 - Maximum Black Is Not Magic In my youth, I thought the magic was to achieve a maximum black. It took me several years to learn that the magic is not in maximum black but rather in beautiful gray tones and chords of tones that please the eye. Increasing contrast and overprinting the blacks is rarely the answer. My apologies to Bill Brandt.