LensWork - Photography and the Creative Process

Episode #1529 from our long-running, weekly podcast
On Photography and the Creative Process

Pretty Picture Overload

Maybe I'm just feeling ornery these days. I find I'm becoming less and less impressed with pretty pictures. Sometimes it feels like we are being bombarded from all sides with lovely images from every source. Exotic locations, idyllic scenes, super-saturated colors — it leaves me feeling a bit numb. Once we've eaten an entire cake, it would probably not be surprising if we don't want more dessert. Crescendo after crescendo after crescendo makes the music dull.

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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… #2793 with Brooks Jensen

When the Project Picks You

I'll readily confess that most of my best projects are not preplanned, purpose driven, and not the result of conscious searching. I stumble upon them. They whisper in my ear. They hesitatingly reveal themselves. They are less a declaration that commands me and more an invitation that seduces me. They arrive as a hint, a glimpse in the corner of my eye, a question that often begins, What if?

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Here's a Thought… #2792 with Brooks Jensen

We Engineer-Artists

One of the things that fascinates me about photography is that it lies at the perfect inflection point between technology and creative vision. I love the science of mixing darkroom chemistry or mastering software and computing. The engineer in me thrills at the challenge, and the sense of accomplishment from mastering a technology is undeniable. That said, it is the artistic challenge of self-expression that provides the motivation and reward for all the effort.

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Here's a Thought… #2791 with Brooks Jensen

Prevent a Disaster

Photographers spend a lot of time thinking about how to be successful with their images, their projects, their art life. Might I suggest that another fruitful area of thought is to anticipate how to prevent disasters. For example, my first trip to China I took a second identical camera body with me just in case my main camera failed. I always have a wrist strap attached to my camera in case I lose my grip. Every night I recharge all my batteries so that I start each day with a full load of power. Backup memory cards and hard drives. Rain protection even on the sunny days. Offloading the day's images to another memory device as a backup.

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Here's a Thought… #2790 with Brooks Jensen

Lessons That Last a Lifetime

Years ago I used to subscribe to Popular Photography, Modern Photography, and PC Magazine. I kept them all on my bookshelves as reference material. But equipment changes and gear reviews fall out of date. With the passage of years I realized the information in those magazines were no longer pertinent to my creative life. This is precisely why LensWork, my podcast, the daily Here's a Thought, and all the other content at LensWork Online concentrate on lessons that last a lifetime. Creativity today asks the same questions as 33 years ago when we started LensWork. The challenges of art making are timeless.

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Here's a Thought… #2789 with Brooks Jensen

One Place Well

Travel photography is surely an interesting way to take our camera out into the world. I've done a lot of travel photography and I always enjoy it. But over the years I've learned that there are two distinct approaches to travel photography that are mutually exclusive. The first kind is to constantly be on the move, looking for new locations, traveling miles and miles in a grand search. The other kind, which I've come to favor without a contest, is to establish a base camp somewhere and really work that single location for days or weeks at a time. This latter technique always ends up with better images, more depth. and curiously enough more interesting experiences.

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Here's a Thought… #2788 with Brooks Jensen

Two Kinds of Archives

Here is a self-observation that I'm wondering if others have, too. When I look through my past production and my archives, I find I have two kinds of images. There are those who have worn well over the years about which I'm still excited and proud. And then there are those that have not worn well with the passage of time and find I've become ambivalent about or perhaps even loathe. Isn't it interesting how are opinions change over time?

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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?

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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.

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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?

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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?

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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.

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