Random Observations on Art, Photography, and the Creative Process. These short 2-4 minute 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 35 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. 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. His latest books are "The Creative Life in Photography" (2013) and "Looking at Images (2014).
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Random Observations on Art, Photography, and the Creative Process. These short 2-4 minute 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 35 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. 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. His latest books are "The Creative Life in Photography" (2013) and "Looking at Images (2014).
What most of us tend to show matted, framed, and hanging in a place of importance in our home are the very best images we've created. But where do these come from? My observation is that most of those super winners rise from the midst of a project and become super winners due to actions beyond our control. For example, Dorothea Lange made lots of pictures for the FSA, but Migrant Mother rose from the crowd to become iconic.
I've started to work on some of the images from my trip and in particular those from the Badlands of South Dakota. These are tricky images to process just right because of an unexpected issue. Light gray can look either alive or depressed depending on the surrounding mat board or digital background.
Ask a photographer what it is they make pictures of and the chances are they will answer THINGS or perhaps PEOPLE. Perhaps, but more likely than not what they capture a moment, at least in their better photographs. I always try my best to remember this when I'm out photographing, like when I was at Shiprock last week.
Yesterday I was photographing in the South Dakota badlands and had a moment when I thought, "This is really bad light." It took me a minute to remember my own advice that there is no such thing as good light or bad light. There is, however, light that doesn't serve our preconceived ideas. "Bad light" really means that we are imposing our will on what the landscape is giving us. In other words, there is no bad light, there are only bad expectations.
In the 1980s, I made a photograph of the hills near my grandmother's home in Tensleep, Wyoming. I was never thrilled with that image and finally had the opportunity to revisit the area last week. I found the hill I had photographed and realized instantly why I was not happy with the previous effort.
I've talked on numerous occasions about my strategy of gathering assets while I'm in the field rather than pre-visualizing finished images. I've never mentioned, however, what I actually do while I'm gathering assets. Here's a quick overview of how I work in the field. Some may see this as indecision; I see it as providing options for when I'm back home making art.
We photographers are always on the hunt for a subject, a new technique, better equipment, and more time. I've come to realize, however, that the most important thing we need is access. How many times have you driven past a gorgeous scene with beautiful light but there's no place to pull off the road to make a picture? Or there's a fence, or gate, or barrier, or a regulation that blocks us from the position we need to make the picture.
Minor White (one of my all-time favorite photographers) advised us not to photography only what it is, but to photograph what else it is. A catchy quote, but what does this actually mean? One answer is to think of photography as a medium to express metaphors and symbols. This prompts three levels of thinking: photography of something, photography about something, and photography that points to something.
Random Observations on Art, Photography, and the Creative Process. These short 2-4 minute 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 35 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. 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. His latest books are "The Creative Life in Photography" (2013) and "Looking at Images (2014).
