LensWork - Photography and the Creative Process

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!

HT2600 - Photoshop Has Become Too Damn Complicated I know many photographers who think that Photoshop is the cat's meow of digital processing. I'm not one of them. For me, the engineers have taken the usability right out of Photoshop by making it so "capable." For me, using Photoshop always feels a bit like driving to the grocery store in a Formula 1 race car. I use 90% of Lightroom's features and capabilities; I use 3% of Photoshop's features and capabilities. The point I'm trying to make is not about Photoshop, but rather about choosing the tools that fit your needs. The purpose of software is to make our tasks easier, not more complicated. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2599 - Consuming With Repetition When I view artwork (music, a novel, a painting, a photograph) for the first time, it almost never sticks. That is, I don't find I can remember its details, I don't own it in my mind/memory. That almost always needs repetition. I have no idea if this is something about me, or if it says something about art, or if it says something a bit more universal. With music it's usually necessary to hear it a dozen or so times. With a novel at least twice, sometimes three readings. I find this an interesting observation in the age of Instagram and swipe left. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

LW1502 - Being Immersed in the World of a Photograph The photography I tend to love best is when I find myself immersed in the world of the photograph rather than just shown an instant in time. Think of that photograph by Joseph Sudek looking out his rainy kitchen window. That image immerses me in his life, his surroundings, his mood. Think of Jerry Uelsmann's fanciful worlds that are nonetheless believable. Do you remember the Griffin and Sabine series of books by Nick Bantock? I could probably go on ad infinitum, but the purpose of bringing this up is to perhaps give you a new framework to view your own images. 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.

HT2598 - Predictability In a chess game, what happens when both players see the inevitability of the outcome? They throw in the towel and quit the game. I feel that way about certain television shows and movies. Once the plot becomes predictable, I lose interest. Doesn't it make sense that this same idea pertains to photography as well? The minute I see a portfolio from, say, Yosemite and the first few images are perfectly predictable, I find my motivation for viewing the rest of the portfolio diminishes. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2597 - Duane Michals and the Question One of the reasons I love Duane Michals' work is because it's so different than so much of photography. Most photographers use the medium to make a statement, to show us something, to tell. Duane Michals, on the other hand, uses image and text to ask us questions, to encourage us to ask questions of ourselves, to use wonderment rather than certitude as the basis for so many of his images. 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!

HT2596 - Deepening Over Time Yesterday we announced the LensWork Complete Digital Back Issue Collection and that has us looking back at all the portfolios we've published since LensWork issue #1. It's been an interesting project which has led me to an unexpected observation. Looking at the over 800+ portfolios we've published, I was surprised that each has deepened over time, or perhaps I should say my appreciation of them as deepened as I've matured. I felt strong enough about each one that we decided to publish it, but looking back at them now I find even more. That's what good work does. 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.

HT2595 - Memorable Images I've probably seen tens of thousands of photographs in my life, maybe more. I suspect there's a hundred or two that I can remember and bring forth in my mind's eye. Why is that? Do I have a poor memory? What are the characteristics of an image I remember? Is it different with my own work compared to those I remember by other photographers? Is it enough to experience a photograph or is remembering it the most important aspect of an image? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2594 - You Will Likely Never Know Wynn Bullock will never know the impact his artwork has made in my life, but I can unhesitatingly say that his artwork set me on a 50-year trajectory that continues to this day. We will rarely know — perhaps never know — how our work will affect others. The one thing we can know with certainty is that doing our work will include ripple effects that will change our life in unexpected ways. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2593 - Mindlessness It may seem silly to insist that images of a mind of their own, but just pretend with me for a few minutes of experimentation. Pull up an image in Lightroom or Photoshop that you have not previously processed. Now, just sit back and look. Try not to think. Let go of photography, of art making, of analysis, of memory. Just look with an empty mind, at least as mindless as you can. Try to be open to the image and its will. The measure of your success as an artist is how successfully you let go of being an artist. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2592 - That Which Is Not Media We cannot have art without some medium of expression. That said, what makes art important, meaningful, valuable, and memorable are the elements which are independent of the medium. Think of Billie Holiday's singing independent of the record, the tape, the CD, or the digital stream. The same can be said for photography. What really counts is not the medium of the print, but rather that content that touches our heart. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

LW1501 - If Not Now, When? I've been involved with photography long enough to watch a number of my friends and LensWork-published photographers pass on to that eternal darkroom above the clouds. Life is fleeting, and the march of days relentless. It's amazing, as I look back, the number of times a photographer has told me about a project they are looking forward to doing only to run out of time. If we don't produce our work now, who knows if we will be able to do so in the future? 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.

HT2591 - The Thrill of Discovery We've all experienced the thrill of discovering a new subject, location, or artist previously unknown to us. I distinctly remember, after having been involved in photography for 20 years, the first time I saw the work of Josef Sudek. Last month I "discovered" the piano compositions of Isaac Albéniz. I believe that finding and treasuring such fellow artists is one of the most powerful reasons to be involved in the art life. This is especially so if their work inspires us in our own creative path. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2590 - Searching For the Thread That Binds There is a considerable difference between making a single, standalone, spectacular image as compared to working a project. For me, a large part of project oriented photography is searching for the thread that binds. This often starts with a single photograph which can potentially spawn many threads that bind. The part that involves artistic discretion and decisions is choosing which thread to pursue. 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!

HT2589 - The Value of Limits Perhaps you've heard that great Orson Welles quote that "The absence of limitations is the enemy of art." I think he's right, and I say this because of experiences I've had in making art. Limits become defining parameters, motivating deadlines, and achievable endpoints. There are numerous ways we can define limits. Each has its own value and purpose. We can limit the equipment we use, the number of raw captures we'll collect, the number of finished images, the time we allow ourselves with a given project, or the geographic boundaries we will explore. 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.

HT2588 - A Problem with Big What do the following have in common? War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, The Ring by Richard Wagner, running a marathon, and a 60-inch photographic print? They're all possible, but intimidating. It is human nature to hesitate before engaging a big thing. It's natural for us to measure our commitment and dedication before we begin. Big things require a sort of risk versus reward analysis Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2587 - In Gear We Trust During my 50 years in photography, I've owned 24 different cameras. I can assure you that with each new camera my hopes and aspirations rose as I was sequentially convinced each new piece of gear would provide the answer to making better photographs. You would think my faith in gear would subside with each disappointment, but it never does. That's how strong faith in gear is in photography. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2586 - The Data Hidden in the Noise We click the shutter because there's something there. We feel it, we sense it, we may not be able to describe it, but there is data hidden in the noise. Our job is artists is to brush away the noise, the obscuring dust, sometimes the verbosity in our mind. Photography is not so much about taking as it is about revealing. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2580 - Sometimes a Picture Is Just a Picture, Sometimes Not In these Here's a Thought comments, I talk a lot about meaning and content and the philosophy behind photography. There is, however, a case to be made for just letting a picture be a picture. It's a matter of trying to find balance in the swinging pendulum between profundity and simple beauty. So much of photography is about capturing beauty and why not? If that's the only content of the photograph, image after image after image, one does eventually feel that the meal is all dessert and a taste of substance would be a welcome relief. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2579 - Either Match Perfectly or Not At All It has been pointed out to me over the years and by several people that I have zero fashion sense, particularly in my choice of clothing. Maureen compassionately laughed at me when I dressed up one time in khaki pants and a tan shirt that didn't match and then another time when they did and I looked like the ice cream man. Such lessons taught me a lot about depth of field in my photography. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2578 - Ruthless Editing, Again Last weekend, more or less just for fun, I reviewed all 180 projects in my Kokoro series of PDFs. One of the conclusions from this review is that I need to do more ruthless editing. Far too often I felt that a project simply had too many images. My primary criteria for editing has always been to eliminate repetition, but I need to expand that and maybe set more rigid limits on how many images are included in a project. Breaking a project into smaller parts might be the key, like chapters in novels. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

LW1499 - The Most Important Lesson I was recently asked, by two different people, about my 50+ years in photography. A non-photographer asked me what I had learned from my lifelong engagement with photography. Coincidentally a few days later, a photographer asked me essentially the same question. I was surprised that I had different answers depending on who asked question. 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.

HT2577 - Little Things Gone Wrong We try, of course, to do our very best with every image, with every project. We strive for perfection. Do we ever achieve it? Far more often than I care to admit, while looking back at some of my completed work I find little things that I could have so easily corrected, but missed. A misspelled word, unfortunate punctuation, the small distraction poking in from the edge of an image, an inconsistency in layout, an image I now realize needed a little tweak here or there. Not failures, but not perfect. Maybe the final step in proofing should be a purposeful review of all the little things that can go wrong. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2576 - Illumination I love word play almost as much as I love photography. Has it ever occurred to you the double meaning inherent in the word illumination? We search for illuminating light to reveal the shadows. We also search for illumination in the sense of enlightenment and understanding. Photography is all about illumination, interestingly enough in both definitions of the term. Perhaps better than the term photographer we could think of ourselves as "illumination seekers" — in both senses of the word. Enlightenment, indeed. 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!