LensWork - Photography and the Creative Process

Here's a Thought… #2805 with Brooks Jensen

Make or Hope

When you click the shutter, do you hope it turns out or do you do whatever is necessary to make it turn out? I confess, sometimes I just hope the photo turns out. I don't know if this is lazy or hurry or indifference, but I know that sometimes I don't take the time to do whatever is necessary to make it turn out. Most of the time, I pay the price for this casual approach because the images in fact don't turn out.

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Here's a Thought… #2804 with Brooks Jensen

Abstracts Are the Answer

After all these years, I still contend that abstracts are my favorite genre of photography. Of course they don't sell. No one likes them. You can't even give them away. They do, however, have three virtues that cannot be denied They connect with their creator deeply; they can be found and photographed everywhere; and the viewers' interpretation is always right.

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Here's a Thought… #2803 with Brooks Jensen

When Capture Meets Culture

I must admit, I find this observation fascinating. There's not a damn thing I can do about it, but it is interesting. Today's technology has made it possible for us to produce trillions of photographs a year while simultaneously promoting the swipe left culture that affords each image a tiny fraction of a second for comprehension and understanding. Do these two trends feed each other? Knowing the waning attention span of audiences, what are the implications for the thousands of images we have in our Lightroom catalogs?

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Here's a Thought… #2802 with Brooks Jensen

Convergence

When I think of "The Art World," I think of galleries and museums, auctions and fortunes, celebrity artists and a measure of fame. That world happens at a point of convergence that most of us will never know or experience — where Creativity meets Commerce. Our world is one of art with a different sort of convergence. For us, Art is a matter of vision and compulsion, strife and creation, breath and Life. I've never met an artist who wouldn't say that while creating their artwork they feel more alive.

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Here's a Thought… #2801 with Brooks Jensen

Beware the Advice That Stifles

One of my earliest examples of thinking outside the box involved five images matted in a single mat. I thought it was innovative and expressive. My well-meaning peers crushed this experiment and I never pursued it. Years later I tried black mat boards with the same discouragement. Feedback can be helpful, but it can also negatively influence your creative impulses.

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