Podcasts about fine art photography

HT2509 - Where DOF Fails A while back I did a research project looking at almost 10,000 raw captures in my Lightroom catalog. I wanted to determine what caused a failed image to fail, technologically. I did not consider aesthetics but rather the mechanics of photography. My hope was that I could eliminate or at least reduce those technical failures. Two primary failures dominated all others. The number one failure was camera movement, easily resolved with faster shutter speeds or tripods. The second most common reason for failure was related to depth of field, and in a surprising way. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2508 - Mastering the Craft vs Photography Let's talk about feelings. As I think back to all the workshops and classes that I've taken in my 50 years of photography, I can't remember a single one that centered on what I felt or wanted to express. Instead, all I can remember are endless discussions and demonstrations about the craft of photography. There is only one exception that comes to mind and that moment was a question from Bruce Barnbaum I'll never forget. What do you want to experience, and why do you want to capture it and share it with others? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2507 - You Must Create Your Magnum Opus TODAY Wouldn't it be lovely if we had a switch we could throw that would turn on our creative genius at a moment's notice? Flick goes the switch and your best ever photograph is produced because you commanded it into existence. Unfortunately, life doesn't work that way. Our magnum opus happens in the midst of lots of other work that, well, isn't your magnum opus. Our magnum opus is the result of plowing ahead and simply doing our best with every effort. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

LW1489 - Your Own Voice In so many ways, we have entered a new era in photography. It's getting harder and harder to be visually unique. Google is photographing everything. Now more than ever we need to find a way to use our own voice in our artwork. 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.

HT2506 - Allocating Our Precious Time The most valuable commodity we have in our art life is not our gear, not our training, not our creative impulses, not our energy and drive. All those things might be important, but they are useless unless we have time. Without time all the potential we've banked by learning our craft and going out photographing will add up to naught. I know it can seem counterintuitive to schedule our creative activities, but in fact having a schedule to work on our art maybe the most important step we can take to make sure our creative endeavors aren't swallowed up by the trivialities of life. This RSS feed includes only the most recent seven Here's a Thought episodes. All of them — over 2400 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!

HT2505 - Buried in Lightroom One of the most dramatic impacts of digital photography is the volume of captures that now reside on all of our hard drives. It's not uncommon at all for me to hear that a photographer has tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of images in their catalog that are, essentially, inaccessible to anyone except the photographer. So much creativity buried in our hard drives just waiting for their turn on stage! 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.

HT2504 - Searching for Threads You've set aside an hour to work on your photography and find yourself sitting at the computer looking at images. At such moments, it is so tempting to spend your precious creative time on a search for images that have potential and then processing them to the best of your abilities. That's not the only option. Alternatively, you might try using that precious time on a different search, a search for the threads that can bind a group of images into a project. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2503 - Managing Results vs Managing Work Last year I became frustrated that I wasn't getting done as many photographic projects as I had hoped to finish. My old goal-directed business training kicked in and I decided to set goals for myself. It didn't help. And then I remembered one of the earliest lessons from management training: Don't manage results, manage the work. Set another way, goals are a result, not a tactic. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2502 - Believability vs Truthfulness The other day I was looking at some of the photo essays done by W. Eugene Smith and published in Life magazine. They're fantastic examples of the integration of image and text, and as such are worth taking the time to study in some detail. In the process of looking at this work. It occurred to me that my underlying assumption in all his photo essays is that they are truthful, that is to say, documentary not fiction. But would it make a difference to my response if they were fiction? Art is full of fiction, and I see no overwhelming reason why photography should avoid the storytelling capabilities of fiction. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2501 - Playing Guitar or Making Music I recently heard a reviewer say of a musician that he didn't play the guitar, he made music. Boy, does that sum up so much about any medium that is the fusion of tools and creative vision — like photography. Do we take pictures or do we make images? Do we make images or do we observe and comment on life? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2500 - Here's a Thought Number 2,500 I hope you won't mind if I take just a few moments to say thank you and to celebrate this, our 2,500th Here's a Thought commentary, over 6 years of daily thoughts about photography and the art life. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

LW1488 - Here's a Thought Number 2,500 I hope you won't mind if I take just a few moments to say thank you and to celebrate this, our 2,500th Here's a Thought commentary, over 6 years of daily thoughts about photography and the art life. 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.

HT2499 - Photographers and Commerce What percentage of people who bowl aspire to become professional bowlers? What percentage of people who enjoy cooking dinner dream of open a restaurant? Golfers, swimmers, runners, painters, poets, car drivers, pet owners, people who play a musical instrument? Why is it that so many photographers want to sell their work or at least have their work exhibited in a commercial gallery? This RSS feed includes only the most recent seven Here's a Thought episodes. All of them — over 2400 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!

HT2498 - The Natural Look Like I often do with my morning coffee, this morning I watched a few YouTube videos on processing in Lightroom. I've learned a lot from these people, but not always the ideas they think they are teaching. By coincidence, all five videos I watched today were about making images look natural. Why is this the objective? I know I keep circling back to this point, but is photography a substitute for human vision or is it a medium for artistic 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.

HT2497 - The Unhealthy Pursuit of Perfection We've been watching a television series in which one of the main characters is constantly getting herself in trouble by pursuing perfection. She then finds herself in difficulty because the perfect is never attainable. She pushes people to unreasonable extremes, is constantly dissatisfied no matter how successful her actions are, repeatedly makes irrational decisions that cause her best intentions to collapse. Where is the line between pursuing excellence and an unhealthy pursuit of perfection? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2496 - Transportation and Photography With very few exceptions, my photography is thoroughly dependent on my ability to transport myself from one location to another. The only time I don't use a car to go photographing has been my trips to Japan and China. Even there an important part of my success in photography relies on an effective transportation strategy. I never used to think about this in my youth, but now a transportation strategy has become a huge requirement I dare not ignore or take for granted Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2495 - Wishing For More A large part of the production of fine art photographs involves a frustration that we wish our images were better. We'd like them to be more. The implied question is what more could you add to your photographs that would make you happy? More sharpness? More audience? More exotic locations? More print sales? If you could wave a magic wand, what precisely would you bring into your photographic life that would bring you satisfaction? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2494 - Bridging the Gap Between Life and Fiction I've been thinking a lot lately about the role of media in our generation and the growth of fiction. Most of what we see on television is a fiction, video games are a fiction, so much of YouTube is a fiction, and even social media includes a significant amount of fiction. AI is going to compound this. It's not surprising that so much of photography (a quintessential 20th century medium) has become a fiction. Is it fair to say that our generation, compared to our ancestors, have been thoroughly seduced by the fictions of media? As a means of resistance, is it possible to use photography as a tool to bridge the gap between life and fiction? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2493 - More on Observation vs Project Yesterday I was talking about how we might describe what we photographers actually do. Is the core of our activities that we build something or is it that we observe something? Here are a few additional thoughts about this distinction that might change a great deal about our creative life. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

LW1487 - The Photography I Love Aesthetic conventions come and go. Culture and popular tastes are constantly changing. Example: There are no radio stations that play big band music anymore even though it once ruled the airwaves. The photographic aesthetic I grew up with and still love to this day is losing audience and slowly sliding into history. All the more reason to spend time with and enjoy the work we love and love doing, while we can. 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.

HT2492 - Observation or Project Terminology is such an interesting thing. For some time now, I've used the term "project" as the nomenclature for something produced with multiple images and a small amount of text or title. Of late, however, I have come to think of the word "observation" as perhaps a better term to illustrate the core of this activity in our art life. Observation is less about what we make and more about what is revealed to us, and as such seems closer to the core of what makes our artwork worth viewing. This RSS feed includes only the most recent seven Here's a Thought episodes. All of them — over 2400 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!

HT2491 - Craft Becomes Obsolete, Art Does Not I'm not sure the title of this commentary is actually true, but it does point to a thought that can be helpful. In essence, how we make pictures is constantly changing since the first days of photography. Technology marches on, continually, relentlessly. The content of what are photographs portray, the artistic content, remains relevant and possibly even innovative even after the passage of decades. This RSS feed includes only the most recent seven Here's a Thought episodes. All of them — over 2400 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.

HT2490 - The Competition for Attention Here, deep in the age of media, doesn't it seem obvious that there is a raging and ever-present contest for our attention. Consider the next hour of leisure in your life. What will you do with that 60 minutes? Watch TV? Read a book? Listen to some music? Go shopping? Spend time with your friends or family? Or, will you dedicate those 60 minutes to looking at art, especially photographic art? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2489 - Processing for the Medium There now exist so many different media we can choose for the output of our photographs. These choices imply that we need to process our images with the output medium in mind. An image intended for a small scale phone/screen presentation is likely to require different processing than if we intend to make a large scale framed print. We could possibly have a dozen different completions with any given image, each produced for a different kind of presentation. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2488 - If You Can See It, Too Over the years, I've talked a lot about using a camera like a Xerox copy machine. If your photograph shows me what I would have seen had I been standing next to you at the moment of exposure, how does your photograph bring me something new, something from you, something valuable? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2487 - Solving a Non-Existing Problem I can't blame camera manufacturers for wanting to call our attention to their new features. However, it's amazing how many times the new features they brag about have absolutely nothing to do with my photography. It seems as though there are always technical solutions being offered for non-existent problems. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2486 - Creativity on Demand Here we are in that week between the Christmas and New Year holidays when a lot of people take time off from work for a few personal days. For years, I thought of this week as a time I could concentrate on some darkroom work. I'd leap into the week full of enthusiasm in anticipation of a shower of creative ideas and inspiration. That's when I learned that relying on creativity on demand is a strategy that rarely works. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

LW1486 - Alternative Aesthetics Photography has a natural aesthetic we might call photographic realism. The typical photograph is intended to mimic human vision and that aesthetic is the default for most photographs. There does exist the possibility, however, to borrow aesthetics from other media and forms of artistic expression. Recently I've been playing with a dark and moody aesthetic inspired by the look of film noir. 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.

HT2485 - One Lens to Rule Them All Clearly I'm not the only photographer who has dreamed of a single lens that would do everything I need. The popularity of so-called "superzoom" lenses would demonstrate that. I've tried several superzoom alternatives and all of them have left me unimpressed for one reason or another. Even with today's ultra-advanced lens designs and manufacturing tolerances, it seems there is always a compromise that leaves me unsatisfied. Statistically, however, in the last 8 years I've made 92% of my captures with just two lenses that cover the "superzoom" range of focal lengths. This RSS feed includes only the most recent seven Here's a Thought episodes. All of them — over 2400 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!

HT2484 - Sometimes the Meaning Requires Time During one of the first Christmas holidays after my divorce in the late 1980s, I drove over to Eastern Oregon on Christmas Day for a little photography. I made one image that day. It took years for me to understand what that image was, but in many ways it changed my relationship with photography profoundly. Among other things, that image taught me that sometimes a photograph can be personally valuable yet have no impact beyond that. That doesn't diminish its importance to us. This RSS feed includes only the most recent seven Here's a Thought episodes. All of them — over 2400 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.

HT2483 - Pixels Per Meter I was looking at an astronomy website when it introduced me to a term and concept I'd never heard before. Describing the resolution of an image based on how close the spaceship had come to one of Saturn's orbiting moons, it said that each pixel in the photograph represented five meters worth of subject matter. I've never thought about "pixels per meter" before. I think there is some value in this idea for us terrestrial landscape photographers. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2482 - Useful Photography It seems that most fine art photography tends to be decorative in nature. I love seeing a beautiful print on display in someone's home. Décor is not the only use for photography that is art. There exists an entire approach to artwork that marries the beautiful and the practical. I was in a used bookstore last fall and found a photographic bookmark tucked away in book I was looking at. This is one of the fun games I enjoy playing when I'm scouring through a used bookstore. This lovely photograph was a b/w panorama printed on heavy weight gelatin silver paper. I love this idea. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2481 - Counting Shots My first 35 years in photography were deep in the roots of the analog workflow. One of the realities that was constantly at the top of my thinking was the allocation of the film I had with me and it's finite capacity. Long before I headed out on a photographic trip I had to strategize and calculate the number of shots I would need and carry with me in either sheet or roll film. Looking back on it, I now realize what an incredibly overwhelming decision this was and how that influenced my shot selection. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2480 - A Language I Do Not Speak One of the objectives of art is to communicate with others. That communication does rely, however, on a common language and vocabulary. I was thinking about this last night as I attended my first ever ballet performance — the classic holiday fare, The Nutcracker. I felt badly that this holiday classic connects so deeply with so many and simply bounced off me as I was lost in total incomprehension. I appreciated it the athleticism of the dancers, but the artistic content escaped me. Clearly, this is the result of my lack of ability to understand the language and vocabulary of ballet, a shortcoming for which I accept total responsibility. I feel this way about some photographers, too. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

To wind down the year I am presenting an encore of my episode with the great Todd Hido. We had this conversation back in 2022, so if you're a new listener, here's your chance to dive into a terrific talk with one of today's major photographers. So much valuable insight shared here... thank you again, Todd!

LW1485 - Do We Still Need a Camera? A long-time LensWork reader asks why Brooks is not an early adopter of AI technology for making photographic artwork. 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.

HT2479 - Screen vs Print Synchronicity A source of constant frustration over the years has been the differences between what I see on my computer monitor and what I see in a print. They're never the same, no matter how hard I try to line up color management, ICC profiles, paper variations, and all the fiddly software controls at my disposal. But then it occurs to me that perfect synchronicity might be an unnecessary goal. After all, the two media are so different that perfect synchronicity is probably a futile objective. Besides, I am the only one who will ever make that exact comparison for my work; everybody else will either see a screen image or a print image but rarely both, and never side-by-side. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2478 - Photography As a Spiritual Practice Photography and spiritual practices would seem to be worlds apart. I'm not so sure about that. Do we need to know the photographer's foundation in order to appreciate their work? Are we aware that our appreciation of artwork is a function of our spiritual foundations? This RSS feed includes only the most recent seven Here's a Thought episodes. All of them — over 2400 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!

HT2477 - Your Philosophy of Photography The mechanical, chemical, and technical aspects of photography do not need a philosophical basis as their foundation. Science is needed and perhaps a certain intuition about the processes will help us develop our craft. The aesthetic aspects of making images do employ a philosophical foundation, even if we're not aware that we do so. Why do you make pictures? Is it to share the truth? Is it to promote beauty? Is it to attain a measure of immortality through the artifacts you leave behind? Do you hope to contribute to culture or history? Or are you fully satisfied with having fun with your photography and that's as much as you hope for? However you think about it, you do have a philosophical foundation for your efforts in photography. This RSS feed includes only the most recent seven Here's a Thought episodes. All of them — over 2400 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.

HT2476 - The Balance Between Doing and Finishing These last few months have been a particularly busy time for me photographically. I've been doing lots of work, processing images, organizing files, keywording, brainstorming ideas, getting to know the 3,500 captures I came back with from my trip to the West Coast. I've been doing a lot, but I haven't accomplished a thing. That is to say, I haven't finished anything. This exposes one of my failings as an artist; I can so easily confuse activity for accomplishment. I've been known to spend an entire day working on my to do list but not actually doing anything from that list. It goes without saying that without finishing, no artwork is made. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2475 - Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor I suppose everyone listening to this commentary would, to one degree or another, describe themselves as "a photographer." But how we define ourselves and how that creates our self-image can be helpful or hurtful to our creative life. Self-image and the psychology behind it can be a powerful influence on how we think and what we produce. By the term "photographer" do you mean someone who makes images to be framed and displayed on the wall? Do you define yourself as a seeker of truth? Do you define yourself as someone who does photography to make money? If asked, how would you describe the kind of photographer you are? Has that been consistent through the years and decades of your involvement in photography? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2474 - Validation via Publication Last spring, I had an opportunity to show some work to a new acquaintance. They were complimentary and then asked where the images had been published. I found that a curious question. When I told them the work had never been published, they expressed a visible dismissal as though without publication the work was unworthy of their attention. How and when did publication of a photograph become the high water mark of accomplishment in the eyes of the public? I found it doubly curious when I later realized they had not asked if the work had ever been exhibited. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2472 - The YOU Who Photographs When I go out photographing, I often begin with the sense that I need to shift mental gears from everyday thought to artmaking thought. I feel the need to begin the process of "seeing aesthetically." What does that actually mean? How is my aesthetic Self different than my ordinary self? Is it possible that my aesthetic self is simply more in touch with the rules and conventions that define the medium throughout history? If so, is it possible that "shifting gears to art making mode" is actually a barrier to creativity? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

LW1484 - Persistence and Longevity I'm a believer in sustained effort. I know this puts me in direct conflict with today's instantaneous culture, but I'm first and foremost a pragmatist. My 50 years in photography have provided evidence over and over of the virtues of longevity. What do I mean by that? Simply this: if you stick with something long enough, good things will result. 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.

HT2471 - Predictability and Art Lynn and I have been watching a series on Netflix that has become totally predictable. Every plot twist, every character reaction, every conflict between characters has become so predictable that it has turned into a game for us to make such predictions as we're watching. Curiously enough, its predictability has us slowly becoming less interested. Does predictability play a role in all other art media as well? Turning this to our chosen medium, does a perfectly predictable photograph become less interesting because it lacks an element of surprise? This RSS feed includes only the most recent seven Here's a Thought episodes. All of them — over 2400 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!

HT2470 - Enough Camera for the Purpose In my life, I've owned and used an 8x10 camera, a 5x7 camera, a medium format monorail camera, 35 mm cameras, twin lens reflex cameras, and over a dozen different digital cameras. To that list I should add a half a dozen phones that have been pretty good cameras. Isn't it interesting that when I look in my finished artwork I rarely remember anything about which cameras used? More to the point, when I go out photographing today, does it make a difference which camera I bring with me? As long as I have enough camera for the purpose, do I need to put any more thought into which camera I use? This RSS feed includes only the most recent seven Here's a Thought episodes. All of them — over 2400 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.

HT2469 - The Doors Lit My Fire My generation, like most generations, had their own music. As a child of the '60s and '70s, I had no idea that rock and roll was following the well-established patterns that had been established for decades. I was thoroughly unaware that popular music had a 3½ minute barrier based on the recording medium of the day, 45 RPM records. When The Doors created their extended version of Light My Fire, it exploded a limitation whose ripples still affect my thinking today. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2468 - Until Spoken Through One of my favorite quotes about the art life comes from Anaïs Nin who advised "Do not speak unless spoken through." This captures my philosophy of photography in its entirety. I think of myself as a conduit rather than a source; I find it useful to imagine that inanimate subjects have a way they would like to be portrayed; the task of the artist is to feel, not to preach; that photography is about listening to the whispers rather than "chasing the light." I'd rather the light seduce me than be some sort of prey that I hunt. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2467 - Depreciation Happens We all know the bumper sticker wisdom that can be politely translated with the phrase "poo poo occurs." That's the sense with which I titled this commentary, Depreciation Happens. The other day I opened a box in the attic and found a Minolta Hi-Matic 9, a 35 mm camera that was originally manufactured in 1966. On eBay, if I were lucky, I might get $20 for this used piece of gear. That got me thinking about all the things I've purchased in my photographic life, not a single one of which has appreciated in value, not even my artwork. The art life is a privilege we must be willing to pay for. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2466 - Postpone or Intensify Photography has the ability to lead us to two completely different relationships with existence. We can use photography to postpone our relationship with the world, or we can use photography to intensify our relationship with what is right before us. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!