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,...

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

HT2595 - Memorable Images

4/17/2026

HT2595 - Memorable Images I've probably seen tens of thousands of photographs in my life, maybe more. I suspect there's a hundred or two that I can remember and bring forth in my mind's eye. Why is that? Do I have a poor memory? What are the characteristics of an image I remember? Is it different with my own work compared to those I remember by other photographers? Is it enough to experience a photograph or is remembering it the most important aspect of an image? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

Duration:00:02:43

HT2594 - You Will Likely Never Know

4/16/2026

HT2594 - You Will Likely Never Know Wynn Bullock will never know the impact his artwork has made in my life, but I can unhesitatingly say that his artwork set me on a 50-year trajectory that continues to this day. We will rarely know — perhaps never know — how our work will affect others. The one thing we can know with certainty is that doing our work will include ripple effects that will change our life in unexpected ways. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

Duration:00:02:43

HT2593 - Mindlessness

4/15/2026

HT2593 - Mindlessness It may seem silly to insist that images of a mind of their own, but just pretend with me for a few minutes of experimentation. Pull up an image in Lightroom or Photoshop that you have not previously processed. Now, just sit back and look. Try not to think. Let go of photography, of art making, of analysis, of memory. Just look with an empty mind, at least as mindless as you can. Try to be open to the image and its will. The measure of your success as an artist is how successfully you let go of being an artist. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

Duration:00:02:43

HT2592 - That Which Is Not Media

4/14/2026

HT2592 - That Which Is Not Media We cannot have art without some medium of expression. That said, what makes art important, meaningful, valuable, and memorable are the elements which are independent of the medium. Think of Billie Holiday's singing independent of the record, the tape, the CD, or the digital stream. The same can be said for photography. What really counts is not the medium of the print, but rather that content that touches our heart. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

Duration:00:02:43

HT2591 - The Thrill of Discovery

4/13/2026

HT2591 - The Thrill of Discovery We've all experienced the thrill of discovering a new subject, location, or artist previously unknown to us. I distinctly remember, after having been involved in photography for 20 years, the first time I saw the work of Josef Sudek. Last month I "discovered" the piano compositions of Isaac Albéniz. I believe that finding and treasuring such fellow artists is one of the most powerful reasons to be involved in the art life. This is especially so if their work inspires us in our own creative path. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

Duration:00:02:43

LW1501 - If Not Now, When?

4/13/2026

LW1501 - If Not Now, When? I've been involved with photography long enough to watch a number of my friends and LensWork-published photographers pass on to that eternal darkroom above the clouds. Life is fleeting, and the march of days relentless. It's amazing, as I look back, the number of times a photographer has told me about a project they are looking forward to doing only to run out of time. If we don't produce our work now, who knows if we will be able to do so in the future? 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

HT2590 - Searching For the Thread That Binds

4/12/2026

HT2590 - Searching For the Thread That Binds There is a considerable difference between making a single, standalone, spectacular image as compared to working a project. For me, a large part of project oriented photography is searching for the thread that binds. This often starts with a single photograph which can potentially spawn many threads that bind. The part that involves artistic discretion and decisions is choosing which thread to pursue. 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. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

Duration:00:02:43

HT2589 - The Value of Limits

4/11/2026

HT2589 - The Value of Limits Perhaps you've heard that great Orson Welles quote that "The absence of limitations is the enemy of art." I think he's right, and I say this because of experiences I've had in making art. Limits become defining parameters, motivating deadlines, and achievable endpoints. There are numerous ways we can define limits. Each has its own value and purpose. We can limit the equipment we use, the number of raw captures we'll collect, the number of finished images, the time we allow ourselves with a given project, or the geographic boundaries we will explore. 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.

Duration:00:02:43

HT2588 - A Problem with Big

4/10/2026

HT2588 - A Problem with Big What do the following have in common? War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, The Ring by Richard Wagner, running a marathon, and a 60-inch photographic print? They're all possible, but intimidating. It is human nature to hesitate before engaging a big thing. It's natural for us to measure our commitment and dedication before we begin. Big things require a sort of risk versus reward analysis Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

Duration:00:02:43

HT2587 - In Gear We Trust

4/9/2026

HT2587 - In Gear We Trust During my 50 years in photography, I've owned 24 different cameras. I can assure you that with each new camera my hopes and aspirations rose as I was sequentially convinced each new piece of gear would provide the answer to making better photographs. You would think my faith in gear would subside with each disappointment, but it never does. That's how strong faith in gear is in photography. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

Duration:00:02:43

HT2586 - The Data Hidden in the Noise

4/8/2026

HT2586 - The Data Hidden in the Noise We click the shutter because there's something there. We feel it, we sense it, we may not be able to describe it, but there is data hidden in the noise. Our job is artists is to brush away the noise, the obscuring dust, sometimes the verbosity in our mind. Photography is not so much about taking as it is about revealing. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

Duration:00:02:43

HT2585 - New Is Not Necessarily a Virtue

4/7/2026

HT2585 - New Is Not Necessarily a Virtue Photographers tend to get very excited about everything new. New gear, new techniques, new locations, new venues. The problem with new is that it can be a false promise. It's far too easy to equate new with better. My experience is that better pictures most often come from repeated visits and pushing past the new, past our first impressions. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

Duration:00:02:43

HT2584 - Everyday Life Interrupted

4/6/2026

HT2584 - Everyday Life Interrupted It's interesting to look back at the artists' statement included with many portfolios in LensWork. It's amazing how many times the photographer begins by saying they were doing something completely disconnected from photography when all of a sudden they saw something that created a sympathetic vibration with their creative soul. They grabbed their camera and interrupted daily life to make art. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

Duration:00:02:43

LW1500 - My Heartfelt Thanks, Again

4/6/2026

LW1500 - My Heartfelt Thanks, Again On this day as we post a milestone with LensWork Podcast #1500, let me quote one of my favorite novelists, W. Sommerset Maugham. "I think few serious writers can be entirely indifferent to the fate that will befall their works after their death. It is pleasant to think, not that one may achieve immortality but that one may be read with interest by a few generations and find a place, however small, in the history of one's country's literature." All I can add to that is my heartfelt thanks to all of you are fellow travelers on this path of personally expressive photography. Can't wait to see what the future brings! 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

HT2583 - During One Sitting

4/5/2026

HT2583 - During One Sitting If I really want to spend some time with an image to understand it, think about it, consider its implications and deeper message, I know going in that there is a limit to how many images I can connect with in a given sitting. Of course I can only speak with authority about my own experience. I know, from my Sunday morning book time, that I reach a limit at about a hundred images. More than that and my brain just locks up. Sometimes far fewer. I can scan quickly through more, but that always seems a bit of an insult to the artwork and the artist 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. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

Duration:00:02:43

HT2582 - Compositional Geometry

4/4/2026

HT2582 - Compositional Geometry Consider one, two, or three. In geometry, one is a point, two is a line, three is a triangle. In photographic composition, one is a thing, two is relationship, and three is a movement. Which of these do you think makes a more interesting and dynamic viewing experience? Staring at a dot? Bouncing back and forth along the line? Or traveling in an almost circular movement? 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.

Duration:00:02:43

HT2580 - Sometimes a Picture Is Just a Picture, Sometimes Not

4/2/2026

HT2580 - Sometimes a Picture Is Just a Picture, Sometimes Not In these Here's a Thought comments, I talk a lot about meaning and content and the philosophy behind photography. There is, however, a case to be made for just letting a picture be a picture. It's a matter of trying to find balance in the swinging pendulum between profundity and simple beauty. So much of photography is about capturing beauty and why not? If that's the only content of the photograph, image after image after image, one does eventually feel that the meal is all dessert and a taste of substance would be a welcome relief. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

Duration:00:02:43

HT2579 - Either Match Perfectly or Not At All

4/1/2026

HT2579 - Either Match Perfectly or Not At All It has been pointed out to me over the years and by several people that I have zero fashion sense, particularly in my choice of clothing. Maureen compassionately laughed at me when I dressed up one time in khaki pants and a tan shirt that didn't match and then another time when they did and I looked like the ice cream man. Such lessons taught me a lot about depth of field in my photography. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

Duration:00:02:43

HT2578 - Ruthless Editing, Again

3/31/2026

HT2578 - Ruthless Editing, Again Last weekend, more or less just for fun, I reviewed all 180 projects in my Kokoro series of PDFs. One of the conclusions from this review is that I need to do more ruthless editing. Far too often I felt that a project simply had too many images. My primary criteria for editing has always been to eliminate repetition, but I need to expand that and maybe set more rigid limits on how many images are included in a project. Breaking a project into smaller parts might be the key, like chapters in novels. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

Duration:00:02:43

HT2577 - Little Things Gone Wrong

3/30/2026

HT2577 - Little Things Gone Wrong We try, of course, to do our very best with every image, with every project. We strive for perfection. Do we ever achieve it? Far more often than I care to admit, while looking back at some of my completed work I find little things that I could have so easily corrected, but missed. A misspelled word, unfortunate punctuation, the small distraction poking in from the edge of an image, an inconsistency in layout, an image I now realize needed a little tweak here or there. Not failures, but not perfect. Maybe the final step in proofing should be a purposeful review of all the little things that can go wrong. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

Duration:00:02:43