LensWork - Photography and the Creative Process

LW1477 - The Problem with Location-Based Projects I've returned from my 2-months on the road and am starting the long process of reviewing the 3500 RAW captures. Almost immediately I divided the images into 43 potential projects, but then realized that all of them were location-based project ideas. There is a weakness in this that is not obvious. I call these types of projects "Portrait of a Place." They are easy to unify into a project, but there are alternatives that are often better. 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.

HT2423 - Roads Landscape photography is inextricably tied to roads. Even if we are hiking into rough terrain, we get to the trailhead via a road. Photographically, not all roads are equal. I've been tooling down the Interstates to get home and doing no photography along the way. For me, photography is always at its best when I'm traveling down a dirt road. If you are not familiar with them, you need to know about Delorme maps. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2422 - They All Come from Projects What most of us tend to show matted, framed, and hanging in a place of importance in our home are the very best images we've created. But where do these come from? My observation is that most of those super winners rise from the midst of a project and become super winners due to actions beyond our control. For example, Dorothea Lange made lots of pictures for the FSA, but Migrant Mother rose from the crowd to become iconic. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2421 - The Difficulty with Gray I've started to work on some of the images from my trip and in particular those from the Badlands of South Dakota. These are tricky images to process just right because of an unexpected issue. Light gray can look either alive or depressed depending on the surrounding mat board or digital background. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2420 - Things or Moments Ask a photographer what it is they make pictures of and the chances are they will answer THINGS or perhaps PEOPLE. Perhaps, but more likely than not what they capture a moment, at least in their better photographs. I always try my best to remember this when I'm out photographing, like when I was at Shiprock last week. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2419 - Bad Light Yesterday I was photographing in the South Dakota badlands and had a moment when I thought, "This is really bad light." It took me a minute to remember my own advice that there is no such thing as good light or bad light. There is, however, light that doesn't serve our preconceived ideas. "Bad light" really means that we are imposing our will on what the landscape is giving us. In other words, there is no bad light, there are only bad expectations. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2418 - Returning with a Zoom Lens In the 1980s, I made a photograph of the hills near my grandmother's home in Tensleep, Wyoming. I was never thrilled with that image and finally had the opportunity to revisit the area last week. I found the hill I had photographed and realized instantly why I was not happy with the previous effort. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2417 - Gathering Strategies I've talked on numerous occasions about my strategy of gathering assets while I'm in the field rather than pre-visualizing finished images. I've never mentioned, however, what I actually do while I'm gathering assets. Here's a quick overview of how I work in the field. Some may see this as indecision; I see it as providing options for when I'm back home making art. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

LW1476 - Minor White and the Symbolic Image Minor White (one of my all-time favorite photographers) advised us not to photography only what it is, but to photograph what else it is. A catchy quote, but what does this actually mean? One answer is to think of photography as a medium to express metaphors and symbols. This prompts three levels of thinking: photography of something, photography about something, and photography that points to something. 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.

HT2416 - The Most Important Thing We Need We photographers are always on the hunt for a subject, a new technique, better equipment, and more time. I've come to realize, however, that the most important thing we need is access. How many times have you driven past a gorgeous scene with beautiful light but there's no place to pull off the road to make a picture? Or there's a fence, or gate, or barrier, or a regulation that blocks us from the position we need to make the picture. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2415 - Thinking in Groups Yesterday in my Here's a Thought about Going Back, I inadvertently dropped a pretty big hint about thinking in groups. Where do we find the seeds for our projects? It all starts by thinking in groups. The most common group consists of a selection of images from a given location. Next are projects about a common subject. That's not the only way to group images into a project. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2414 - Going Back I've had two instances of going back to photograph again something I'd already done once before. It's often said that we can't go back. I think there is every reason in the world to go back, not the least of which is that things constantly change Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2413 - Waiting for the Light Yesterday, I was at a terrific location for high altitude mountain photography. The scene was lovely, the rocks majestic, and the snow a perfect accent to add texture to the rock face. The only thing that was missing was a splash of winter sun. I decided to wait. Five hours later, I got the break in the clouds I was waiting for. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2412 - The Crucial Missing Element from So Much of Fine Art Photography One of the most common reactions I have when I see great artwork is that I cannot comprehend how it was done. There is some magic in the fact that it exists which leads to wonderment about how the artist accomplished it. People used to feel that way about photography, too, but now the magic in photography is so easily dismissed with "It's been Photoshopped" whether that's true or not. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2411 - Fleeting Ideas It's said that Charles Dickens during his long meandering walks through London, would always carry with him a notebook. He would jot down descriptions of interesting places he saw. He would capture interesting phrases people used or their accents and ways of speaking. He would then refer to these notes while he was writing his novels, using the little snippets of conversation he had overheard. Not a bad idea for us photographers, too. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2410 - The Unexpected Project Some of the best advice I've ever heard came from a workshop instructor from my early days in photography, Stewart Harvey. He said the best photographers are ones who spend the most time photographing. He also said that the word "photographer" is a verb. He also said, turn around — which is incredible sage advice for photographers. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

LW1475 - The Dilemma of Volume I remember a time when the creation of a single outstanding image was enough. In fact, that single great image was the goal. And it still can be. But while we are all still making single images, the mass of images that is building in our Lightroom catalogs is applying a pressure that previous generations could not imagine. This week — admittedly a spectacular week of fall colors in Colorado — I've added over 700 images of beautiful yellow, orange, red, and gold colored leaves to my asset base. This doesn't count the 900 or so images from previous trips. What do I do with them all? 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.

HT2409 - The Unrecognized Masterpiece Earlier this year I was reading a book on creativity and the author proposed that even the best creators and artists rarely are aware they are producing a masterpiece. Instead, they just create and work to the best of their abilities and don't give attention to whether or not their results are a masterwork. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2408 - Viewer Fatigue vs Disinterestedness We've probably all had the experience when showing a body of work that the viewer doesn't complete the entire project from start to finish. Does this mean they've lost interest somewhere along the way? Or is it possible that it's viewer fatigue and they've simply absorbed as many images as they can? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2407 - Paul Strand Paul Strand has been a favorite of mine for over 50 years. Three of his books are in my top 10 all-time favorites list. Time in New England (1950), Un Paese (1955), and Tir a'Mhurain / Outer Hebrides (1962). One of the aspects of his work that I love is the mixture of portraits, architecture, life style, landscape, and nature — all in the same project. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2406 - GPS EXIF Data I can connect my cameras to my cell phone in such a way that each image I photograph records the GPS information from my cell phone into the ex of data of the image file. For some time now, I thought that was a pretty neat trick. But I've come to realize I never used that data, not even once, and the extra drain on my camera batteries is inconvenient. So, I've stopped capturing GPS data and haven't missed it a bit. I'm sure for some of you it's incredibly valuable, but for me it's turned out to be superfluous and completely unnecessary. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2405 - I Am Not a Landscape Photographer Don't get me wrong, I do photograph the landscape. But the purpose of my landscape photography is not to make a statement about the landscape but rather to use the landscape as it means to explore other ideas. For example, I have a project that is solitary trees in a vast landscape. The project is not about the solitary trees, but about how I was feeling after my wife passed away. Photography as metaphor, as Minor White advised us to photograph what else it is. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2404 - From the Overlook I was recently at a scenic overlook where there were quite a number of others using what appear to be fairly modern digital cameras and long lenses. It occurred to me that probably all of them, or at least almost all of them, would end up with a very lovely photograph. The light was beautiful, the view from overlook was breathtaking, and their cameras quite capable. A lot has changed in the last 50 years of photography. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2403 - Sales Are Not a Measure of Success Unless, that is, your objective with photography is to provide an income. When someone tells me it's their best-selling image, what I hear is that this is the most expected, most cliché, most common photograph they've made. This does not mean that your worst selling photograph is your most personal, most unique, most treasured photograph that you've made. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

LW1474 - Choosing Your Camera I've been a presenter at two different events in the last 10 days, and in both events I was asked about my camera. I'm not a gear-centric guy and this isn't a gear-centric podcast, but the truth is that we do need to use gear. The right gear makes the task easier and the wrong gear can easily become a barrier to what we want to accomplish. With this in mind, let's consider gear for just a few minutes. First, when you look at a famous image, so you need to know what camera was used? 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.

HT2402 - Has photography become too easy What are the implications when thousands of photographers are making tens of thousands of spectacular images? What happens to the value of accomplishment when the product ceases to be rare? The photographic priesthood has dissolved. In its place we have a perfectly democratic medium. This is a good thing for the simple reason that it will refocus our efforts toward meaning and content rather than impressive technological accomplishments. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2401 - Where the Mona Lisa Was Painted Photographers are compelled to include location information in their image captions. Why? Does the viewer need to know this? Maybe we should reveal the location where the image was printed. Or the date we signed it. Or who was with us when we framed the print. Or how old we were when we photographed it. Or who our travel agent was to the exotic locations we visited. Which information will do the most to connect our viewer with our artistic intent? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2400 - The Importance of Being Thick-skinned Photography at times can be so cruel. Our best plans can evaporate in technical failure. Our precious artwork can be rejected by a monstrous editor. Ahem. The work we love like children can leave others cold. No one said the life of an artmaker would be lollipops and rainbows every day. To quote one of my favorite lines from The Princess Bride, "Life is pain. Anyone who says differently is selling something." Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2399 - My Theory on Locations I continue to believe that location is an overrated commodity in photography. Perhaps this doesn't prove my idea, but in the last month on the road I've captured images for 15 small projects from 13 different locations I never anticipated or never knew existed. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2398 - Food Clothing, and Shelter In my twenties I work for the 9th largest retailer in the United States, a company called Fred Meyer, located in the Pacific Northwest. Mr. Meyer had a fascinating philosophy. He observed that everybody needs three things: food, clothing, and shelter. Everything else is a luxury. I suppose that includes photography. It's an uncomfortable reality for us photographers but no one needs what we produce. At the same time, making art is one of the most important activities we can pursue. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2397 - What You Can Do The Greek philosopher Heraclitus advised us that the only constant is change. This is so true in our creative and artistic lives. When I hit the road for my great travel adventure in 2021, I had to give up production of things like folios because I didn't have my studio. Rather than have that interruption to my creative life, I found it useful to adapt to what I could do rather than to bemoan the loss of what I could no longer do. The operative question is always, What can I do with that? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2396 - Quite Possibly the Last Time I remember during the last months of Maureen's life, she would often ask if this was the last time I she would do something or other. At the time I thought this was a bit morbid, but I've come to understand how connected she was to living every moment with sensitivity. Perhaps that attitude is a useful one in our artmaking, too. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

LW1473 - The Core of Photography (Brooks is under the weather today, so here is an excerpt from a recent workshop presentation). 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.

HT2395 - The Eye of the Beholder Brooks is under the weather today, so here is an excerpt from his most recent workshop where he discusses the necessity for artists to have a bit of a thick skin. You can't please all the people all the time. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2394 - We Are Being Trained Against the Still Image Next time you are watching TV or a movie, take note of how many shots use a moving camera. Typically, the subject will be still, but the camera is moving left to right, or slowly zooming in. All this camera movement makes our still photographs seem static and even unexciting. This is not good. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2393 - Mourning the Loss of Prints I know, I know, I'm probably being a bit reactionary here, but it seems to me that the world is slowly letting go of prints as a medium for photography. I had a fascinating experience in a Zoom conference last night that became one data point of interest. But the more I thought about it, I realized how many times in recent years I've heard some photography influencer make the case that we all need to make more prints; of course they say that because so few people do. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2392 - Response Before Capture Yesterday, I was asked if I have any rituals I use when I'm out photographing. I assume her question was about routines, not religious actions. The more I thought about her question, the more I realized that I do have a precursor to clicking the shutter that I use with consistency. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2391 - The Only Way to Know with Certainty Some photographers advise us to turn off IBIS when we use a tripod. Others say it's okay to leave IBIS on all the time. Who's advice should you take? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2390 - Better Camera or Better Technique If you want to improve your photography, which will propel your work to the next level, a better camera or a better technique? This is a trick question. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2389 - How Long to Finish It's not uncommon that our artistic magnum opus requires a long gestation and is the results of possibly years of work. In addition to such substantial projects, there is tremendous benefit to completing small projects that require a few hours or a few days. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

LW1472 - Treasuring Our Elders I started photography because of images. The aspect of photography that I didn't anticipate was its power to connect us to people, great people, wise people, sensitive people, artists with a camera. I treasure them all. 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.

HT2388 - The Importance of Scale Some images look better when they are big prints. Some look better as small prints. Knowing the best scale for a print is an art in itself. Knowing the distance someone will be at when viewing our prints is an impossibility. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2387 - Migrant Mother PPI Is it fair to say that one of the most important and world-changing images from all of photographic history is Migrant Mother by Dorothea Lange? For our generation of photographers, it's good to remember that this amazing image first appeared as an 85 dpi image in newsprint. The same for W. Eugene Smith's Country Doctor, or Tomoko and Mother in the Bath. Same with Weston's My Camera on Point Lobos. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2386 - A Sense of Immediacy Regardless of the subject, when the objective is to connect with a viewer, immediacy and presence are important compositional goals. Curiously enough, these goals are obtained in entirely different ways depending on whether you use a wide angle or telephoto lens. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2385 - Gathering Backgrounds Surprisingly enough, digital processing has opened the door to texture-like backgrounds for our projects. Applying a textured background is easy and can contribute significantly to the aesthetic of a project. I'm referring to the background that might be in the image as a texture or alternatively a background for the white border of paper behind the image. Gathering backgrounds is another step in the creative process. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2384 - Your Way of Seeing the World An element of human nature that I find constantly amusing is the advice I receive from others about where to go to make a photograph. Isn't it interesting that no one ever says why I should make a photograph, what it's aesthetic might be, what my intent could be, what the content might reveal, how said location might blend gracefully with my other work, or how their suggestion might be insightful. Advice is always about location, location, location — good advice for real estate, but not necessarily for art making. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2383 - Shooting Skies for Sky Replacement I'm still slightly hesitant to use Sky Replacement because it seems to approach a line of demarcation that I'm not particularly comfortable crossing. That said, there are times when it's the only solution to salvage an image. With this in mind, I've started amassing my own collection of cloudy and colorful sky images. Somehow, probably with questionable justification, it seems less of a cheat if I'm using my own cloud images. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2382 - Amazingly Handheld The old rule of thumb I learned in my youth about shutter speeds advises that we should use a tripod unless the shutter speed is at least 1 over the focal length of the lens. For example, using 50 mm lens I should be able to hand hold at 1/50th of a second. The other day, I hand held a one second exposure with a 200 mm lens that is tack sharp. Seven to eight stops of stabilization. Amazing! Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

LW1471 - A Case for Project Photography We all love creating that spectacular image that gets matted, framed, and hung on the wall. There is a real sense of accomplishment in a single image like this that we can be proud of. A case can be made, however, for project-oriented photography and the different challenges a project presents to us. A single image can be a lucky shot. A project always demands more of us as creators and as masters of the craft. 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.

HT2381 - PBWA Is Not Luck On several occasions, I've mentioned that my favorite way of exploring photography is PBWA — Photography By Wandering Around. At first this might look like a dependence on luck, but I think there is more to it than random happenstance. It has to do with subconscious sensitivities Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2380 - Sometimes Easy, Sometimes Not During my travels to the West Coast, I've had a number of small projects that I've engaged with the hopes of developing into a Seeing in SIXES presentation. A few days ago I mentioned a project about corn. As it turns out, that project has been a challenge and I'm having to really work hard at it. Several other projects have fallen into my lap with almost no effort. Why is this the case? What's the difference between easy and hard? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!