The other day I completed a beautiful photograph. Seriously, simply gorgeous. A stunning landscape, magical light, vibrant colors, engaging composition — so wonderful that it took my breath away. I like it; I'm proud of it; I immediately framed it and hung it in a prestigious location here at home. I struggle, however to call it Art.
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HT2671 - Flung to the Far Unknown
03/07/2026 | 2 mins.
HT2671 - Flung to the Far Unknown
Sending our artwork out into the world can be a dicey proposition. We lose control of its fate. Who knows if it will survive or where it will survive. (Maybe it all ends up in the Twiloid Zone. We will likely never know.) To us, once it is gone, it is almost as though it never existed. It resides in us only as a memory — like all other experiences in our life, as a building block to who we have become. Is it more important that we create art or the art life?
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HT2670 - The Dangers of Surrendering Control
02/07/2026 | 2 mins.
HT2670 - The Dangers of Surrendering Control
Software and AI are also providing us with tremendous tools. At the same time, there is a risk of allowing them to make aesthetic decisions for us. This is not good. For example, the new "Assisted Culling" tool in Lightroom is designed to replace our human judgment about our failures. I want to look at my failures because that's how I learn.
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HT2669 - Photographic Artwork
01/07/2026 | 2 mins.
HT2669 - Photographic Artwork
Isn't that an odd term? Do we refer to painting as "oil on canvas artwork?" Or sculpture as "carved marble artwork?" Is poetry referred to as "verbal artwork?" Do we use the term photographic artwork because not all photographs are artwork? Or is it that it's somehow important to specify the medium when we refer to artwork made by a human using a camera? Why not just call it artwork and be done with it? Why the extra adjective?
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HT2668 - Pretty On the Brain
30/06/2026 | 2 mins.
HT2668 - Pretty On the Brain
I remember once a photographer said to me that "Ansel Adams was the Helmut Newton of the landscape." I understand what they were getting at and I'm not sure I can disagree. Like most other media of artistic expression, photography loves the pretty. Pretty girls, pretty sunsets, pretty flower blossoms, pretty landscapes, pretty trees, — we photographers have pretty on the brain. Is that a strength or a weakness?
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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, Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware and many other podcasts from around the world with the radio.net app
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