Here's a creative challenge that can be a lot of fun. Let's assume that every image in your Lightroom catalog was captured because you, at the time, thought it would make great photograph. That implies that you could choose any capture at random from your catalog and make a good image from it. Can you? Pick an image at random and push yourself to turn it into something interesting with aggressive or perhaps unusual processing. The goal is not to create interesting artwork, but to observe what happens within you as you work with the compromise between impulse and possibility.
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.
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HT2519 - Stretching the Image
31-1-2026 | 2 Min.
HT2519 - Stretching the Image
What do you do if, after cropping an image, it no longer fits the aspect ratio of all the other images in your presentation? Do you let that image just be different than all the others or do you re-crop it within the aspect ratio to preserve consistency? There is a third option I've never considered, but it's recently come to my attention and I'm not sure how I feel about it. That third technique is to stretch the pixels to fit the frame, also known as non-proportional cropping.
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.
HT2518 - Print-on-demand Artwork
30-1-2026 | 2 Min.
HT2518 - Print-on-demand Artwork
Here's an idea that's been floating around photographic circles for the last 25 years or so. What if we were to publish our finished digital files in a way that allowed consumers to print our work on their own printers, with or without a purchase agreement to do so? What would we lose by allowing them to do so? What would we gain by allowing them to do so? I find this a scary idea, but I'm not sure why I feel that way other than the habitual assumption about intellectual property and copyrights/commerce.
Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!
HT2517 - Yesterday's Limitations
29-1-2026 | 2 Min.
HT2517 - Yesterday's Limitations
My first digital captures were made with an 6 megapixel camera that had a tiny sensor. They were primitive, noisy even at its base ISO, and fell far short of what I could produce with my film camera. Nonetheless, I kept those image files just in case future software improvements might make them useable. I was right to do so.
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HT2516 - The First One to Do It
28-1-2026 | 2 Min.
HT2516 - The First One to Do It
The history of photography is filled with people who didn't make the best but who did make it first. Matthew Brady wasn't the best war photographer in history but he was the first. William Henry Jackson is not the best landscape photographer ever, but he was one of the first. Other examples abound. This implies a not so subtle premise that is easy to be seduced by in our creative efforts — be first or be forgotten.
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Over LensWork - Photography and the Creative Process
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).