LensWork - Photography and the Creative Process

Here's a Thought… #2793 with Brooks Jensen

When the Project Picks You

I'll readily confess that most of my best projects are not preplanned, purpose driven, and not the result of conscious searching. I stumble upon them. They whisper in my ear. They hesitatingly reveal themselves. They are less a declaration that commands me and more an invitation that seduces me. They arrive as a hint, a glimpse in the corner of my eye, a question that often begins, What if?

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Episode #1529 from our long-running, weekly podcast
On Photography and the Creative Process

Pretty Picture Overload

Maybe I'm just feeling ornery these days. I find I'm becoming less and less impressed with pretty pictures. Sometimes it feels like we are being bombarded from all sides with lovely images from every source. Exotic locations, idyllic scenes, super-saturated colors — it leaves me feeling a bit numb. Once we've eaten an entire cake, it would probably not be surprising if we don't want more dessert. Crescendo after crescendo after crescendo makes the music dull.



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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… #2792 with Brooks Jensen

We Engineer-Artists

One of the things that fascinates me about photography is that it lies at the perfect inflection point between technology and creative vision. I love the science of mixing darkroom chemistry or mastering software and computing. The engineer in me thrills at the challenge, and the sense of accomplishment from mastering a technology is undeniable. That said, it is the artistic challenge of self-expression that provides the motivation and reward for all the effort.

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Here's a Thought… #2791 with Brooks Jensen

Prevent a Disaster

Photographers spend a lot of time thinking about how to be successful with their images, their projects, their art life. Might I suggest that another fruitful area of thought is to anticipate how to prevent disasters. For example, my first trip to China I took a second identical camera body with me just in case my main camera failed. I always have a wrist strap attached to my camera in case I lose my grip. Every night I recharge all my batteries so that I start each day with a full load of power. Backup memory cards and hard drives. Rain protection even on the sunny days. Offloading the day's images to another memory device as a backup.

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Here's a Thought… #2790 with Brooks Jensen

Lessons That Last a Lifetime

Years ago I used to subscribe to Popular Photography, Modern Photography, and PC Magazine. I kept them all on my bookshelves as reference material. But equipment changes and gear reviews fall out of date. With the passage of years I realized the information in those magazines were no longer pertinent to my creative life. This is precisely why LensWork, my podcast, the daily Here's a Thought, and all the other content at LensWork Online concentrate on lessons that last a lifetime. Creativity today asks the same questions as 33 years ago when we started LensWork. The challenges of art making are timeless.

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