LensWork - Photography and the Creative Process

Here's a Thought… #2731 with Brooks Jensen

Universal Stories

Photographs, by their very nature, are specific. They capture a view of a specific place at a specific time. Stories, good stories anyway, have a sense of the universal about them. This is why vacation snapshots of landscapes often don't have much appeal; they are too specific, too personal. What brings a story (or a landscape) to life is when we can identify with the characters and can imagine ourself in their shoes, when we see ourself in the story.

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Here's a Thought… #2730 with Brooks Jensen

Bombs and Bosoms

There exists a trend in current photography that I struggle with. That trend is the exaggeration of reality to create an image that could never happen as depicted. Life is amazing enough. Why do we feel compelled to make our photographs more real than reality? I think of this as the "Hollywood Effect," aka Bombs and Bosoms.

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LW1520 - The Big, Big Problem of Repetition

I've been doing multiple image projects now for 45 years and reviewing submissions to LensWork for 34 years. One of the things I've learned is that nothing kills a multi-image project as fast as repetition. The instant a viewer thinks, "I've seen this one before," their interest starts to wane. Even if they haven't seen it before, but think they have, the damage is done.



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You might also be interested in. . .

Every Picture Is a Compromise, a series at www.brooksjensenarts.com.

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Here's a Thought… #2729 with Brooks Jensen

A Library of Skies

How do you feel about the Sky Replacement tool in Photoshop? Is it a cheat, or a solution? Or, maybe I should rephrase that: When is it a cheat and when an acceptable tool? For my work, I've decided it is a tool I'm willing to use if it is only a matter of timing. If the replacement sky could be possible if only I was there photographing on a different day or time, I won't hesitate to use it. Does this open a Pandora's Box of fakery?

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Here's a Thought… #2728 with Brooks Jensen

The Last Time

In her final weeks, a theme that Maureen revisited time and time again was the idea that we never know when will be the last time we ever do something. The last time you will make homemade spaghetti; the last time you will see a friend; the last time you will photograph a sunset scene. She was right, of course, and I think this inspires me to appreciate each moment I have to create art or enjoy what someone else has created.

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