LensWork - Photography and the Creative Process

Here's a Thought… #2758 with Brooks Jensen

Forgotten Masters

With the passage of time, it's natural that some artists become more valued and others fade from popularity. If this happened to Bach, why would it not also occur in photography? These days, I almost never hear anyone mention Diane Arbus, Aaron Siskind, Barbara Crane, William Garnett, Linda Connor, August Sander, Art Sinsabaugh, Ralph Eugene Meatyard, Laura Gilpin, Elliott Porter, Ruth Bernhardt, Clarence John Laughlin, Don Worth, or Fay Godwin. This could be a lengthy list indeed. If the public doesn't remember them, at least we who have inherited their photographic legacy can and should.

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Episode #1524 from our long-running, weekly podcast
On Photography and the Creative Process

Photography as an Art Medium

Of late, I've experienced a number of well-meaning friends who insist on showing me what and where I should photograph. I know their heart is in the right place, but I also know that they do not understand the creative process. That's too harsh. They do not understand my creative process. I've been trying to understand their premises and I think I've begun to do so. In fact, I think this is a universal misunderstanding of photography as an art medium.



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

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Here's a Thought… #2757 with Brooks Jensen

Entering the Creative Bubble

The world of athletics can be divided into two different sets of action. There is the preliminary part of preparation. Then there is the performative part of the competition. I think this provides a useful metaphor for photography and points out an interesting idea about preparation. When I'm out with my camera, my goal is to enter the creative bubble and starting the work of being a photographer. Like the athlete that stretches and warms up before the competition, what should I be doing as a photographer to prepare myself before entering the creative bubble? What is the creative equivalent to stretching and warming up?

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Here's a Thought… #2756 with Brooks Jensen

Too Much Salt Spoils the Food

Not long ago we tried a new Italian restaurant, just for fun. I ordered eggplant parmesan. Is there anything worse than bland, tasteless Italian food? Of course, I couldn't help but compare this to photography. What do we want in food — or a photograph? Intensity, a sensual thrill, a memorable experience, a good time, a sense of lingering satisfaction. We don't want bland, yet too much salt spoils the food. Similarly, too much "volume" in a photograph overwhelms the senses

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Here's a Thought… #2755 with Brooks Jensen

The Subjectivity Scale

Imagine, if you will, a linear scale with Objectivity on the far left point and Subjectivity on the far right point. Every photograph you produce (or have ever produced) can be located on this scale. Is the image factual and optically faithful to normal human vision, or is it imaginative and a personally expressive, fanciful, or an emotional interpretation by its creator? Is it documentary, or an expressive fiction?

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