Lenswork - Photography And The Creative Process

Here's a Thought… #2787 with Brooks Jensen The Plot Twist, the Dissonant Chord Literature and music share a common technique that involves the unexpected surprise. In literature, it's the plot twist. In music, it's the dissonant chord. Try as I might, I can't think of a single example in photography that employees the same idea. How would we introduce the unexpected in a photo project? One color image in a book of black and white? One soft focus image when the rest are all tack sharp? And how would such a startling surprise in a photography project enhance the project? Maybe there's no answer to this, but sometimes asking these kinds of quirky questions opens up unexpected paths in our creative thinking. Become a member of LensWork Online and have access to all 2700+ Here's a Thought… commentaries.

Episode #1528 from our long-running, weekly podcast On Photography and the Creative Process Art as Gift While Brooks is traveling this week, here is an audio recording of him reading the Editor's Comments from LensWork #44, originally published in Dec 2002. This audio is part of the archived of audio presentations of the Ediitor's Comments from the pages of LensWork that are available to members of LensWork Online. 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.

Here's a Thought… #2786 with Brooks Jensen Distribution On a Budget As much as I resist the pragmatics of calculating the cost in production of our art, it is necessary to consider the costs for many of us. This includes not just the production of our work but also the distribution of our work. Wouldn't it be lovely if we could produce 20" prints with abandon and mail them out to everyone we might want to gift a print? If we can't, we can at least devise a means of production and distribution that fits our budget. Become a member of LensWork Online and have access to all 2700+ Here's a Thought… commentaries.

Here's a Thought… #2785 with Brooks Jensen The Transition to Art Mind One of the greatest challenges of my creative life has been the flip of mind that is required to shift from everyday mind to artmaking mind. They are different and mutually exclusive. I can't, for example, think about my art while paying the monthly bills. These two activities require a completely different way of processing their respective tasks. The art life question is always one of purposely and at will letting go of everyday mind and slipping into art mind. I've tried all kinds of techniques, but still cannot flip a mental switch to bring it about. Become a member of LensWork Online and have access to all 2700+ Here's a Thought… commentaries.

Here's a Thought… #2784 with Brooks Jensen The Virtue of Unknown Roads So many photographer I talk to go to known destinations. I don't think it ever occurs to them that the destination is known because so many other photographers have been there before them! The great advantage of going down unknown roads is precisely that you have no idea what you will find there. It's the discovery of the unknown that gives photography its spice. I'd much rather discover some place on my own rather than follow in the footsteps of the herd. Become a member of LensWork Online and have access to all 2700+ Here's a Thought… commentaries.

Here's a Thought… #2783 with Brooks Jensen Removing the Unwanted After all these years in photography, I still believe the best advice I ever received was "remove the unnecessary." I've often joked that Ansel Adams' most useful fool was a12-gauge shotgun to remove unwanted tree branches from the scene. I remember in an early Lens-Work workshop I had everyone take a picture that purposely had something they wanted to remove. That was followed by a demonstration on the use of Photoshop's Clone Tool. How quaint. Become a member of LensWork Online and have access to all 2700+ Here's a Thought… commentaries.

Here's a Thought… #2782 with Brooks Jensen Of Course Your Family Loves Your Photography The first people to see our latest work is probably our spouse, our family, our loved ones. Their encouragement is lovely, but is it trustworthy? I think what most of us want is an honest opinion and useful feedback. The least useful feedback we can ever receive is "I like it." If you want feedback from a loved one, it's best to have a conversation with them about the kinds of feedback that could be useful to you. Become a member of LensWork Online and have access to all 2700+ Here's a Thought… commentaries.

Here's a Thought… #2781 with Brooks Jensen YouTube Shortcuts Whatever happened to learning by doing, learning by trial and error, learning by falling flat on our face? Photographers no longer need to experiment. Whatever you might want to do to make an image, you can learn step-by-step with a YouTube video. That's wrong — you can choose from hundreds of videos! Is this a valuable resource or a thief that is robbing us of the very reason to be an artist? Cole Thompson has proposed the idea of "photographic celibacy." Is there a place for "tutorial celibacy? Become a member of LensWork Online and have access to all 2700+ Here's a Thought… commentaries.

Here's a Thought… #2780 with Brooks Jensen Go Ahead, Be Insecure If you are fully confident and unquestionably sure of your work, you are probable not taking enough chances. Staying inside your comfort zone does not mean the work is inferior, but it does mean you are not exploring the new. Insecurity is not an attribute to be avoided, but rather a fertile ground where artists receive a nudge from the universe that they are on a productive path. Panic is not artistically healthy, but neither is coasting through the familiar without effort. Become a member of LensWork Online and have access to all 2700+ Here's a Thought… commentaries.

Episode #1527 from our long-running, weekly podcast On Photography and the Creative Process My Philosophy of Art in a Nutshell Each of us (both as art-maker and as art-lover) makes decisions about our relationship with art -- ours and other's. What is the purpose of our art? What art do we choose to surround ourselves with? Conscious of it or not, we all have a "personal philosophy" about art. Here's mine. 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.

Here's a Thought… #2779 with Brooks Jensen Looking for Solutions, Not Gear The other day I was talking about the use of Polaroids in the field and more recently LCD screens to overcome my limitations in seeing two-dimensionally. A podcast listener, Howard Lester, emailed an alternative. His suggestion was more brilliant than I first understood. He suggested just closing one eye. It never occurred to me to look for a solution for this problem that did not involve gear. Why do we always look to gear to solve a problem? Become a member of LensWork Online and have access to all 2700+ Here's a Thought… commentaries.

Here's a Thought… #2778 with Brooks Jensen Photographs Themselves Are Symbols Yesterday I was talking about how we think and feel in symbols. Of course the important topic I left out was the fact that photographs themselves are symbols. When we are waiting in the doctor's office and see that beautiful landscape hanging on the wall in the waiting room, we're not actually looking at the landscape but rather at a symbol that represents the landscape. That symbol has an intended purpose, to make us feel better and less stressful about our doctor appointment. All photographs are symbols. If so, wouldn't it make sense that we should study how symbols are made and used? Become a member of LensWork Online and have access to all 2700+ Here's a Thought… commentaries.

Here's a Thought… #2777 with Brooks Jensen Everything Is Symbolic One of the things that separates humans from animals is that we think in terms of symbols, culturally defined associations, and abstracts. There is a school of thought from mid-20th century photography that emphasizes photographing "the thing itself." I understand the intent, but it's never made sense to me because it fights the nature of human thinking and emotion. A better approach, I believe, is understanding the importance of symbolism and its role in image making. Maybe we should all read Joseph Campbell again. Become a member of LensWork Online and have access to all 2700+ Here's a Thought… commentaries.

Here's a Thought… #2776 with Brooks Jensen Cluster Mode Photography I interviewed David Hurn (MAGNUM) when we published him in LensWork and was fascinated by his description of Magnum photography. I'll abbreviate his technique: 95% of being out photographing is not photographing. The way he described it was that Magnum photographers spend almost all of their time just looking, observing, being there and being aware. Then, when something of interest happens, out comes the camera for a series of clustered images shot with rapidity before the camera is retired, awaiting the next opportunity. For years I've applied his approach even to landscapes and I believe he had it right Become a member of LensWork Online and have access to all 2700+ Here's a Thought… commentaries.

Here's a Thought… #2775 with Brooks Jensen A Timed Event At the suggestion of a friend years ago, I experimented with photography as a timed event. I was driving through Eastern Oregon and the challenge was to stop every hour on the hour without fail. Wherever I was, I had to get out of the car and make a photograph within 15 minutes. Instead of picking and choosing my photographic locations based on aesthetics or having seen something interesting, I only photographed when the alarm went off telling me the time was now. It turned out to be a fascinating experiment because no matter where I stopped I found an interesting photograph. Become a member of LensWork Online and have access to all 2700+ Here's a Thought… commentaries.

Here's a Thought… #2774 with Brooks Jensen Plein-air Photoshop You're familiar with plein air painting, that open air approach to painting at the scene, in the environment, outside the four walls of the painters studio. Why can't we do that? How different would our pictures be if we were to process them at the scene, in Photoshop, with the subject still before us? Normal photo processing takes place elsewhere, from our memory, using the camera's capture which might be years or decades ago. I wouldn't be surprised if someone has actually done plein air Photoshop, but I've never heard of a photographer who did. The closest similarity I can think of might be shooting Polaroids in the field, but I'm wondering about Photoshop, on a laptop, where you can still see the scene before your eyes. Become a member of LensWork Online and have access to all 2700+ Here's a Thought… commentaries.

Here's a Thought… #2773 with Brooks Jensen Twelve For Six I continue to have all kinds of fun doing Seeing In SIXES projects. I've been doing them long enough now that I'm starting to see certain patterns emerge that help the process. For example, when I try to produce a Seeing In SIXES project I'd better have more than six candidates to choose from. I don't need a hundred, but the editing/selection process is so integral to the format that there have to be extras that help me clarify and intensify the theme. I've come to recognize that the ideal minimum number of candidates for me is 12-16. Knowing this, when I'm in the field I keep shooting until I have at least a dozen that might fit the project. Become a member of LensWork Online and have access to all 2700+ Here's a Thought… commentaries.