LensWork - Photography and the Creative Process

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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Here's a Thought… #2747 with Brooks Jensen

The Complexity of the Medium

Photography is a technology that includes many media. I grew up in the age of gelatin silver. Today I use inkjet printers. Is my earlier work "better" or more valuable because the medium was so much more demanding and recalcitrant? I've known photographers who engaged "alternative processes" because they thought it would make their work special, more valuable, more collectible. Yet another example of equating difficulty and worthiness.

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Here's a Thought… #2746 with Brooks Jensen

Right On, Write On, Right On

One of the great gifts we can receive from an artist is PERMISSION. We all owe a debt of gratitude to the late Duane Michals. By his example, he gave us all permission to write on our photographs. He understood — boy, did he understand!— that Art is about Ideas not just visuals. By marrying the photograph to the hand-written word he opened wide a door for all of us. The question remains, however, do we have the courage to follow his example?

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Here's a Thought… #2745 with Brooks Jensen

Denied Access

I'm convinced that the most valuable aspect in the creation of a good photograph is access. If we are denied access, we can't get to where we need to be to click the shutter. Since that's an undeniable reality, wouldn't it make sense that we need to develop the skill of securing permission? I learned this lesson in the 1980s when I was working on the Made of Steel project. I used one simple principle to gain access to the garages and machine shops where I photographed. My technique only failed me once.

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Episode #1522 from our long-running, weekly podcast
On Photography and the Creative Process

Spray and Pray and AI

If you want to insult a photographer, accuse them of "spray and pray." It's a not so subtle way of saying they are relying on luck rather than talent. There are, however, two instances where I think spray and pray not only makes sense but is a pretty intelligent strategy: capturing a fleeting expression in a portrait, and using a long exposure time in a handheld composition. Besides, when your photograph succeeds, will anyone care how you arrived at that success?



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You might also be interested in. . .

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

and...

"How to" tutorials and camera reviews are everywhere on YouTube, but if you're interested in photography and the creative life, you need to know about the incredible resources you can access as a member of LensWork Online.