LensWork - Photography and the Creative Process

Here's a Thought… #2801 with Brooks Jensen

Beware the Advice That Stifles

One of my earliest examples of thinking outside the box involved five images matted in a single mat. I thought it was innovative and expressive. My well-meaning peers crushed this experiment and I never pursued it. Years later I tried black mat boards with the same discouragement. Feedback can be helpful, but it can also negatively influence your creative impulses.

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Here's a Thought… #2800 with Brooks Jensen

Lawn Chairs and Other Photographic Necessities

The older I get and the longer I practice photography the more I'm convinced that photographs find us. Chasing photographs is a fine idea in our youth when burning off excess energy is a virtue. I have discovered, however, that chasing photographs is not the best strategy, at least not for me, and my aging knees concur. The older I get the more I see that it's not taking photos nor even making photos. The key is allowing photos to reveal themselves to us.

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Episode #1530 from our long-running, weekly podcast
On Photography and the Creative Process

Why I Prefer Projects

Words alone cannot tell a story until they are organized into sentences and paragraphs. Said another way, groups of words make much more powerful expressions than words could ever do without the power of sentences and paragraphs. Similarly, individual pictures can be wonderful, but when they contribute to a larger whole by being part of a project they feel more capable of personal expression than the individual, standalone image.



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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.

Here's a Thought… #2799 with Brooks Jensen

The Field of Search

You've managed to carve a little time from your busy schedule and have an opportunity to do photography. Where do you search for your next photograph? In The Great outdoors? On a busy urban street? In your still life studio? Or could it possibly be waiting to be discovered in your Lightroom catalog?

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Here's a Thought… #2798 with Brooks Jensen

Art That Is Not Pretty

In this week's podcast, I was bemoaning the overload of pretty pictures we are surrounded with these days. A logical question then becomes What is an artistic photograph that isn't pretty? I think this question gets right to the heart of personally expressive photography.

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