LensWork - Photography and the Creative Process

HT2277 - The Intersection of Life and Scene I'm wrapping up my month in Oregon and reflecting on what I've seen and photographed here during these last few weeks. There is so much left to do, but time is running out. Come to think of it, that sense of the incomplete is a lifelong reality for every photographic trip I've been on. Perhaps that is just the nature of being an artist; we live in the intersection of life and scene. We accumulate moments with a little luck and happenstance. Our work is the map of our life, a record of chance encounters with subjects and weather. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

LW1456 - Too Much of a Good Idea A frequent characteristic we see in submissions to LensWork is when a photographer develops an interesting idea but then carries that idea too far with not enough image variations. The single image, a trilogy, perhaps even a Seeing in SIXES might be sufficient, but the photographer has explored the idea for 60 or 80 images and then neglected the all-important editing and selection process. Our old friend FOMO once again. 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.

HT2276 - I Like That One When someone looks at a collection of my chapbooks or PDFs and says, "I like that one" I know I've failed completely. The statement, "I like that one" is a statement about them and their values with which my artwork just happens to agree. My artwork succeeds when they say, "I've never thought about that" or "I've never looked at it that way." Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2275 - Why They Call It Fishing You've probably all heard that old canard that they call it fishing, rather than catching, for a reason. The exact same thing exists in photography. When I'm out in the field I prefer not to think that I'm making art, but rather that I'm exploring the world. The artwork comes from that exploration, but rarely takes place simultaneously. Being out there with our antennae in full use is its own reward. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2274 - A Means to Depth She asked, "What is so special about photography?" I see photography as a means to explore the world, and that includes exploring our deeper self. I'm not sure photography is any better than any other expressive medium, but it's at least equal to any other artistic pursuit. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2273 - Why You Made the Photograph Every image you finish was completed because of some purpose you had in mind. You have chosen to share something you feel is important enough to photograph and work into a finished project or framed image. Why? Doesn't it make sense that somehow that intent needs to be shared with viewers? We are all so bombarded with images these days that they are far too easily ignored unless we have a strong motivation for spending time with them. Why you made the photograph is more important now than ever. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2272 - Black and White Is Almost Never Black and White Nothing in a photograph is quite so bothersome as when the black are crushed or the whites are blown out. I can understand in certain occasions when this is a desired aesthetic, but those are rare occasions. When we see it in a picture, it almost always seems to be a processing mistake. I find it's most often the result of bad monitor calibration. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2271 - Working a Location for Its Subtleties Every the time we stop our travels, get out of the car, and start looking for photographs, there will inevitably be a few that are easy, immediate, obvious, and likely cliché. I've come to accept the fact that I have to shoot those images — even though I will probably never use them — just to get them out of the way and move past them. It's only then that I can start working a location for its subtleties. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2270 - Beyond the Circle of Our Fellow Photographers One of my lifelong regrets about photography has been that the audience for most fine art photography, particularly for contemporary photographers, are other photographers. Who shops in the photography section in your local bookstore? Assuming, that is, that it has a photography section. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

LW1455 - The Powerful Seduction of Representationalism The other day I spent about 40 minutes working on one of the new captures from Eastern Oregon. I converted it to a black and white, dealt with the delicate issues of balancing lights and darks, fussed and tweaked until I felt I had an interesting and artistic rendition of the scene that was an accurate vision of my response. The first comment I received from one of the family members was that she preferred the color image, before I had done any processing at all. This is the core of a huge dilemma in fine art photography. Sometimes our objective for making a photograph (artistic expression) is not at all what our viewers' expectations are (representationalism). 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.

HT2269 - 3400 Pixels on the Long Side There is still some confusion about file sizes that pops up from time to time. I remember magazines saying that they required a 15 megabyte file. That's a meaningless measurement that depends on the image compression. I'll occasionally get a question about what the PPI should be for submissions to LensWork. That, too, is a meaningless measurement. What counts is the pixel dimensions of the image, assuming that it hasn't been up-rezed. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2268 - Our Memory is Not Always Reliable As photographers, our memory of the place or the moment we photographed can cloud what we remember about the images or projects we made there. Getting fixated on those memories can interfere with potential projects without our even being aware of it. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2267 - Cameras Don't Make Pictures, but They Do Make Pictures Possible I've been photographing this week in eastern Oregon. I've been here so often, I shouldn't need to return. This time, however, I'm here with a digital camera and a long lens and the combination has allowed me to make images I've wanted to for decades but couldn't accomplish with a view camera. For example, so far I have at least a dozen long-form panoramas, the longest of which will print to 12-inches by 6-feet. Now I just need to figure out how I'm going to display them. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2266 - The Exotic Cliché It's always an adventure to photograph in an iconic location. But let's be honest, how much of an accomplishment is it to make a photograph that looks like thousands of others? I remember being stunned by the number of people at the Zabriskie Point overlook, so many that they've paved the walkway to the overlook to accommodate the masses. I didn't walk up there, but I did use the Port-a-Pottie in the parking lot. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2265 - The Non-Exotic Location Anyone can go to Yosemite and make an impressive photo because Yosemite itself is impressive. In fact, you have to work at it to make a bad photograph in Yosemite. I find that kind of photography fun and even rewarding — but not much of a challenge. As an artist who wants to progress in the creative life, I find it much more useful to challenge myself with images from non-exotic locations that require more effort to see creatively. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2264 - Why I Dislike Guidebooks I understand that as tourists there are things we must see in order to have the full tourist experience. As artists, however, isn't our challenge to see, experience, and interpret the world with our own response? For me, the act of discovery is the core of the art life, not the successfully completed checklist of pre-digested aesthetic tautologies. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2263 - A Deadline, 15-Minutes from Now Recognizing the moment is a skill that all of us are in the process of developing — with greater and greater facility as our endeavors in photography deepen. Learning to see in trilogies and SIXES quickly is a practice that pays unexpected dividends. Rather than engage a project that requires time an dedication, why not experiment with a project that is completed quickly, say 15 minutes? Sounds unreasonable? What about 30 minutes, half a day, a weekend? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

LW1454 - Learning to Self-Critique When I was starting out in photography I had no idea how to self-critique or even that it was a necessary skill I could develop. Looking back on it, I now realize that self-critique is the essence of the creative process. Too bad this isn't a skill that is taught purposely to all beginning photographers. Not what it is, but what it could be. What the image wants to be. Honesty, empathy, some visual literacy for context, and the experience and wisdom that come with practice. 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.

HT2262 - Treasure Every Opportunity The subtitle here is don't ever take anything for granted. He's been spending the last few days in Oregon, the place where I live for 35 years and did so much of my early photography. Now that I live in New York, Oregon has become an exotic location that I see and can photograph only rarely. I realize now what an incredible treasure and opportunity it was to spend so much time here exploring the coast, the farmlands, the gorge, the ranch lands, the desert. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2261 - Seeing Is Not Composing A bit of a cliche for beginning photographers is SZM — Super Zoom Mind. We see, say, a distant mountain, pull up our camera and photograph it only to be disappointed when the mountain is so small in the print. We see the mountain with our telescopic mind rather than composing a picture that includes the mountain. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2260 - Creativity Rejoices in Routine Two creative individuals who I particularly admire are Anthony Trollope and Johannes Brahms. What these two have in common and have provided as examples for the creative life is the consistency of their creative output by the routines they religiously kept. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2259 - The Market for Used Photographs I spent the day yesterday in one of my favorite used book stores, Robert's Books in Lincoln City, Oregon. This is a giant building filled to the brim with used books of every kind and age and interest you could possibly imagine. I picked up three volumes of short stories that I'd never heard of or seen before, treasures I am already enjoying here at the beach. And then it dawned on me, why is there no market for used photographs the way there is for used books? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2258 - An Anticipation Sport I am not a sports or wildlife photographer. What I mean by that is that I'm not trained nor practiced at doing that kind of photography. Recently however, I set out to photograph my grandkids at their softball game. My respect for sports photographers has skyrocketed. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2256 - My Inaccurate History of Photography We have each created our own photographic literacy and history of photography by the books and exhibitions we've chosen to see. That necessarily leads to holes in our understanding. For example, I know very little about German photography — and I know that hole in my knowledge means I'm missing some great work. And that is just one example! Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

LW1453 - To Thine Own Self Be True A friend of mine was recently offered an exhibition in a nice gallery. He was excited for the opportunity, but then began the negotiations and compromises the gallery requested. For example, the gallery wanted him to adopt a limited edition strategy which he doesn't do. The gallery wanted a certain kind of mat board and framing. Is it advisable that we allow the gallery to influence our artistic endeavors like this? 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.

HT2255 - Moments Happen Managing moments doesn't seem like it would be the core of the creative life, but the longer I pursue the art life the more I think managing moments is the key to success. Elsewhere, I've mentioned capturing ideas when the bubble up from our subconscious. Gear is another example. We all crave and love a full-featured camera that allows it to make the images of our dreams. Many times, however, such a dream machine comes with a penalty that completely neutralizes its capabilities. It's better to have a good camera with you than it is to have a perfect camera at home on the shelf. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2254 - Cropping a Vertical Out of a Horizontal It's a bad practice to crop a vertical out of a horizontal capture. For one reason, doing so loses over half the pixels your camera captures. Isn't it a better strategy to just develop the habit of composing both a horizontal capture and a vertical capture wherever possible? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2253 - Time at the Speed of Time Every picture we make operates as a time capsule. It's a historic image, which becomes more historic with the passage of time. I like to think of it this way: With every click of the shutter, we launch another time capsule into the future. And at its essence, each time capsule says, "this moment was important." Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2252 - Subtle Shadow Detail I've always found that efforts to preserve subtle shadow details are important, particularly in landscape photography. This was always a challenge in the film days because the toe of the exposure curve was relatively flat and didn't provide much separation of tones. The best strategy was to increase exposure. But here in the digital age, I've found a combination that provides a simple method to help preserve subtle shadow detail. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2251 - Framed Trilogies In 2022, we published a book titled Trilogies. Each of these trilogies consisted of three images the photographers used to illustrate a story, an expanded view of a subject, or a guided and deeper involvement with a scene. In the book, these three images were presented on facing pages. As a layout, this got me thinking about printing three images on a single sheet of paper and matting and framing them as a sort of triptych. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2257 - Failing is Good You won't know that you've succeeded until you first fail and then correct it. Even worse, if you get it right the first time and think you've never failed, that probably means you haven't engaged sufficient risk and pushed the boundaries of the easy. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2250 - Pick Your Compromise When choosing which lens to take with me out photographing, it often boils down to a debate between two strategies. Do I use a two-lens strategy where both are the best lenses I own? This will require a lot lens swapping and invariably some dust on the sensor. The other option is a travel lens with a "super zoom," one with a 10 to 1 zoom ratio that requires no lens swapping in the field. It's a good lens, but not quite as sharp as the superior lenses. Since I can't have my cake and eat it too, I'm reduced to picking my compromise. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2249 - Photograph What You Love It's my observation that every photographer has something that they love other than photography. Maybe that passion of ours can translate into an interesting photographic project. If you love pitching horseshoes, I would bet there's an interesting photographic project there, but I've never seen one. I've never seen a photographic project about gardening, although I've seen countless projects of flower blossoms. Don't think in terms of the product, but rather the process. W. Eugene Smith's Country Doctor comes to mind. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

LW1452 - A Sketch vs an Image One of the most influential artists who have shaped my thinking about photography is, believe it or not, Charles Dickens. As a young writer, he worked for a newspaper to wander the streets of London and create short "sketches" of the scenes he encountered. Sound familiar? 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.

HT2248 - Glossy or Matte Surface A common question that every photographer has to answer, assuming they make prints, is which surface to use with an image, glossy or matte? It seems odd to me that this is so rarely discussed but yet is such a fundamental decision we need to make with every print. Of course, there are no hard and fast rules, but here's my thoughts on making this critical choice. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2247 - Phases of a Career If we work at something long enough, we will eventually recognize that we've been working our way through phases of a career. Without being conscious of my evolution, I can now look back and identify four distinct phases of my output: prints, folios, PDFs, and chapbooks. I wonder what's next? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2246 - Universal Excellence If we look back in history as recently as 25 years, certainly as recently as 50 years, what separated the Masters from the rest of us was their incredible command of craft. They could create such stunning prints that the rest of us simply couldn't. The digital workflow has turned that separation into the ultimate democratic equity. Today, everyone can master the craft fairly easily. What are the consequences of this universal excellence? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2245 - A Fascination with Process The other day, a photographer came by the house to show me some of his work. I always enjoy this opportunity to meet with people and learn about their creative process. This fellow had images made by using glass plates and hand coated gelatin silver materials. Clearly, he was a photographer who loved the process. In viewing his work, all of his comments are about the technical and chemical challenges of making his images, but virtually nothing was said about their artistic intent or the aesthetic created by his process. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2244 - Sharp vs Tack Sharp Since my earliest days in photography, I've recognized that lenses are far more important than cameras. Lenses touch the light which makes the image; cameras are primarily light-tight boxes that allow us to control how much light gets in, but they don't actually touch the light. Knowing a lens thoroughly is important, especially if you're looking to make a tack sharp image. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2243 - Orson Wells on Limits Orson Wells is said to have observed that "The enemy of art is the absence of limitations.” My interpretation of his thought is that nothing is as supportive to creativity as a structure. Here are a few examples from my creative endeavors. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2242 - Photography, a Verbal Art Medium We photographers like to think of photography as a nonverbal medium. Then why do we title our prints? Why does someone look at a sunset and think " beautiful"? When showing our work, why do we feel compelled to tell viewers where it was photographed and when? Is photography really a nonverbal medium, or is it a medium that is often supplemented with words? If we don't need words, why are photography books from other languages translated into our language for publication? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

LW1451 - Sharing Our Work, Goldilocks Style Let's say someone wants to come over to your house and see some of your work. What do you show them? Do you pull out one print and that's it? That seems arbitrarily limited. Do you bring out 500 prints? That seems a bit overwhelming. Viewer fatigue is a reality in sharing our work, so how do you decide what to make available? 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.

HT2241 - The Right Amount of Difference One of the primary challenges with project oriented photography is to avoid the deadly appearance of repetition. The images in the project need to be alike enough to go together as a unified body of work, but different enough to not become repetitive. Finding that balance is one of the greatest challenges in editing and sequencing a project. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2240 - Prints Throughout the Day As the sun crosses the sky, the light in our house changes dramatically. This is one of the primary reasons why I like to live with a print for a while before I am done with it. On many occasions as the light has changed I realized the print is slightly too dark or slightly too light. Art should live well over time, but the only way we'll know that is if we observe it over time. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2239 - Two Things We Need More Of It is so easy to think that what we really need to take our photography to the next level is that better piece of gear, or more gear, or lots more gear. Looking back on my personal history with photography, it's never been new gear that has created an important piece of work or project. The true genesis of work — and therefore the two things we need more of — are ideas and time. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2238 - Gear Overboard Exactly 50 years ago today I learned a valuable lesson in photography. I was photographing on the Oregon coast when I decided I needed to use a different lens for this one particular shot. I miss that lens. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2237 - Art-sized Prints How large does a print need to be in order to be considered artwork? Snapshots are usually pretty small, 4x6" or so. If we make a 5x7" is that big enough to be considered artwork? 8x10"? Why do photographers so readily consider size of function of the seriousness of artwork? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2236 - Beyond Human Sensitivity We are told that hawks have keener eyesight than we humans, so maybe they could see the ink dots in our digital prints. We can't because the technology has exceeded human visual sensitivity. Perception boundaries, once crossed shift advancement to other concerns. In the future, we can expect more intuitive and ergonomically advanced equipment. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2235 - The Life of a Book There's no doubt there's quite a thrill in having a book of your work published. There are, however, some realities of book publishing that are less comfortable than we'd like them to be. For example, it's a common fate for a book to be eagerly consumed by its new owner and then be relegated to obscurity on a bookshelf, often forgotten. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

LW1450 - Ten Myths That Need Busting In a technical and artistic pursuit like photography, it's not surprising that certain myths have developed over time. One of my favorite quotes is from G. K. Chesterton who said, "It's amazing how many things there are that aren't so." 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.

HT2234 - SIXES in the Field When I first started playing with the idea of Seeing in SIXES (six image projects), I spent time scouring my Lightroom catalog for candidates and cousins. As my experience has evolved with this idea, I've found that thinking in terms of six image projects in the field has given me an entirely new approach when I'm out with my camera. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!