I once read that the goal of a framed photograph was to create an instant emotional bond with the viewer. I think there is some truth to this but then I remember all the images that I disliked or felt neutral about at first viewing which only later, upon reflection, became favorites and even influential pictures. I've always struggled with this idea of instant emotional bond because it seems to reduce to a connection based on already held assumptions and opinions. That leaves photography with nothing new to bring to us.
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.
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HT2624 - A Special Experience
16/05/2026 | 2 mins.
HT2624 - A Special Experience
Some of you have been around long enough to remember when seeing a photograph could be a truly special experience. A highlight of my photographic life was seeing an exhibition of Paul Strand originals at The Art Institute of Chicago in 1991. I was on cloud nine for a week. Perhaps it was such a special occasion because it was so rare. Here, deep in the age of image bombardment, I miss those moments when I could be overwhelmed by the work of a master photographer during a transcendent experience.
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.
HT2623 - PBPA - Photography By Pooping Around
15/05/2026 | 2 mins.
HT2623 - PBPA - Photography By Pooping Around
Last week I attended a classical concert in which the orchestra played the Enigma Variations by Edward Elgar. There's a fascinating story about how he constructed this piece that seems perfectly applicable to us photographers. I never knew my practice of PBPA (Photography By Pooping Around)was a strategy that could be used by serious composers. I guess if it's good enough for them, it's good enough for us, too.
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HT2622 - The Secondary Market
14/05/2026 | 2 mins.
HT2622 - The Secondary Market
As you can well imagine, I receive dozens of emails every day from galleries, collectors, agents, and promoters who have prints for sale. My first thought when I see these emails and the prices for the prints they are offering is to wonder how much of that gets back to the creator, the photographer, the individual whose creativity and effort created the work. The poor artist get nothing from the sale in the secondary market. Worse, whatever efforts they spend to market their own work robs them of the precious time and energy needed to make work.
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HT2621 - Photographers and Their Chosen Weather
13/05/2026 | 2 mins.
HT2621 - Photographers and Their Chosen Weather
Isn't it interesting how certain photographers are associated with certain kinds of weather? Michael Kenna is associated with fog. Ansel Adams is often associated with snow. Josef Sudek is a photographer of rain. Mitch Dobrowner and tornados, Alfred Stieglitz and clouds. What is your favorite kind of weather to photograph? Note how that is a different question than what is your favorite kind of weather to photograph in!
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About LensWork - Photography and the Creative Process
About LensWork - Photography and the Creative Process
About 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).
Listen to LensWork - Photography and the Creative Process, Experience is Everything and many other podcasts from around the world with the radio.net app
Ireland