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LensWork - Photography and the Creative Process
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LensWork - Photography and the Creative Process

Author: Brooks Jensen

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Random Observations on Art, Photography, and the Creative Process. These short 2-4 minute 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 35 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. 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. His latest books are "The Creative Life in Photography" (2013) and "Looking at Images (2014).
829 Episodes
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HT1850 - The Myth of Universal Vision The premise with which we make our photographs is that there is a view that is best. We sweat bullets over the perfect tones, color balance, contrast ratios, etc. We do so under the assumption that when we get it right everybody will see what we see. But this is folly, because the truth is everyone sees differently.
HT1849 - Massive Projects It seems that every photographer I know has at least one massive project, maybe more, that resists completion. Maybe it's the fact that it is so massive, so overwhelming, so unmanageable that makes it so difficult. Is there a strategy that helps manage these massive projects?
HT1848 - Camera to Eye, or Eye to Camera There is a reason why an overwhelming majority of pictures are made from 5 to 6 ft off the ground. Strangely enough, it doesn't have anything to do with that being the best way to view the world. It has to do with camera design which encourages us to lift the camera to our eye level.
LW1394 - Your Intent Is Paramount The other day, I heard once again, for the billionth time, a photographer say that however a viewer wanted to interpret their work was okay with them. Why are photographers so reluctant to make a declarative statement that is unambiguous? If you leave it up to the viewer to interpret your photograph however they want, why bother to compose or process an image? If you have no intent, why make choices? 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.
HT1847 - Translation

HT1847 - Translation

2024-03-2504:18

HT1847 - Translation In human communication, the role of the translator is a fascinating one. Do they merely convert words from one language to another? Or, do they accept the higher responsibility of conveying the meaning and subtleties in their translation. This is exactly the same question we photographers face with every picture. Do we translate the appearance, or the depth of feeling? All 1800+ 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.
HT1846 - Details and the Inverse Square Law Probably most of you are aware of the Inverse Square Law relative to lighting and maybe relative to audio recording. I like to apply it to the optical quality of my images, too. Move twice as far away and the objects shrink to 1/4th the size. Conversely, zoom in to double the focal length and the objects become 4 times larger and exhibit 4 times more detail. 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 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.
HT1845 - Old Training vs The World Today A lot of what I learned in my view camera days is still relevant and useful. Some of those early lessons I find are now habits and ways of thinking that are now obstacles based on training that is downright illogical. ISO is a good example.
HT1844 - Spinal Tap Meets Photography If you hang around photography long enough, you'll begin to discern the patterns that sweep over the photographic world like waves in a tsunami. I automatically resist such fads and eventually come to detest them. Please, photographic world, stop oversaturating your colors with the vibrance control.
HT1843 - Our Creative Life as a Series of Completions With each new album they released, The Beatles defined their evolving career. Painters are said to have "periods" that define their evolving vision. I'm not sure if this is a model we photographers should follow, or if it's just something that happens as our creative vision matures. I do know that completion is a key element of the artistic life.
HT1842 - Another Way to Increase Sharpness Is there a lesson about sharpness we can learn from comic strip artists? Perhaps. They hand draw their comic strips much larger than we see in the newspaper. The image is then reduced to fit the size we see in print. That size reduction increases visual sharpness. There is a bit of a parallel with photography.
HT1841 - Identify the Barriers There are things we want to do, and there are things that prevent us from doing it. A good first step is to identify the barriers. Write them down. Make them concrete. Then explore the possibilities of your work if that barrier were completely eliminated. Not resolved, not a solution developed, but simply eliminate the barrier entirely. What's left?
LW1393 - On Destinations In an overly simplistic way, I tend to divide the arena of fine art photography into two camps. For some photographers, the destination/location is the thing they pursue to make the best photographs. For others (myself included), the pursuit of ideas/response/connection is the thing that drives our efforts. It can be useful to consider this train of thought not only for our own photography, but in helping to understand the motivations and work of other photographers 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.
HT1840 - Textured Paper One of the reasons I like folios, chapbooks, and other handheld photographic media is because of the tactile sense of texture that can come through with certain papers. But tactile texture is not the only texture: we can also have visual texture, which is often the only texture that can be realized in a framed print on the wall. All 1800+ 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.
HT1839 - Your Cloud Inventory Photoshop's relatively new Sky Replacement tool is a fantastic addition for fine art photographers. It also motivates us to collect an inventory of cloud images that we can use with other pictures. Another great example of gathering assets! 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 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.
HT1838 - More on Natural Vision Does your natural vision lens create your best photographs? Or do the best photographs come about when you use a lens that is not your natural vision, but one that you need to work a little harder with because it doesn't come easily?
HT1837 - The Best Lens I Ever Owned A few weeks ago I was shopping for a specialty purpose lens, and that has had me thinking about lenses I have used in my career. What are the characteristics of a lens that make it attractive? Is it sharpness? Aperture? Edge to edge fidelity? Close focusing distance? I think not. I think the best lens is the one that most closely matches with your natural vision.
HT1836 - Needlessly Bracketing My Exposures Earlier models of digital cameras I owned missed a critically important feature - - they did not have Zebra stripes that indicated overexposure. Because that feature was missing, I always shot a three-image bracket to be sure I would end up with a useable file that has highlight detail.
HT1835 - 400 Is Not Enough? My current camera has a comparatively low CIPA rating for its battery life. It will allow me only 400 shots compared to twice that in many in some full-frame cameras. Only 400? How much capacity do I actually need? Which makes me remember my view camera days and the joy of sheet film holders.
HT1834 - Two Focus Features I Want I suspect there aren't many camera manufacturers who regularly listen to these commentaries, but if there are here are two features I would love to see added to my camera, both of which should be fairly easy to implement.
LW1392 - What Came Before I suspect it more than a few of you who have, from time to time, been tempted to try a marriage between photography and haiku. It's a fun idea, but I rarely find it convincing. Usually, it feels like competing media that are fighting each other rather than complimenting one another. There is, however, and idea that might be useful known in Japan as a Haibun. 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.
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Comments (5)

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.

Aug 27th
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Stephen Blankenship

So glad I happened across this podcast - two episodes in, I'm hooked! Thanks for the production.

Dec 14th
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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.

Aug 30th
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iTunes User

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.

Aug 30th
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iTunes User

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.

Aug 30th
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