LensWork - Photography and the Creative Process

HT2650 - The Question Answered by the Caption First, let's admit that not every photograph needs a caption. If a photograph does need a caption, it can be useful to consider the question the caption is intended to answer. For so much of landscape photography, for example, the question is Where is this? With that as the question, providing location in the caption makes sense. But, is that the most important question? Is "Where?" more important than "Why?" Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2649 - Overwhelming Beauty Sometimes I really struggle as a landscape photographer. When the scene is overwhelmingly beautiful, one would think that making a successful photograph would be easier. It's not. The more beautiful the scene before my camera the more difficult it is for me to make manifest my personal response. I'm reduced to using the camera as a recorder rather than as a medium of personal expression. Said another way, the more beautiful the scene the more my picture looks like everyone else's. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2648 - One Hundred Compositions Let's say you find yourself in a fascinatingly photogenic location and decide to work it intensely. We've all had this experience at one time or another. What often happens to me is that the first dozen or so images are cliché, the easiest ones, the ones that probably copy other photographers, even if I'm unaware of their images. The next few dozen images might be my own, and are usually accompanied by a thrill. That emotion carries me downstream with enthusiasm. It's then that the real challenge starts has the easy ones are exhausted and I find myself swimming upstream where the most personal artwork inevitably can be found. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2647 - New Work Here in the 21st century, the volume of creative work that is being produced leads people inexorably to over-value the new. I don't recall anyone ever asking me to see work I did 25 years ago. The question is always, "What have you done that's new?" Or perhaps, "What are you currently working on?" I can't help but think that they're asking to see my work that is yet unproven and has not survived the test of time. Why is "the new" of greater interest than our proven, previous work? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2646 - Your Very Best Imagine for a moment that some important personage asked to see your very best work. What would you show them? Would you show them your most popular images? Your best sellers? Would you show them your personal favorites? The latest project you've completed? Would you show them safe work or your more innovative and daring work? This RSS feed includes only the most recent seven Here's a Thought episodes. All of them — over 2600 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!

HT2645 - Trust Your Gut Yesterday I was discussing the 270 image captures of the rock walls of Capitol Reef that I photographed in 2012. I described how I only recently discovered a possible processing for those images. There's an interesting aspect of this story that is not obvious. In reviewing the 270 images, I found 37 that worked with this new processing idea. How do we know? What prompted me to reject the other 233? I think of Edward Weston and "the flame of recognition." 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.

HT2644 - An Entirely New Vision The creative idea might appear in an instant, or it might also require years of gestation. I was recently looking at a large collection of images and I had photographed in 2012 in southern Utah. From nowhere I can determine, an idea about how to process these RAW captures suddenly appeared. I could not count the number of times I've looked at these RAW files with no interest at all. How, then, does a wonderfully creative idea suddenly appear? I cannot over emphasize the value of working our image archives so long-dormant ideas have an opportunity to emerge. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2643 - The Problem with Canned Slide Shows Over the last 20 years, I've seen quite a number of photographic slide shows. The first was a multi-projector affair, with a musical sound track accompaniment in the 1980s. Recently, software has made assembling a slide show a snap. Too often, I find these presentations too metronomic, predictable, uninteresting after the first few images. Too bad, because they don't have to be. Today, a slide show is not a slide show; it's a video. It's not a sequential presentation of still images, it's a living, breathing visual experience. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2641 - Longevity Have we arrived at a point in the history of photography where longevity is no longer a virtue? In my youth, archival processing was an important pursuit in our mastery of craft. Now (think of Instagram), the lifespan of an image can be measured in hours, maybe days, certainly not in decades. Photography has fulfilled its prophecy by truly becoming an instantaneous art, not just in the making but also in viewing. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

LW1508 - Your Relationship with Photography That great literary wit Dorothy Parker is reported to have said, "I hate to write but love to have written." I suspect we can all relate to that in our own chosen medium. There will always be some parts of the creative life that we enjoy more than others. Indeed, there are likely to be some parts we detest with as much passion as we enjoy with those parts we favor. 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.

HT2640 - I Miss Photography So much of what I love about photography has been replaced by something that is, well, not the same photography I first fell in love with. A great photograph used to be rare; a great photographer used to be a kind of technological priest; before the advent of swipe left, we used to take time to view a photograph and delve into its depths; searching for a photograph used to be a holy pursuit, now it looks more like a trophy hunt. The other day I suddenly realized I missed that older kind of photography of my youth, but then immediately recognized that it is possible, at least in our own lives, to preserve the old ways. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

LW1509 - A Book Is More Than a Paper Thing Words mean things. In fact, words can mean several things, several things that are quite different from one another. Take the term "book." It might mean a physical thing with paper and ink. Then again, if I ask you if you've read a good book lately, isn't it obvious I'm not referring to the paper and ink but rather to the content of the story? 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.

HT2639 - Paralyzing Success Here is a problem I've never had before. In the last 18 months, I've had extraordinary success. I've captured 6,700 images of which I've identified a few dozen that have technical issues I can't resolve. Of the remaining, I've flagged a couple hundred as unsuccessful compositions. That still leaves me with over 6,000 images I could turn into single winners or images in projects. Seriously, 6000 images. I'm overwhelmed, stuck, have no idea where to begin, frustrated, and a little lost. For example, I have over 1,000 lovely shots of yellow and orange aspens. What do I do with 1,000 yellow and orange aspens? This RSS feed includes only the most recent seven Here's a Thought episodes. All of them — over 2600 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!

HT2638 - Photograph As Launch Pad It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that a photograph is a destination of a viewing process. It's as though seeing a photograph puts a period at the end of an experiential sentence. The reason I call this a trap is because it seems much better to me to consider a photograph as a launch pad for an experience, one that encourages a train of thought, a series of questions, a dialog, a search for meaning and understanding. A photograph that only provides answers is easy to forget. 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.

HT2637 - The Transcendent Moment The term "The Decisive Moment" has been an important concept in photographic circles since Cartier-Bresson first coined it with the publication of his book of that name in 1952. I've always struggled with this term because I think of the decisive moment as a time-related concept. Rather than capturing the right instant, I'm more drawn to photographers like André Kertész who give us the transcendent moment. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2636 - Release vs Publish, and Why I was recently watching a YouTuber discuss the "release" of a new photograph he'd just finished. It evidently was time to go public with this new image. I was struck by his term "release" as though the image had been imprisoned until its liberation. Besides the obvious detention metaphor, I questioned whether or not this is a term used specifically with single images rather than projects with multiple images. Considering all the images we now have in our digital assets, why do we "release" one and not the others? Is this a volumetric decision or a marketing one? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2635 - Money and Print Size I married young, had kids young, about the same time I decided to seriously pursue fine art landscape photography. All serious landscape photographers at the time were shooting large format view cameras which meant 4x5 or 8x10. I could afford neither, so settled for what I could afford which was a 2¼ by 3¼ monorail view camera. Little did I realize the implications of that limitation that set the direction for my entire life in photography. Worse, that hasn't changed in the intervening 50 years. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2634 - A Physical Legacy As a product of my generation, I've always believed that leaving a physical legacy of our artwork was important. Now that I'm on the threshold of age, I'm not so sure. Those physical artifacts that we create, collect, and/or value may turn out to be a burden to our heirs that they would just as soon not have to dispose. I don't think this has to do only with artwork, but is instead a cultural shift we are living through. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

LW1507 - The Consciousness Barrier, The Conundrum of Art Most photographs I see don't penetrate very deeply into my consciousness. I know they're there, I fleetingly engage them, but they don't have much power to impress themselves into deeper thought. It's as though there is a barrier that prevents me from engaging with more than a casual glance. I suspect that's not the kind of engagement we want as art makers. How do we get our viewers to break through that shallow consciousness barrier? Shouting isn't the answer. 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.

HT2633 - Small Cameras When I was a youngster, my grandfather gave me his Minox B so-called "spy camera." I loved this tiny wonder in spite of the difficulty getting or processing its miniature film. Oh, and the grainy prints were awful; the lens barely functional; the focus always a guess. But it fit in my pocket and I could take it everywhere. I loved that camera, but I hated the pictures that came from it. I wonder why I don't love my smartphone with equal enthusiasm. Is it because it's too easy, too capable, and too excellent? Perhaps if my grandfather had given me an iPhone I'd be more enthusiastic about using it. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2632 - Handheld Art Media The world is full of media that artists can use to express themselves. Music, storytelling, dance, sculpture, poetry, pottery, painting. Has it ever occurred to you how rare it is that a work of art can be held in your hands? I've always thought that this is one of the great strengths of photography. No other medium that I can think of has the potential to be so tactile. Maybe clothing, maybe food if we consider them an art medium, but these are special cases. Photography is the rare visual medium that is (or can be) so physically sensual. I'm not referring to books, but to original prints produced to be viewed handheld. This RSS feed includes only the most recent seven Here's a Thought episodes. All of them — over 2600 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!

HT2631 - I Done Good I sincerely hope I am not self-deluded about this, but I often find that after some months or perhaps years I look back at older images and find them far better than I remembered. I'll kick myself for not recognizing the potential for an image that now seems so obvious. It's as though the passage of time imbues the image with surprising improvements. Or, maybe my subconscious has been working on the image all this time. What I originally passed by becomes an image I now celebrate. Why is this? 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.

HT2630 - Why We Are Making the Complete LensWork Digital Back Issues Collection Available for Download We announced a few weeks ago that we have begun a long-term project to publish the entire content of the LensWork Print Editions as PDF digital back issues. We've already posted the first 23 back issues. We'll add two more back issues each Friday until we have them all completed. These downloadable digital back issues are available exclusively to current members of LensWork Online. Here's why we are publishing the entire back issues collection. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2629 - The Myth of Accurate Color Balance Is there truly such as thing as correct color balance? What about differences in the way individuals see? What about light sources that effect how we see a print? Seems to me that accurate color balance is a myth. Instead, I prefer to think in terms of believable color balance, emotional color balance, or interpreted color balance — none of which are accurate but all of which might help create a more persuasive image. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2628 - Photography Is a Graphic Art Are you familiar with that book, Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon? If so, you are familiar with the idea of borrowing (a more gentile word than stealing) ideas from other disciplines. For example, postal stamps. For example, Japanese picture books known as e-hon. For example, Audubon bird books, botanical catalogs, wanted posters, old time postcards, bookmarks, Tarot cards, or pub coasters. All of these graphic arts could be merged with photographic images to create artwork that goes beyond camera as recording machine. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2627 - How the Art Is Built Painters usually start with a sketch, a visual working-out of an idea, a practice run, an experiment. They build from the sketch to the finished painting, step by step. The same can be said of poetry, theater, cinema, novel writing, most every medium I can think of. Photographs start with a fully realized image which the photographer then improves by modifying or eliminating things the camera sees in entirety. I'm fascinated by this difference in approach. I also think this is the main reason I'm resistant to AI photography. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

LW1506 - The Content Every medium has a form — movements in a symphony, chapters in a novel, image and caption in photography. These forms have to do with structure, but what about content? In storytelling, there is a basic formula that is universally followed with few variations. The three steps in novel writing are: Characters, Conflict, Resolution. Every story is based on these three basics. Turning our attention to photography, what is the equivalence of a basic formula in our medium? 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.

HT2626 - Hyperized Photography For each of us, there are certain kinds of photography that we love and enjoy and even produce, but other kinds of photography that is a bit of a challenge. I feel guilty about certain kinds of photography that I know I should enjoy but I struggle to appreciate. Exploring my own prejudices a bit, I've concluded that the kind of photography that tends to turn me off is what I would call hyperized photography. Psychedelic colors, excessively pushed infrared, vibrance cranked up to 11, room-sized prints, all leave me rushing for the exit. I know that says nothing about photography, but it must say something about me. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2625 - Instant Emotional Bond I once read that the goal of a framed photograph was to create an instant emotional bond with the viewer. I think there is some truth to this but then I remember all the images that I disliked or felt neutral about at first viewing which only later, upon reflection, became favorites and even influential pictures. I've always struggled with this idea of instant emotional bond because it seems to reduce to a connection based on already held assumptions and opinions. That leaves photography with nothing new to bring to us. 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!

HT2624 - A Special Experience Some of you have been around long enough to remember when seeing a photograph could be a truly special experience. A highlight of my photographic life was seeing an exhibition of Paul Strand originals at The Art Institute of Chicago in 1991. I was on cloud nine for a week. Perhaps it was such a special occasion because it was so rare. Here, deep in the age of image bombardment, I miss those moments when I could be overwhelmed by the work of a master photographer during a transcendent experience. 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.

HT2623 - PBPA - Photography By Pooping Around Last week I attended a classical concert in which the orchestra played the Enigma Variations by Edward Elgar. There's a fascinating story about how he constructed this piece that seems perfectly applicable to us photographers. I never knew my practice of PBPA (Photography By Pooping Around)was a strategy that could be used by serious composers. I guess if it's good enough for them, it's good enough for us, too. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2622 - The Secondary Market As you can well imagine, I receive dozens of emails every day from galleries, collectors, agents, and promoters who have prints for sale. My first thought when I see these emails and the prices for the prints they are offering is to wonder how much of that gets back to the creator, the photographer, the individual whose creativity and effort created the work. The poor artist get nothing from the sale in the secondary market. Worse, whatever efforts they spend to market their own work robs them of the precious time and energy needed to make work. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2618 - Print as Affirmation As we wander through life, we see something that prompts us to make a photograph. Why? That mystery requires confirmation. Did we see what we thought we saw? Did we understand what we thought became clear? Do we make a print in order to confirm our experience? Do we share that print with others so that they can confirm our experience? Photography fundamentally is the process of saying, "Look at this." We do so because we think it's important. How necessary is it that others affirm our observation, even if that affirmation comes from ourselves? 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!

HT2617 - Battling with the Real World The problem with photography from a creative medium point of view is that it too successfully allows us to make pictures that show what the world looks like. I'm not sure this is helpful for those of us who want to use photography as a personally expressive medium. The more our photographs are truthful to an objective point of view, the less they reflect our own interpretive response to the world. Do we create photographs that copy the world or do we push further toward a more personal expression? 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.

HT2616 - My Serious Camera A troubling mindset that I have difficulty discarding is that I think of my gear as either serious or, well, not. With my serious camera, I work more intensely, with a deeper concentration. I also have a more portable, but fully capable camera that goes with me everywhere. For some reason, I can't seem to use that camera with the same intensity as my serious gear. I must let go of this prejudice. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2615 - Beyond Place or Moment You may recall my Editor's Comments in LensWork #173, Projects as Wall Art. I have another observation about this that I missed until recently. An image on the wall says something about a place or a moment. A project of a dozen images or so says something That is neither about a place nor a moment. My current project on the wall consists of 13 images of snow scenes that says something about snow and winter that I'm not sure I could accomplish with just one image all by itself. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2614 - What You Should Do Perhaps there is no deadlier advice from a workshop instructor, mentor, or master photographer, than their statement about what you should do with your photography. I've learned countless things from photographers who have told me what they do and leave it for me to pick and choose what parts of their creativity might be applicable to mine. On the other hand, I've learned essentially nothing from instructors who tell me how I ought to make my pictures. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2613 - My Favorite Lightroom Tool Is... I haven't counted, but I wouldn't be surprised to learn there's about a gazillion tools in Lightroom that can help us refine and finesse our images. Some of them I never use, and some of them I'm sure I don't know about. There is, however, one tool, that I use on almost every image. No, it's not Exposure, not Clarity, not Texture, not Crop and Rotate. It is (drum roll, please) ... Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

LW1504 - Photo Groups I miss the dialogue of a group. An incredibly important part of my personal growth as a photographer came as the result of my participation in a group in Portland, Oregon known as the Portland Photographer's Forum. (The last I heard this group was still going strong after 40 years.) We had monthly meetings. We looked at photographs and talked about them. That's about it. There were no contests, no awards, no sniping anonymous critique bombs. It was just a group of people who cared about ph 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.

HT2612 - Photography and the Visual Arts One of the biggest mistakes of my youth was focusing my efforts exclusively on photography and ignoring the other visual arts. By defining myself so narrowly as "a photographer," I have missed so many opportunities to see and study other visual media. How can we be photographers and not be interested in etchings, pen and ink drawings, wood block prints, linoleum cuts, and of course painting? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2611 - My Medium Is Better Than Yours The word "photography" is an umbrella term that includes dozens of different means of manifestation and distribution of an image. From daguerreotypes to digital prints, from lantern slides to web galleries, technology has provided us with dozens of ways to create a "photograph." Which of these are the most admired, most collectible, most respected of the various imaging technologies? Silver gelatin or platinum/palladium? Analog or digital? Or is this an incredibly silly question? 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!

HT2609 - Creativity Is a Private, Personal Thing Maybe I'm just stubbornly resistant, but I find I simply cannot get excited about suggestions from other people about what I should photograph or how I should put together a project. I think of creativity as a very private and personal activity that is carried out in a space that is strictly my own. Maybe I'm missing something here, but I found this to be true my entire creative life. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2608 - Embracing the Pause I've learned over the years that I can't be creative all the time. I used to feel guilty about the pause between creative outbursts. I eventually came to realize that it's actually useful to be creatively on fire followed by a cooler period. The trick is to keep this momentum swinging back and forth and not let either state dominate for too long. Too much creativity and we burn out; too much pause and we end up procrastinating. A steady but swinging rhythm seems to be the sweet spot for me. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2607 - Better by What Standards With today's powerful digital processing, we can easily remove any element of a captured image. Doing so will make our artwork better, right? Doesn't this depend on the criteria we assign as better? Removing an object makes the image less truthful. Moving an object makes the image less geometrically or optically accurate. Changing the contrast or the tonal relationships makes the image less like human vision. Altering the natural colors makes the image artificially intense. How do you define "better" in your work? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2606 - The Trendline of Photography In the early years of the 20th century, photography struggled to establish its reputation as a medium for artistic expression. As a medium, it gained widespread popularity and acceptance as the 20th century progressed. What about now, a quarter of the way through the 21st century? Is photography more respected as a result of the changes in the last 25 years, or has its reputation diminished? Has digital processing, the iPhone, and Instagram made photography more revered as an art medium? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

LW1503 - Nurturing Your Creative Impulse I would bet that a significant number of photographers would claim their most valuable tool is their camera. I would propose your most valuable tool is your creative impulse. If anything you do or have needs tender loving care or special attention, it is those creative impulses. 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.

HT2605 - What Is vs What Becomes The fundamental characteristic of photography is that it shows us what is, the instant that is. This differs so dramatically from performance arts where the basis of the medium is observing what unfolds over time. For example, movie plots are about what might happen to the characters over the next hours, days, or years. Does it make any sense for us to challenge ourselves to introduce some of that into our photography? Isn't this one of the advantages of the multi-image project? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2604 - Bigger Than Real Life The very first print I ever sold as a young photographer was an image of a 1-in mushroom cap that I printed to 16x20". I didn't realize at the time what a rarity that is, but looking back on 50 years of photography that may be the only image I've ever made were the artwork was bigger than the object photographed. Almost without exception, we photographers squeeze reality to fit within the confines of our comparatively diminutive prints. Rather than outsize the world via our product, we try to outsize our emotional response. 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!

HT2603 - Our Digital Files and Our Mortality Our generation is facing a very strange conundrum, at least strange compared to previous generations of photographers. They may have left their negatives behind, which likely does not leave behind a possibility of posthumous prints. Our legacy involves the eternal possibility of Ctrl-P. 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.

HT2602 - Stop Stockpiling Skills and Start Doing The problem with learning new tools is that it can be so abstract and intellectual. Sure, it's handy to have some photographic technique in your tool bag, but so much learning is about some nebulous potential that it never becomes deep learning, remaining an idea never brought to fruition. Do you learn so that someday you can do something? Or are you trying to do something and need to learn how in order to complete it? These are two entirely different approaches. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2601 - Where to Spend Your Money Looking back, I cringe when I think how much money I've spent on cameras and assorted accessories. I wish someone had told me, in my youth, to spend my hard-earned cash on the highest quality lenses, rather than cameras. In fact I wish I'd spend more money on darkroom supplies, ink and paper, frames, methods of distribution, and workshops and far less money on cameras and travel. I have no doubt my photographic legacy would be much higher quality had I invested in the right photographic expenditures. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!