LensWork - Photography and the Creative Process

LW1523 - The Next Big Adventure

We're off in the RV travel trailer for another extended trip! Our route will take us across the southern US during 8 to 10 months, photographing along the way, and, hopefully, without skipping a beat in these podcasts nor the Here's a Thought commentaries. We're starting this week in Nantucket. I've never been here. I don't know what I'll find. How does one photograph a new location? Here's four key ideas that illustrate my approach.



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You might also be interested in. . .

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

and...

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Here's a Thought… #2751 with Brooks Jensen

Chasing Dollars

I prefer not to think too much about the amount of money I've spent in my life to support my photography. Whenever I do, I find I can't help but sympathize with those who pursue print sales and publishing contracts. As a hobby, photography is almost as expensive as boating or golf. I can't recall, however, knowing anyone who thought their hobby of boating or golf might produce an income that would cover their expenses. I believe it was Robert Henri who said, "The Art Life is a privilege for which you need to be willing to pay."

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Here's a Thought… #2750 with Brooks Jensen

The Toys with the Least Interference

Yesterday, I suggested that any camera could be used to create art. If that's true, then how do we select which gear to buy or use? My answer to this thorny question is based on ergonomics and our state of mind. The ideal gear is that which is most comfortable and most invisible as we handle it. Reserve our limited brain power for content, not knob control.

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Here's a Thought… #2749 with Brooks Jensen

With What You Already Own

None of us own the ideal equipment for our artmaking desires. The trick is not letting that suspend our pursuits. The first time I ever clicked a shutter was when I was 10 years old on vacation to visit my grandmother. I used my parents' Kodak Brownie Hawkeye. If that was still the camera I was using today, I'll bet I could still make art. My art would be different, but I'd adapt to what I could do rather than give up because of what I couldn't do. Creativity is the art of the possible.

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Here's a Thought… #2748 with Brooks Jensen

Photography and Beauty

Writing itself is not a visually aesthetic activity until we decide to make the letters beautiful with calligraphy. Can we say that photography is not an aesthetic activity until we make the image beautiful with — with what? Composition? Tones and colors? Beautiful subjects? What is it that turns a replicative medium like photography into an artistic and aesthetic pursuit? Do we create beauty or merely capture it? Do we recognize beauty or manufacture it? Are we conduits for beauty or wizards who conjure it into existence? Is beauty even the goal? Or, is it truth, expression, moment, connection?

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