LensWork - Photography and the Creative Process

Here's a Thought… #2762 with Brooks Jensen

Understanding Fatigue and Exhaustion

There are times when I try to go photographing in spite of feeling exhausted. It never works. This week is one of those times. I just can't bring myself to get excited about grabbing my camera and getting out there. Worse, I feel guilty about it. As I've thought about this in the torpor of my fatigue, I think I've had a flash of insight about this.

Become a member of LensWork Online and have access to all 2700+ Here's a Thought… commentaries.

Here's a Thought… #2761 with Brooks Jensen

The Immersive Challenge

We all have art we love and art that leaves us cold. In thinking about my own responses to artwork, I've come to the conclusion that the artwork I like the most are those pieces that create in me the largest immersive response by pulling me into the world that the artwork makes for us. This is, for example, where the novelist has so much to teach us visual artists. What if I were to propose that Tolkien and Ansel Adams are essentially facing the same creative challenge in different media?

Become a member of LensWork Online and have access to all 2700+ Here's a Thought… commentaries.

Here's a Thought… #2760 with Brooks Jensen

The Cynic in Me

This is the best time in the history of photography to be a photographer. That said, the cynic in me can't help but worry about the future of photography as an art medium. Because it has become so easy to make a technical stunning photograph, I wonder if the mystery in the craft has disappeared? If it's easy and everyone can do it well, is it still an admirable medium for making art?

Become a member of LensWork Online and have access to all 2700+ Here's a Thought… commentaries.

Here's a Thought… #2759 with Brooks Jensen

Not ETTR, but ZJSOTR

I'm sure you have all heard the advice, "Expose to the Right." In theory, that's well-founded reasoning and advice. In practice, I've found ETTR a bit impractical and prefer a more pragmatic strategy ZJSOTR — Zebras Just Short of the Right. This is even more true here in the age of AI Noise Reduction of our RAW files.

Become a member of LensWork Online and have access to all 2700+ Here's a Thought… commentaries.

Here's a Thought… #2758 with Brooks Jensen

Forgotten Masters

With the passage of time, it's natural that some artists become more valued and others fade from popularity. If this happened to Bach, why would it not also occur in photography? These days, I almost never hear anyone mention Diane Arbus, Aaron Siskind, Barbara Crane, William Garnett, Linda Connor, August Sander, Art Sinsabaugh, Ralph Eugene Meatyard, Laura Gilpin, Elliott Porter, Ruth Bernhardt, Clarence John Laughlin, Don Worth, or Fay Godwin. This could be a lengthy list indeed. If the public doesn't remember them, at least we who have inherited their photographic legacy can and should.

Become a member of LensWork Online and have access to all 2700+ Here's a Thought… commentaries.