LensWork - Photography and the Creative Process

LW1495 - Ten Lesser-Known Masters You Should Study Have you heard me talk about the "airport test?" Name for me 10 famous painters, 10 musicians, 10 novelists. I'll bet you can. Ask 100 people at random at the airport to name 10 fine art photographers. Everybody is familiar with Ansel Adams, and a few might know of Edward Weston. Here are 10 lesser known masters of photography you should study precisely because they brought something to photography that has made a greater impact than their reputation would indicate. 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.

HT2548 - Exposure Tones vs Exposure Textures The so-called "exposure triangle" is usually thought of as a means of controlling the lightness and darkness of an image, and that's obviously true. But we old timers learned in studying the Zone System that tones are related to textures, particularly in combination with the angle of illumination. Human vision almost never sees tones without textures. Even the absence of texture is a form of texture. 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!

HT2547 - Ten Is the Perfect Default All media have a comfort zone within a common range of sizes, plus or minus. Novels are typically a couple of hundred pages, popular songs 4 minutes, statues are commonly life-size. Exceptions are not uncommon, but it seems as though every medium has its default size. I've always felt that the default size for photography is 10 inches. We might see more detail in a larger print, but do we need to? 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.

HT2546 - The Love of Fast Shutter Speeds Here's an odd observation spanning the opposite poles of my 50 years in photography. In my youth almost all of my work involved long shutter speeds, reciprocity failure, and sturdy tripods. Now, at the opposite end of my artistic life, my favorite shutter speeds are all a 1/2,500 of a second and faster. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

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? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

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. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

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. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

LW1494 - An Annual Series 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. 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.

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? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2549 - From Whence We See the World Photographing is always a subjective act. I can't think of a single instance in which a photograph is truly objective. After all, as photographers we choose where to stand, when to click the shutter, which things to include in the photograph and not, all of which are subjective decisions, decisions that reflect our point of view, our value system, our statement about what is important to observe. Photography becomes art when we embrace that subjectivity. 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. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

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." Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

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. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

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. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

LW1493 - Six Photographs That Changed My Life 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. 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.

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 Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2534 - The Criteria For Which Is Best You found an interesting subject with interesting light and made a dozen or so captures that you hope will produce a terrific image. When you look at those dozen or so captures in review, how do you determine which one is best? What criteria do you use to determine which is best? This spawns an even more fundamental question: Why should you determine which one is best? 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!

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? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

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. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

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? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

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. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

LW1492 - Media Agnostic Content 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? 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.

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!

HT2527 - Master or Accomplished Hobbyist It's been my experience that most photographers desire success in one form or another. Yes, they want to make good pictures, but for most it goes further than that. For some that means being praised by one's peers. For others, there are loftier goals. Has it ever occurred to you that most of the photographers we now think of as "masters" were accomplished hobbyists in their own time? What makes them MASTERS? 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!

HT2526 - Different Signatures An astute observer has noticed that I have two different signatures. I have one signature that I use for business, check writing, my non-art life. It is an attestation of identity. I have a different signature that I use to sign my artwork. It is a testament that I'm happy with the artwork as completed. I developed this strategy 40 years ago and still think it's a pretty good idea for a couple of reasons. 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.

HT2525 - The Thread That Binds The Achilles heel of multiple-image projects is the risk that viewing the work devolves into a popularity contest. Instead of looking for threads and connections between the images, viewers search for the one image they think is the best or at least touches them deeply. Overcoming this subconscious winnowing project becomes one of the great challenges of presenting a body of work rather than a single "greatest hits" image. The best technique I know is to sort of force-feed the connecting idea. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2524 - The Connection It's often said that the greatest challenge in photography is learning how to see. It's been my experience that seeing — deep seeing — is a function of connection. The great challenge of photography is not learning how to see but fostering, encouraging, developing, surrendering to, recognizing a deeper connection that engulfs us in the moment. Making a record by clicking the shutter is less important than having the connection to begin with. I think this is precisely what Wynn Bullock was getting at when he titled his monograph A Way Of Life. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2523 - The True Selfie Here is a great quote from one of my favorite anthologists: "To see ourselves we have to use a reflecting mirror — for example, art." Take a moment to think about the questions that pop up in the art life. What do I want to produce? Why do I want to produce it? Why is it important that I produce it? Why is this meaningful to me? What difficulties am I willing to endure to produce it? And these are just a few introspective questions off the top of my head! It seems that art can be as much about our inner-directed questions as it is about our outward-directed expressive statements. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2522 - When the Image Takes Charge Over the years I've noticed a curiosity that pops up from time to time. I'll have in my mind's eye an idea of what I want an image to look like, but when I start processing it imposes an alternative I'd never thought about. Novelists will talk about their fictional character taking on a momentum of its own. I think the same thing can happen with photographs. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

LW1491 - More Thoughts on Project as Wall Art In the Editors Comments in LensWork #173, I discussed a presentation experiment that allowed me to exhibit a multi-image project on the wall using poster hangers. I just changed the presentation to a different project and that has me thinking about a few things I'm observed since the initial installation. I've been observing people's reaction to this type of presentation and discovered a couple of interesting and unexpected things about how people approach a wall full of art. 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.

HT2521 - Aging Issues These days, amongst my peers anyway, there's no question that the most frequent topics of discussion have to do with aging. Time, mobility, eyesight issues, dispersal of our life's output, downsizing from a life of acquisition. There's a lot to think about as we creep closer and closer to taking up our permanent residence in the ink maintenance tank — or as Ansel Adams used to put it, "the final wash." Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2520 - Fantasy or Feedback Here's a creative challenge that can be a lot of fun. Let's assume that every image in your Lightroom catalog was captured because you, at the time, thought it would make great photograph. That implies that you could choose any capture at random from your catalog and make a good image from it. Can you? Pick an image at random and push yourself to turn it into something interesting with aggressive or perhaps unusual processing. The goal is not to create interesting artwork, but to observe what happens within you as you work with the compromise between impulse and possibility. 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!

HT2519 - Stretching the Image What do you do if, after cropping an image, it no longer fits the aspect ratio of all the other images in your presentation? Do you let that image just be different than all the others or do you re-crop it within the aspect ratio to preserve consistency? There is a third option I've never considered, but it's recently come to my attention and I'm not sure how I feel about it. That third technique is to stretch the pixels to fit the frame, also known as non-proportional cropping. 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.

HT2518 - Print-on-demand Artwork Here's an idea that's been floating around photographic circles for the last 25 years or so. What if we were to publish our finished digital files in a way that allowed consumers to print our work on their own printers, with or without a purchase agreement to do so? What would we lose by allowing them to do so? What would we gain by allowing them to do so? I find this a scary idea, but I'm not sure why I feel that way other than the habitual assumption about intellectual property and copyrights/commerce. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2517 - Yesterday's Limitations My first digital captures were made with an 6 megapixel camera that had a tiny sensor. They were primitive, noisy even at its base ISO, and fell far short of what I could produce with my film camera. Nonetheless, I kept those image files just in case future software improvements might make them useable. I was right to do so. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2516 - The First One to Do It The history of photography is filled with people who didn't make the best but who did make it first. Matthew Brady wasn't the best war photographer in history but he was the first. William Henry Jackson is not the best landscape photographer ever, but he was one of the first. Other examples abound. This implies a not so subtle premise that is easy to be seduced by in our creative efforts — be first or be forgotten. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2515 - Vintage Prints I don't understand the fuss and value that is place on original prints in photography. In fact, it seems perfectly obvious to me that an early print would be the result of less reliable instant aesthetic decisions. There is not a single example I can recall from my 50 years in photography where a later print wasn't better than an earlier one. I know more about how to print the negative or process the digital file; my artistic sensitivities have matured with age and experience. Of course my later print are better and therefore should be more desired by collectors. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

LW1490 - A Cultivated Curiosity I have no doubt that I use less than 10% of what my software is capable of doing. I know there are features that I would find incredibly useful if I just knew about them. Since I don't know about them, I don't even know I should look for them! Instead, I have to rely on luck and a certain cultivated attitude of curiosity. In fact, that's not a bad idea for so many aspects of life. 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.

HT2514 - They Are Not All Winners Some of what we produce doesn't wear well over time. Nothing we produce connects with everyone who sees it. This is precisely why there is virtue in producing a lot of work in the nature of an anthology. It not only keeps your creative juices flowing, but also provides your audience a better chance of finding something with which they can connect deeply. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2513 - Post-publication Revisions There's a fascinating story about revisions in the great Humphrey Bogart film noir movie The Big Sleep. This has me thinking about post-production revisions. One of the great advantages of digital publication is the ability to revise the content so easily and even instantaneously. Maybe it's a good idea for us to use version numbering like they do in software. 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!

HT2512 - Vacuum Dust A while back I shared some ideas about dealing with the dust that makes those big out of focus blobs in the sky in our images. Here's a companion idea thanks to podcast listener Rob Motta of Boulder, Colorado. 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.

HT2511 - Our Inescapable Reliance on Stuff Just as a thought experiment, what would you do if you could no longer purchase ink for your printer? What if the three big printer manufacturers (Epson, Hewlett-Packard, Cannon)suddenly decided to stop manufacturing printers. What if you could no longer purchase film, batteries, or lenses for your camera? We are so dependent on materials whose manufacturer is beyond our control. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2510 - The Extremes Like many other human activities, photography can easily evolve into an extreme sport. Will your photographs be visibly better with that 100 megapixel camera? Or that 10 gigapixel stitch? Do you really need 60 frames per second in order to capture just that perfect instance? Can you not succeed in wildlife photography unless your lenses is long as the elephant's trunk you are photographing? What is there about extremes that become so seductive in so many walks of life? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2509 - Where DOF Fails A while back I did a research project looking at almost 10,000 raw captures in my Lightroom catalog. I wanted to determine what caused a failed image to fail, technologically. I did not consider aesthetics but rather the mechanics of photography. My hope was that I could eliminate or at least reduce those technical failures. Two primary failures dominated all others. The number one failure was camera movement, easily resolved with faster shutter speeds or tripods. The second most common reason for failure was related to depth of field, and in a surprising way. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2508 - Mastering the Craft vs Photography Let's talk about feelings. As I think back to all the workshops and classes that I've taken in my 50 years of photography, I can't remember a single one that centered on what I felt or wanted to express. Instead, all I can remember are endless discussions and demonstrations about the craft of photography. There is only one exception that comes to mind and that moment was a question from Bruce Barnbaum I'll never forget. What do you want to experience, and why do you want to capture it and share it with others? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

LW1489 - Your Own Voice In so many ways, we have entered a new era in photography. It's getting harder and harder to be visually unique. Google is photographing everything. Now more than ever we need to find a way to use our own voice in our artwork. 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.

HT2507 - You Must Create Your Magnum Opus TODAY Wouldn't it be lovely if we had a switch we could throw that would turn on our creative genius at a moment's notice? Flick goes the switch and your best ever photograph is produced because you commanded it into existence. Unfortunately, life doesn't work that way. Our magnum opus happens in the midst of lots of other work that, well, isn't your magnum opus. Our magnum opus is the result of plowing ahead and simply doing our best with every effort. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2506 - Allocating Our Precious Time The most valuable commodity we have in our art life is not our gear, not our training, not our creative impulses, not our energy and drive. All those things might be important, but they are useless unless we have time. Without time all the potential we've banked by learning our craft and going out photographing will add up to naught. I know it can seem counterintuitive to schedule our creative activities, but in fact having a schedule to work on our art maybe the most important step we can take to make sure our creative endeavors aren't swallowed up by the trivialities of life. 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!

HT2505 - Buried in Lightroom One of the most dramatic impacts of digital photography is the volume of captures that now reside on all of our hard drives. It's not uncommon at all for me to hear that a photographer has tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of images in their catalog that are, essentially, inaccessible to anyone except the photographer. So much creativity buried in our hard drives just waiting for their turn on stage! 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.