LensWork - Photography and the Creative Process

Arts & Culture Podcasts

Random Observations on Art, Photography, and the Creative Process. These talks focus on the creative process in fine art photography. LensWork editor Brooks Jensen side-steps techno-talk and artspeak to offer a stimulating mix of ideas, experience, and observations from his 50 years as a fine art photographer, writer, and publisher. Topics include a wide range of subjects from finding subject matter to presenting your work, and building an audience. Included in this RSS Feed are the LensWork Podcasts — posted weekly, typically 10-20 minutes exploring a topic a bit more deeply — and our almost daily Here's a thought… audios (extracted from the videos.) Here's a thought… are snippets, fragments, morsels, and tidbits from Brooks' fertile (and sometimes swiss-cheesy) brain. Usually just a minute or two. Always about photography and the art life. Brooks Jensen is the publisher of LensWork, one of the world's most respected and award-winning photography publications, known for its museum-book quality printing and luxurious design. LensWork has subscribers in over 73 countries. He is the author of 13 books on photography and the creative life -- the latest books are The Best of the LensWork Interviews (2016), Photography, Art, and Media (2016), and the four annual volumes of Seeing in SIXES (2016-2019).

Location:

United States

Genres:

Arts & Culture Podcasts

Description:

Random Observations on Art, Photography, and the Creative Process. These talks focus on the creative process in fine art photography. LensWork editor Brooks Jensen side-steps techno-talk and artspeak to offer a stimulating mix of ideas, experience, and observations from his 50 years as a fine art photographer, writer, and publisher. Topics include a wide range of subjects from finding subject matter to presenting your work, and building an audience. Included in this RSS Feed are the LensWork Podcasts — posted weekly, typically 10-20 minutes exploring a topic a bit more deeply — and our almost daily Here's a thought… audios (extracted from the videos.) Here's a thought… are snippets, fragments, morsels, and tidbits from Brooks' fertile (and sometimes swiss-cheesy) brain. Usually just a minute or two. Always about photography and the art life. Brooks Jensen is the publisher of LensWork, one of the world's most respected and award-winning photography publications, known for its museum-book quality printing and luxurious design. LensWork has subscribers in over 73 countries. He is the author of 13 books on photography and the creative life -- the latest books are The Best of the LensWork Interviews (2016), Photography, Art, and Media (2016), and the four annual volumes of Seeing in SIXES (2016-2019).

Language:

English

Website:

http://www.lenswork.com/

Email:

editor@lenswork.com

Episodes

HT1921 - The Still Image

6/7/2024

HT1921 - The Still Image In an age in which life seems to be progressing at an ever faster pace, the still image/photograph is having a difficult time competing. I have no doubt that it's only a matter of time before we visit the Louvre and have an AI generated personal conversation with the Mona Lisa herself. Forget I said that. Shhhh. Don't give them any ideas.

Duration:00:02:43

HT1920 - Stuck on the Shelf

6/6/2024

HT1920 - Stuck on the Shelf A book stuck on the shelf is a sad thing. Don't you think that if books were sentient that they would want to be opened and enjoyed? I've been known to purchase a book because I have intentions of reading it, but never do. It's a bad habit and not only an insult to the book but also to the photographer.

Duration:00:02:43

HT1919 - Your Favorite

6/5/2024

HT1919 - Your Favorite As we all know, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Well, mostly, anyway. And as the creator of our artwork, we decided which is our best image and that is the one we typically print. What makes us think that our selection of "the best" is the same image that others will choose as their favorite?

Duration:00:02:43

HT1918 - An Affordable Medium of Delivery

6/4/2024

HT1918 - An Affordable Medium of Delivery A book is not artwork, but a novel is. A book is a medium of delivery, a novel is the content that is delivered. Does the same logic apply to photography? What if I said that a print or a book is a medium of delivery the same way that an LP or a CD is a medium of delivery for music, but neither are the artwork itself?

Duration:00:02:43

HT1917 - The Fusion of Craft and Content

6/3/2024

HT1917 - The Fusion of Craft and Content We can't make artwork without craft, but craft without content is not art. When the two become fused, then there arises a magic that can take our breath away. I was reminded of this recently looking at some Albrecht Dürer original engravings. All 1900+ episodes of Here's a Thought . . . are available in their entirety to members of LensWork Online, our extensive resource library of our 30-year publishing history. Learn more about LensWork Online.

Duration:00:02:43

LW1404 - Enough Dynamic Range

6/3/2024

LW1404 - Enough Dynamic Range Dynamic range is a bit of a technical topic for this podcast, but it's also an aesthetic one. I've recently become aware of this because of the photography I was doing at the Hancock Shaker Village in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts. My inspiration for this work was from Linda Butler in her wonderful and very influential book, Inner Light: The Shaker Legacy. 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.

Duration:00:12:54

HT1916 - The Opposite of Fog

6/2/2024

HT1916 - The Opposite of Fog I love photographing in the fog. It has a way of turning the most complex landscapes into minimalist compositions. Snow can do the same thing. Strangely enough, I can be just as fascinated with the opposite of fog or snow, that is, incredibly complex patterns that seem quite chaotic. For me, the most difficult compositions are the ones in between that are neither minimalist nor cacophonous. All previous episodes of Here's a Thought . . . 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 that looks at failures as a way to learn. 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.

Duration:00:02:43

HT1915 - Three Miracles

6/1/2024

HT1915 - Three Miracles I believe there are three miracles of human invention that continue to amaze me that they even exist at all. These are language and writing (books), the aural arts (music, recordings), and the visual arts (painting, photography). Through writing we can know what Sophocles thought millennia ago; through audio recordings we can hear what our grandparents sounded like; and via photography we can see the world that no longer exists.

Duration:00:02:43

HT1914 - Learning from Each Project We Complete

5/31/2024

HT1914 - Learning from Each Project We Complete Finishing a photography project has multiple rewards not least of which is the manifestation of the artwork we produce. However, perhaps the most important thing we gain by finishing a project is what we learn in the process. Each project is a teacher as well as a culmination of our efforts.

Duration:00:02:43

HT1913 - Why Think Deeply When You Can Think Instantly

5/30/2024

HT1913 - Why Think Deeply When You Can Think Instantly I know we can make a picture in 1/60th of a second, but should we? We've recently seen cameras introduced to the market that allow you to upload an image to your social media account instantaneously after clicking the shutter. Doesn't this completely miss one of the most important aspects of fine art photography?

Duration:00:02:43

HT1912 - Searching the Interstices

5/29/2024

HT1912 - Searching the Interstices I've been doing and thinking about project-oriented photography for so long that it's become a reflex for me to search the interstices between pictures for threads that connect them together. Looking through some photography books recently, I realized I was doing that reflexively when in fact there was no thread between the pictures, at least not one intended by the photographer.

Duration:00:02:43

HT1911 - Style Is Not Content

5/28/2024

HT1911 - Style Is Not Content This week Panasonic introduced a new camera that incorporates wide variety of picture styles that can be instantly applied in camera. These styles go by the technical name of LUT, an acronym for lookup table. Supposedly this will make your photographs more artistic. I'm not so sure.

Duration:00:02:43

HT1910 - My Grandfather's Voice

5/27/2024

HT1910 - My Grandfather's Voice Ours is the first generation in the history of the planet to have at our disposal such readily available means to record our memories. When our family members die, all their memories, stories, and history go with them. All 1900+ episodes of Here's a Thought . . . are available in their entirety to members of LensWork Online, our extensive resource library of our 30-year publishing history. Learn more about LensWork Online.

Duration:00:02:43

HT1902 - Single-minded AttentioHT1909 - A World with No Cameras

5/26/2024

HT1909 - A World with No Cameras What would you do if you were to wake up to find yourself in a world with no cameras? Would you still be an art creator with a different medium? Or, is your relationship with photography so photographic that without photography you would not create artwork? All previous episodes of Here's a Thought . . . 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 that looks at failures as a way to learn. 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.

Duration:00:02:43

HT1908 - The Little Things

5/25/2024

HT1908 - The Little Things When I haven't photographed for a while, it seems like a bit of rust always develops, on me. I went out photographing a few days ago and boy was I rusty. Diopter dial was moved. Focus stacking lever. Couldn't remember which direction to turn the zoom ring. Lost a Spider Holster pin when I dropped it and lost it. Geez.

Duration:00:02:43

HT1907 - Laserdisc, Betamax, and Photography

5/24/2024

HT1907 - Laserdisc, Betamax, and Photography Perhaps this is a flawed analogy, but I can't help but look back at the history of technology and conclude that widespread adoption is more important than ultimate quality. Does this also apply to our photographic work? As artists, we tend to want to pursue perfection at all costs. But, like technology, is it just possibly a better strategy to pursue widespread distribution rather than that last 2% of quality improvements?

Duration:00:02:43

HT1906 - Ideas That Go Nowhere

5/23/2024

HT1906 - Ideas That Go Nowhere Sometimes photographic project ideas come rushing at me with such momentum that they're completion is inevitable and accomplished quickly. Other times, I'll have an idea that seems to go nowhere. Over the years, I've learned to not discount those ideas that don't come to fruition quickly. Even project ideas that are decades old could suddenly become alive with meaning and a newfound energy. The trick is to develop your method for preserving ideas until they ripen.

Duration:00:02:43

HT1905 - Explaining a Photograph

5/22/2024

HT1905 - Explaining a Photograph I'm fascinated by how often I hear photographers talk about their images by explaining what they were trying to accomplish. Does the photograph not accomplish that without the verbiage? There are good reasons for producing image and text combinations, but using text (or talk) to justify or explain a photograph is almost always going to end up diminishing the artwork.

Duration:00:02:43

HT1904 - Structure Imposed Discipline

5/21/2024

HT1904 - Structure Imposed Discipline Art making is such a frivolous activity in so much that no one really cares whether or not we make artwork. Because we don't have to, it's easy to relegate our art life to the nebulous future when someday we'll have the time to do so. This is where a structure can be handy. Self-imposed projects like a photo a day, or a commitment to exhibit can provide a little nudge of incentive.

Duration:00:02:43

LW1403 - Post-Mistake World, Part 2

5/20/2024

LW1403 - Post-Mistake World, Part 2 A follow-up to last week's discussion about photography in this age when every time we click the shutter can result and a technically excellent image. This week we'll look at a real-world example from a situation in which it would have been almost impossible to succeed without today's advanced digital capabilities. Using the software, however, turned this impossibly challenging subject into a few relatively easy steps. 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.

Duration:00:12:54