Podcasts about fine art photography

HT2339 - The Age of Enlargement The advent of enlarged prints from negatives or glass plates dates back to the earliest days of photography. Nonetheless, enlargements weren't a regular feature of fine art photography until the early decades of the 20th century. Even into the 1940s contact printing that produced prints the same size as the negative ruled the roost. Today, we take enlargements for granted, but there is something to be said for the tradition of smaller prints. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

LW1465 - The Original, Redux I was recently asked if I sell my original prints. In particular, this individual specified that they didn't want a reproduction, but rather they collect only original prints. It's been a while since I talked about this, so it may be a new idea to some of you. Here's what I said back on September 21, 2019 in my Here's a Thought comment of that day. 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.

HT2338 - Preserved by the Few Time moves on and what was once popular becomes almost forgotten. Try today to find a big band music radio station. History is preserved by a few, and a tenuous thread it is that links us to the past. As a contemporary photographer, I feel an obligation, a compulsion, a duty to keep the work of our predecessors alive, at least in my heart Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2337 - File Management and Your Memory I would have never guessed that a huge barrier to my creativity would be as simple as finding the image I remember taking in the haystack that is my Lightroom catalog. It's worse than finding a needle in that haystack, it's searching for one specific needle in a haystack of needles. The best advice I've heard about this challenge is to assess how your own memory works and build your organization to fit your brain. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2336 - Photography and Media The digital divide has created a dichotomy I've never heard discussed. That dichotomy is a generational one, I think. Those of us from the previous generation found photography mostly in books, and occasionally in original prints. Today, most of us see images digitally and even more rarely in original prints. (Fewer galleries, etc.) I wonder how much of this is the result of phenomenal image fidelity in books and digital displays? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2335 - Find Your Own Path The Internet — indeed, the WORLD — is filled with creative types who all want to show you how they do it, whatever "it" is. Me included, I confess. The problem persists, however, that your path is your path and can only be revealed by you. Techniques can be taught, but creativity must be discovered, nurtured, searched for, allowed by you, for you. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2334 - The Opposite of Selfie We are supposedly taking trillions of pictures now according to experts who calculate such things. If we eliminate selfies from that count, I suspect the remaining images would total about six. I exaggerate to make a humorous point. Seriously, there'd be about eight. This tsunami of selfies exhibits a cultural narcissism that is breathtaking. I'm slightly frightened by the long-term implications of all these selfies. It seems to me the photography's greatest gift to humanity is its ability to concentrate our attention on others and the fascinating world we inhabit. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2333 - Learning from the Work You Don't Like I've made no secret that there are half a dozen master photographers whose work simply doesn't connect with me. Bill Brandt, Garry Winogrand, and Joel-Peter Witkin come to mind. Rather than ignore them, I found it very useful to spend time with their work exploring my disconnect. It's one thing to reflexively like work, but studying the work we don't like has an uncanny ability to clarify why we like what we do. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

LW1464 - When Images Have a Mind of Their Own Every time you click the shutter you have some idea of what you hope the finished image might be. Even if you are just "gathering assets," you have some idea what the image might look like when finished. More than that, can we agree that every time we click the shutter, we do so because we think we have a winner? Why else would you click the shutter? But then something happens to dampen our enthusiasm once when we start to work with the image. If 100% of the shutter clicks are motivated by a winner, why are not all of your images eventually winners? Seriously, what happens to diminish our enthusiasm for an image? 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.

HT2332 - To Tripod or Not I'm not fond of using a tripod. For 35 years, every picture I made had to involve a tripod because I was using view cameras. I've thoroughly enjoyed the freedom of handheld photography here in the age of image stabilization and ISO flexibility. That said, I can't deny that a goodly number of my images are better having used a tripod than they would have been had I tried to hand hold the exposure. More and more I find the first decision with every image it should I use the tripod or not. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2331 - The Tug-of-war Between Vision and Craft I've spent 50 years in photography developing my sense of aesthetics. Simultaneously, I've spent 50 years developing my craft in the hopes that I can eliminate the barriers between vision and capabilities. What happens when our capabilities equal (or exceed!) our vision? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2330 - Overcoming My Prejudice Against Rain Give me a morning of fresh snowfall and I'm in photographic heaven. Give me a morning of drizzly rain and I want to go back to bed. What is it about rain that discourages photography? In nature and landscape, rain tends to saturate colors and creates lovely shiny leaves. What's not to like from a photographic perspective? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2329 - Film, Ink, and Batteries - Our Dependence on Consumables Cleaning out the attic the other day, I ran across my old Polaroid SX-70 camera, otherwise currently known as a boat anchor. A friend of mine fears a crisis in his photography if Epson stopped making ink for his printer. And of course every digital camera uses a custom battery without which our cameras are best used as paperweights. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2328 - Thoroughly Ironic Pixels I don't see how anyone could disagree with the notion that we are seeing more small images than ever before. Statistically speaking, I'll bet most images you see these days are smaller than 8x10" because most of them you've seen on your phone, your tablet, or your laptop. And this is in the age of ever increasing megapixel cameras. My new camera, for example, has a 200 megapixel sensor ,um, in my phone! Really? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2327 - The Value of Going Back In my youth, I'd never been anywhere to photograph so all locations were new and exciting adventures. As the years passed, my inclination was to always go someplace new because the thought of going back was always haunted by the idea that I've been there, done that. How silly! Such thinking completely eliminates artistic growth, changes of season, changes of weather, changes, period. Not only that, going back can be the greater challenge to our creativity by pushing us beyond our previous efforts. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2326 - The Problem with Liking Artwork What does it mean when we say we like someone's artwork? Its content agrees with our view of the world? That gets complicated because, for example, I like Picasso's Guernica, but I don't like war. Does it mean we admire their technique and craftsmanship? I have no doubt that Bartok was a talented composer, but I don't like listening to anything he wrote. Does it mean they've shown me a world I've never seen? Then why do I enjoy listening to the same music over and over again? Does liking artwork mean that it meets our expectations? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2325 - Two Approaches There's an old joke that proposes that people have two distinct strategies about cooking dinner. Some decide what to eat and then go to the store to buy the ingredients. Others look in the fridge and cupboards to determine what they have already, then make a meal from that. Sounds pretty much like photography, don't you think? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

LW1463 - What Have You Learned Like most of you I suspect, I have a group of close friends who are also photographers and we occasionally have a thread of conversation in our email that is both interesting and valuable in our respective art endeavors. It goes without saying for all of us — we never stop learning, and we're always open to expanding our thinking. We are always experimenting. What got me thinking about this was an observation about YouTube. 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.

HT2324 - Distill With a Single Word Here's a useful exercise for before you click the shutter. Ask yourself what this picture is about. Distill your answer to a single word. Pick a word that doesn't simply name the subject, but rather one that expresses your response to the moment. This is not as easy as it sounds, but it is incredibly useful in clarifying how you might want to compose the image and which elements to emphasize or crop out of the frame. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2323 - We Should Call It Grayscale Photography It took me a decade or so in my youth to realize that the term "black and white photography" implied a mindset that had me pursuing the wrong strategies. I was so single-mindedly dedicated to achieving the maximum black and a pristine white that I failed to notice that the most important tones were in the middle. Achieving deep blacks and clean whites are important aspects of a monochromatic image, but the magic is always in the gray tones. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2322 - After the Social Gathering I find it common during a social gathering that the conversation winds around to a topic that motivates me to want to share some of my images or a project that pertains to the topic at hand. I've learned, however, that trying to share my artwork at such moments is not only futile but disruptive. Instead, I find it more productive to wait until the next day and to email a link to the work on my website. I've found that almost everyone will then look at the work — on their schedule, away from the social scene, where they can give it more attention and almost always respond back to me. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

June 2025 Dante's New SouthBenheart: Ben is a living testimony of a dream come true: from childhood between Morocco and Italy, through technical discoveries and dramatic trials, to rebirth and the founding of a brand that fuses hearts, craftsmanship and style. Benheart is not just fashion, but a life statement - combining heart and craftsmanship, with strong roots in Florence and global vision.www.benheart.it/?srsltid=AfmBOopJp1pzGmdew4Qc2oMvNo-0p7wLlIeJm9uVh_ETAUOWT1j-ilAdWaqas Khwaja is the Ellen Douglass Leyburn Professor of English at Agnes Scott College where he teaches courses in Postcolonial literature, British Romanticism, Empire Narratives, Victorian Novel, and Creative Writing. He has published four collections of poetry, Hold Your Breath, No One Waits for the Train, Mariam's Lament, and Six Geese from a Tomb at Medum, a literary travelogue about his experiences as a fellow of the International Writers Program, University of Iowa, and three edited anthologies of Pakistani literature. He served as translation editor (and contributor) for Modern Poetry of Pakistan, showcasing translations of poems by 44 poets from Pakistan's national and regional languages, and has guest-edited special issues on Pakistani Literature and poetry for the Journal of Commonwealth and Postcolonial Studies and Atlanta Review. A bilingual edition of one of his collections, No One Waits for the Train, was published as Nadie espera el tren in Madrid, Spain, in 2024.www.agnesscott.edu/directory/faculty/khwaja-waqas.htmlJoseph Saul Portillo After dedicating 25 years to Christian ministry and cultivating a successful career in business operations, Joseph Saul Portillo turned inward to explore his artistic calling, embarking on a new chapter in Fine Art Photography. Today, Joseph Saul is a Creative Producer and Digital Artist based in Rome, Georgia, whose evocative work in pictorial portraiture has earned him international acclaim as a Master of Light Photographer. His award-winning style, marked by emotional depth and artistic precision, has led to collaborations across film, music, and education projects. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Rome International Film Festival and on the Advisory Board for Georgia Highlands College's Digital Media and Communications program.www.josephsaulart.comWiktor Miesok was and raised in Poland, he relocated to Norway in 2012, drawn by a longing for Tolkienian mystical landscapes. Though he seeks inspiration in the silence and raw, untamed nature of the North, he remains stubbornly Eastern European at heart.An engineer by trade, he has a passion for storytelling and fiction that explores the human condition and its potential for both good and evil.His latest novel, and the first serious foray into fiction, tells the story of a young man in1980s East Germany who, in his search for freedom, ends up in a Soviet penal colony and becomes entangled in the ruthless criminal underworld.www.thegrimseries.comwww.youtube.com/@grim.hustleAdditional Music Provided by: Dr, Fubbs: www.tiktok.com/@doctorfubbs?lang=enPat Metheny: www.patmetheny.comJustin Johnson: www.justinjohnsonlive.comOur Advertisers:Lucid House Press: www.lucidhousepublishing.comWhispers of the Flight: www.amazon.com/Whispers-Flight-Voyage-Cosmic-Unity-ebook/dp/B0DB3TLY43The Crown: www.thecrownbrasstown.comBright Hill Press: www.brighthillpress.orgWe Deeply Appreciate:UCLA Extension Writing Program: www.uclaextension.eduMercer University Press: www.mupress.orgAlain Johannes for the original score in this show: www.alainjohannes.comThe host, Clifford Brooks', The Draw of Broken Eyes & Whirling Metaphysics, Athena Departs, and Old Gods are available everywhere books are sold. Find them all here: www.cliffbrooks.com/how-to-orderCheck out his Teachable courses, The Working Writer and Adulting with Autism, here: brooks-sessions.teachable.com

HT2321 - Proprietary RAW vs DNG I'm not a fan of proprietary file formats. It seems to me that they have a way of putting our content at risk. I'm not comfortable with that. Instead, I use the open source DNG format for my working images in my Lightroom catalog. I do keep, however, all the original RAW camera files on backup hard drives just in case a future generation DNG converter adds features that I might find useful. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2320 - Feedback During Processing Like all of my fellow Zone System photographers, I grew up and was trained with a foundational strategy known as pre-visualization. Since then, I've come to value the feedback available in digital processing as one of the core elements of a creative vision. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

A single moment changed everything for Ghanaian visual artist Nana Frimpong Oduro. It began with a quiet walk, a dying tree, and a gifted camera from a stranger. That moment led him away from architecture and toward a new life in photography. In this episode, I sit down with Nana to explore how he built a career rooted in emotion, storytelling, and self-discovery. He shares how he creates powerful images without technical equipment. Instead, he relies on instinct, connection, and the people closest to him. His work is raw, painterly, and deeply human. This conversation is for artists seeking clarity on their path. Nana's story offers insight, encouragement, and a reminder that your creative voice is worth following. Listen in and reconnect with the reason you started creating in the first place. Chapters   00:00 - Introduction to Nana Frimpong Oduro 02:15 - Early Creative Influences in Ghana 03:48 - The Path to Architecture 05:12 - The Dying Tree: A Journey into Photography Begins 07:34 - Finding a Subject: The Power of Self-Portraiture 08:45 - From Idea to Image: Inside the Creative Process 12:20 - A Sign from the Universe: The Adobe Rising Star Award 14:35 - Finding a Visual Style: Light, Tone, and Emotion 16:30 - Family, Support, and Blossoming as an Artist 18:40 - The Myth of Originality and Unexpected Lessons 20:00 - Describing the Indescribable: Emotions Brought to Life 22:00 - Redefining Success and What's Next   Connect with Nana:   Follow Nana on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/frizzlemadeit/ Nana's Portfolio: http://bit.ly/3ZRZKYN   Support the Show Website: www.martineseverin.com Follow on Instagram: @martine.severin | @thisishowwecreate_ Subscribe to the Newsletter: www.martineseverin.substack.com This is How We Create is produced by Martine Severin. This episode was edited by Santiago Cardona and Daniel Espinosa.   Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts Leave a review Follow us on social media Share with fellow creatives  

HT2319 - Adapting to the Possible I've mentioned before that in my twenties and thirties I was an avid backpacker. Most of my landscape photography from those days is from deep in the forest, way out from civilization, in the solitude of pristine nature. My backpacking days are long over, but my landscape photography still continues. My landscapes these days are often from the driver's seat of my truck. We adapt to what we can do or our art career ends. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2318 - Accumulating Momentum There's often an unobserved momentum that accumulates with project oriented photography that is absent from single image photography. Single image photography often includes a dichotomy that makes an image successful or not. In contrast, project oriented photography builds a certain momentum over the months and years as candidates accumulate and the project is evolving. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

LW1462 - What and Why Are More Important Than Where Like many of you I suspect, I always look forward to travel photography when I have the time to do so. Now is the time of year when I start thinking about fall photography and start thinking about plans and locations. Every year I'm tempted to make the same mistake, thinking about where I want to photograph rather than what and why. It's so easy to be seduced by the popular destinations , but do I really need to photograph there? Again? Wanting to go somewhere fun and exotic to experience it is one thing, but doing so is not the same thing as wanting to make an artistic statement of some kind with our photography. Confusing these two runs the risk of degrading your photographic skill and efforts to the level of Xerox copy machine. "I was there and saw this" is not the same as "I felt this and want to share it with the world." 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.

HT2317 - The Masters Are Better Than We Think It's difficult to truly and fully admire the work of a master photographer until we try to do it ourselves. I remember being highly impressed with a body of work done by Aaron Siskin that consisted of abstracts of road tar patterns on the highway. I found a stretch of road that was similarly repaired and thought I'd try my hand at his creative vision. My total failure increased my admiration of his work tremendously. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2316 - Photography and My Morning Coffee Routine I start every day, 7 days a week, with photography — and my morning cup of coffee. I find that first half hour or so when the house is quiet and I'm not fully awake to be an ideal time to think about photography, brainstorm projects, and even visualize specific images. I don't sit in front of my computer and work in Lightroom or Photoshop, but rather let my mind warm up to the day while I try to be aware of whatever creative impulses bubble up. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2315 - New Work Revitalizes Older Work There's an interesting phenomenon that I've observed now for a couple of decades. Every time I release a new issue of Kokoro, there is an upswing in downloads for previous issues. Of course, the current release is the volumetric winner in terms of downloads, but the accumulated downloads of back issues always exceeds the current release. In other words, publishing new work has a way of revitalizing older work. Plus, as the back catalog grows, the coattails effect increases dramatically. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2314 - The Fly in the Acrobat Ointment I love publishing PDFs for Acrobat for several reasons including cross platform compatibility (Mac, PC, tablet, etc.), layout integrity, typographic fidelity, and book-like pages. There is one drawback to PDFs, however, that is frustrating. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2313 - Anthologies As we all know, you can't please all the people all the time. This is one of the foundational philosophies behind the anthology nature in both LensWork and in my personal work published in Kokoro. The strategy here is that even though a reader might find any given project uninteresting, an anthology increases the possibility that each viewer will find something they like and appreciate. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2312 - Photo Vests For 50 years now I've had an on again, off again relationship with photo vests. I'll go through periods where I find them convenient, comfortable, and adequate, then periods when I find them too limiting. The real issue, obviously, is not the vest but rather the amount of gear I feel is necessary for me to do the work I want to do. That issue always leads me back to gear minimalism, and the search for the least possible gear needed. I'd long for the yesterdays of just a camera and that's it, but I've never experienced that. What is the minimum kit? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

LW1461 - The Photo Game Is Changing An incredibly important part of artwork is the wonder of how it could possibly have been done. When that mystery is removed, what's left is considerably diminished, unremarkable, even common. I've seen this happen to photography in the last 50 years. What could make photography wonderful (full of wonder) again? All previous episodes of our weekly podcast are available to members of LensWork Online. 30-day Trial Memberships are only $10. Instant access, terabytes of content, inspiration and ideas that expand daily with new content. Sign up for instant access! You might also be interested in. . . Every Picture Is a Compromise, a series at www.brooksjensenarts.com. and... "How to" tutorials and camera reviews are everywhere on YouTube, but if you're interested in photography and the creative life, you need to know about the incredible resources you can access as a member of LensWork Online.

HT2311 - The Quiet Light, Digitally John Sexton published a wonderful monograph of his work titled, The Quiet Light. His images glowed off the page. This effect was due to his extraordinary skill as a printer in combination with a side effect from reciprocity failure with gelatin silver film. It's wonderful aesthetic that was difficult to achieve but beautiful to behold. Now, with digital processing, it's a few clicks away and easy. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

Fine Art Photography with Brooks Jensen: The Making of LensWork, Lessons in Finding Your Photographic Voice, Creative Constraints, and Seeing in SixesBrooks Jensen is a fine art photographer, publisher, teacher, and writer. He's best known as the founder, editor, and publisher of LensWork, an award-winning periodical dedicated to fine art photography with subscribers in more than 70 countries. Under his leadership, Lens Work has become one of the most respected photography publications in the world. His online platform, LensWork Online, offers a staggering amount of material, literally terabytes of content, including videos, podcasts, workshops, and creative inspiration for photographers of all levels.Brooks' personal photographic work is featured in Kokoro, an ongoing downloadable PDF journal that reflects his thoughtful and poetic approach to image-making. Brooks is also the author of 13 books on photography and the creative process, including Looking At Images, The Creative Life in Photography, Letting Go Of The Camera' and many others.Notable Links:Brooks Jensen ArtsLensWork Online*****This episode is brought to you by Kase Filters. I travel the world with my camera, and I can use any photography filters I like, and I've tried all of them, but in recent years I've landed on Kase Filters.Kase filters are made with premium materials, HD optical glass, shockproof, with zero color cast, round and square filter designs, magnetic systems, filter holders, adapters, step-up rings, and everything I need so I never miss a moment.And now, my listeners can get 10% off the Kase Filters Amazon page when they visit. beyondthelens.fm/kase and use coupon code BERNABE10Kase Filters, Capture with Confidence.

HT2310 - What You Might Do Someday WIt occurs to me that marketing camera gear is all about convincing you that your current gear is somehow inadequate. It also occurs to me that art making art is the revelation of the possible, that is to say, all art is made with the tools we have at hand. No one, of course, is going to run an expensive marketing campaign to show you all the things your current camera is fully capable of accomplishing. We have to remind ourselves of the incredible capabilities we hold in our hands. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2309 - A Nagging Sense of Guilt It's been over a year since my last publication of a new issue of Kokoro. I feel a sense of guilt about this. In that same time, I've release 400 Here's a Thought, 60 podcasts, 60 episodes of Finding the Picture, 5 issues of LensWork, and that doesn't count episodes of Looking at Images, Seeing in SIXES commentaries, or Trilogies commentaries. So why this nagging sense of guilt? The pressure to produce takes many forms. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

Removing Sharpness Most (but not all) images require a sharpness that has us searching for and treasuring tack sharp lenses. We shouldn't let that, however, determine our aesthetic decisions. We can always reduce sharpness from a sharp capture if needed, but we can't create more sharpness than the lens captures. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

Industrial expansion has left an indelible mark on our natural world, fundamentally altering landscapes and ecosystems for the sake of material progress and modern convenience. This transformation has created an environmental challenge of unprecedented scale. In today's show, we'll connect the dots between the raw materials that make up our planet and the industrial forces visually altering our contemporary landscape in a chat with a photographer who's documented these profound global changes firsthand for the past 50 years. Applying visual principals rooted in abstract expressionist painting, Edward Burtynsky has explored a wide range of photographic tools in his image making—from large format film to high-res digital cameras mounted to the most sophisticated of drones. Included among our many discussion topics are his distinctive approach to translating a 3-D landscape to the flat plane of a photograph; his various methods for capturing aerials using either a helicopter, fixed wing aircraft, or various types of drones; and the early business epiphany that led him to open a photo lab as an income stream, rather than work as a camera for hire. As Burtynsky shares during our chat, about the connection between nature and industry: “You know, materials are an incredibly key part of modern society. And yet we need to go to sources in nature, where these materials are found. And I'm just reconnecting a reality that we still live in a material world, and our cities are built of molecules that came from somewhere, and I'm taking you to those places that are vast and huge.” Guest: Edward Burtynsky Episode Timeline: 2:58: Burtynsky's early interest in abstract expressionist painting combined with the magic and rituals of composing images with a large format camera 5:28: Planning for aerial views, the shift from using a minerals map in the past to Google Earth today, plus Burtynsky's shooting preferences between a helicopter and a drone and shooting open air. 10:22: Burtynsky's approach to translating a 3-D landscape to the flat plane of a photograph. 17:17: The planning and research behind Burtynsky's work vs the need to pivot in the field. 19:45: Adapting to technology over a 50-year career, and how it's shaped Burtynsky's process—from large format film to high end digital on a drone. 23:16: Episode Break 23:59: Burtynsky talks about permissions to access mines and industrial sites and how this has changed over time. 31:44: A wrong turn on the highway in 1981 and the photos that led Burtynsky to an epiphany about human-altered landscapes.  35:48: Burtynsky talks about forming his photo lab Toronto Image Works as a ballast to provide income in printing for other photographers while pursuing personal fine art photo projects. 43:38: Burtynsky's retrospective exhibit at the ICP in New York, his thoughts about the future of technology, plus recent collaborations with a young artist working in Artificial Intelligence.   Guest Bio:  Edward Burtynsky has spent more than 40 years bearing witness to the impact human industry on our planet. Regarded as one of the world's most accomplished contemporary photographers, Burtynsky's work is included in the collections of more than 80 museums worldwide and featured in major exhibitions around the globe. Born in St. Catharines, Ontario in 1955, Burtynsky's early exposure to a nearby General Motors plant and ships navigating the Welland Canal in his hometown captured his imagination, helping to formulate his ideas about the scale of human creation he would later capture in photographs. These images explore the collective impact we as a species have on the surface of this planet. A select list of Burtynsky's many distinctions include the inaugural TED Prize, the title of Officer of the Order of Canada, the International Center of Photography's Infinity Award for Art, a Royal Photographic Society Honorary Fellowship, and the World Photography Organization's Outstanding Contribution to Photography Award. Burtynsky currently holds nine honorary doctorate degrees, and in addition to his work in photography, he was a key production figure in the award-winning documentary film trilogy Manufactured Landscapes, Watermark, and ANTHROPOCENE: The Human Epoch. All three films continue to play in festivals around the world. Stay Connected: Website Instagram Facebook YouTube Linktree    - Host: Derek Fahsbender  Senior Creative Producer: Jill Waterman Senior Technical Producer: Mike Weinstein Executive Producer: Richard Stevens

HT2307 - Memory Card Lifespan The other day I mentioned my search for new hard drives to replace my aging, 5-year old ones. I received an email from a listener who brought to mind another aspect I'd never thought about. He mentioned that the memory cards we use in our cameras also are subject to aging and should also be replaced every 5-10 years just like SSDs. I've used the same cards for over a decade. Time to do some more research and shopping. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2306 - Enough with the Vibrance Already The vibrance and saturation sliders are taking over the world. I use a Windows PC and every day when I fire up my computer, I'm confronted with and over-saturated landscape. This morning's abomination set a new record. I didn't realize it was possible to crank up the saturation control to 1,000, but it is. My concern is that if dialing up the saturation is a virtue, then its opposite (realistic or muted color) is becoming a sin. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2305 - It Truly Makes No Difference I was putting together a new project for the next issue of Kokoro when I realized that the 15 images in the final edit came out of 14 different cameras. Looking at the images, I would never be able to identify the camera without referring to the metadata. The lesson? You already own a sufficient camera, no matter what camera you own. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2304 - Tablets vs Phones With each issue of LensWork, we make a tablet edition for those who prefer the convenience of a digital publication. I suspect most people don't use a tablet for the tablet edition; they use a smart phone. That is, they view a 2¼x3¼" image rather than a 7x8" image. Should we care? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

LW1460 - What Makes a Photograph Special I'm seriously concerned that photography has become too easy. Craft is no longer a serious virtue. Because it has become so easy, it is losing its sense of being special. This is particularly true for fine art photography. What, today, makes a photograph special? 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.

HT2303 - Limited Edition, um, Cheerios What do your photographs and Honey Nut Cheerios® have in common? They are both produced in a limited edition, that is, according to the cereal box I was reading this morning at breakfast. Surprisingly, that didn't make the Cheerios more valuable. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2302 - How the Work Gets Done I've heard the art making process on occasion described as taking dictation from God. It's as though the artwork is completely formed before we begin producing it and all we have to do is execute the craft. I've never had that experience. Instead, for me, I have to begin the process of art making before I know where the conclusion Will lead me. I have to have faith in the process. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2301 - Real World Corner Sharpness A while back, I purchased a new lens and needed to give it a good test to see how it performs. The most difficult areas for most lenses are the corners. The corners on this new lens were a little soft, so I set out to compare that to my very best, super-sharp lens. The tests gave one result, but the real world suggested a different result. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2300 - Pounce, With the Patience of a Cat We are babysitting some cats this week and I've been watching how fascinated and patient they are watching the bird feeder just outside the living room window. They sit for hours watching, hardly moving. Then, when the opportunity arises, you can see they just want to pounce but for the window between them and their target. Watching them reminded me of advice from David Hearn, the MAGNUM photographer Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!