LensWork - Photography and the Creative Process

Here's a Thought… #2771 with Brooks Jensen

Your Work and Ansel Adams

I've said for a long time now that the most influential attribute of a work of art is the signature of the artist. That is, a very bad Ansel Adams print will be more valuable than our best. Of course, the mental trap in that thought is the equating of fame/value and merit. I would unhesitatingly say that many of your photographs are every bit as good as an Ansel Adams photograph. Your work may never be as famous as an Adams print, but that does not mean it can't have the merit and power to move us profoundly. Perhaps merit is in the eye of the beholder.

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Here's a Thought… #2770 with Brooks Jensen

Yes, Seagulls

There are some subject clichés that are so cliché they become uber clichés. I would be willing to bet that every one of you have a photograph of a seagull in your archives that you've never shown to anyone because, well, it's a picture of a seagull. Does that mean seagulls are overtly non-photogenic? Or does it mean that they are inherently difficult to photograph without the picture becoming a cliché? I suppose the same could be said for sunsets, dewy spider webs, and kittens playing with yarn. That said, nothing is more cliché than a photograph of a seagull. Which is maybe the best reason to attempt a Seeing in SIXES project of seagulls.

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Here's a Thought… #2769 with Brooks Jensen

My Favorite Dead Fish Picture

One of my favorite pictures from 50 years of photography was photographed in a rural village in Japan. Outside the fish market was a little stand that included 60 or 70 herring splayed out to dry. There's shiny bodies were fantastic and led to one of my all-time favorite photographs. I have it hanging in the trailer. I'm about to take it down. Lynn pointed out an obvious fact that I'd never seen in 30 years. IT'S A PICTURE OF DEAD FISH. It will always be a picture of dead fish, regardless of how beautiful the print is, how sensual the tones are, it simply can't be anything other than a picture of dead fish.

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Here's a Thought… #2768 with Brooks Jensen

Clouds and No Clouds

Looking through our archives at all our previous work can uncover some of the most interesting things we might never see otherwise. A while back I had a revelation about clouds. It seems that for unknown and unconscious reasons, when there are beautiful puffy clouds in the sky casting intermittent shadows and sunbeams on the land, I tend to photograph with wide-angle lenses. My grand landscapes almost always include clouds. I wasn't aware of that. Conversely, days that are primarily overcast without shadows I naturally tend to photograph details, close focus work, even macro photography. Am I missing something? Is this a valid strategy or a bad habit?

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Here's a Thought… #2767 with Brooks Jensen

Performative Photography

I don't think many people would think of photography as a performative art medium. Could it be? What would that look like? The closest thing I can imagine to a performative presentation of photographs would maybe be a slideshow. What about a presentation of images on a large screen TV that could possibly be accompanied by a narration of sorts. A poetry reading while showing images? Come to think of it, what happens when you share a stack of prints with a visitor? Silence? Conversation? A prepared narrative? Could you? Should you?

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