LensWork - Photography and the Creative Process

Episodi

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  HT2718 - Accessory Fever 19.08.2026 2min

  I cringe when I think about all the money I've spent on accessories that sounded like a great solution, then used only a time or two. Or, maybe never. I have a closet full of them. Why is it that the solution to better pictures always seems to rely on some new piece of gear? I suppose it's just easier to blame stuff (or the lack of stuff) than it is to look inward and frankly see our own limitations. What a relief it is to blame our failures on anything but ourselves!
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  HT2717 - Too Many Notes, Words, Images 18.08.2026 2min

  I've often said that this is the best time in the history of photography to be a photographer. There is one sense in which this is clearly not true: audience attention spans. The instantaneous mindset of making photographs is leaking into the way we look at photographs — instantaneously. Social media are training all of us to think a glimpse is sufficient.
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  LW1518 - The Hard Work of Being an Artist 17.08.2026

  The minute we pick up a camera and decide we want to make pictures more meaningful than snapshots, we unknowingly embrace the art life. The first challenge is entirely technical and, at least these days, fairly easily mastered. Well, if not mastered, at least doable with reasonable competence. That's when the hard work of being an artist begins.
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  HT2716 - Fun Is a Medicine 17.08.2026 2min

  I assume that all of you listening to these commentaries take your photography pretty seriously. You want your photographs to be meaningful, lovely, treasured, valuable. We approach our image making with a serious mindset. Must we? What about fun? Silly? Playful? Not all of our work needs to be momentous. Make something small, fun, light-hearted that you can give away just because it makes everyone smile. Strangely enough, doing so can make your serious work more meaningful.
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  HT2715 - The Power of Titles 16.08.2026 2min

  Titles have such power to steer the viewer in directions we intend. I've often used the example of Dorothea Lange's famous image, Migrant Mother. What if that image was instead titled, Waiting for the Return of the Soldier, for example? What if Weston's Pepper #30 was titled, The Last Pepper, or perhaps, Tina? Words change perceptions, sometimes with a nudge, sometimes with a sledgehammer. A title, even if it is only one word, can make all the difference in how the viewer sees your image.
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  HT2714 - To Know a Photographer 15.08.2026 2min

  There are so many photographers I think I know because one of their images has become important to me. I'm a fool to think so. People are complicated; photographers are at least as complicated as people. (Ahem.) I've come to believe that in order to know a photographer even a little we need to study at least a couple dozen images or more. Better if this covers at least a decade or so of their creature career.
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  HT2713 - An Excuse to Explore the World 14.08.2026 2min

  I'm pretty convinced that I don't need to add any more images to my Lightroom assets. I have enough RAW files in my catalogue to keep myself artistically busy and productive for the rest of my life. I just need to mine deeper into what I already have. That will not, however, prevent me from heading out and capturing more. That's because the core of artmaking is exploring life, exploring the world, exploring our responses to experience. Making the art is secondary; curiosity and inquiry are the primary values in the Art Life.
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  HT2712 - Why the Sharpest Lenses 13.08.2026 2min

  I've always thought that spending money on the best lenses made more sense than expensive cameras. A blurry picture can always be made with a tack-sharp lens, but a tack-sharp image cannot be made with a fuzzy lens. By the way, how do you know if your lens is sharp? Which apertures? Which focal lengths? You do know, don't you, that manufacturing under the tightest control will still make a lemon now and again?
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  HT2711 - One Kind of Photography 12.08.2026 2min

  You know that old business about what books you would want with you on a desert island? Just for fun, if you could only make one kind of photograph for the rest of your life, what would you choose? Landscapes? Portraits? Still life? Wildlife? I think I'd choose abstracts. I could make abstracts anywhere, anytime, with any subjects, with any camera, in any light, at any size, for any purpose.
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  HT2710 - Your Best Is Often the Least Important 11.08.2026 2min

  An over-emphasized component of fine art photography is the assumption that "making stone-cold winners" is the heart of the pursuit. I would propose that super-winners are not the goal but can, occasionally, be the result. We make art for the process, not the accolades. There is a cultural pressure to be and produce "the best of the best of the best." (stolen from Men in Black) Far too often our very best work relies on a generous helping of luck. Take all the lucky ones you can get, but don't confuse luck with artistic accomplishment.
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  LW1517 - Why Make Art 10.08.2026

  I don't want to sound morbid or fatalistic, but we are all headed for the ink maintenance tank at some point in the future. A good friend of mine recently survived a health crisis that almost ended his life. Whether or not we want to acknowledge it, we hang by a thread. I know that in the cosmic scale of things photography is not that important, but perhaps ART is. A recent quote from a television show: Science tells us how and where we live; History tells us when; Art and Literature tell us why. The purpose of life is not to make art, but the purpose of Art is to enhance our life. Good to remember that every moment we have is precious.
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  HT2709 - The Return to Film 10.08.2026 2min

  I think I understand why some photographers are returning to film and analog photography. There is a sense of accomplishment in the production of a wonderful gelatin silver print that is absent (or at least diminished) with an inkjet print or an Instagram post. What is missing from this debate is the source of the thrill. Does the thrill of accomplishment come from the successful command of the medium or from the depth of connection with the content?
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  HT2708 - Better Than I Remembered 09.08.2026 2min

  With some frequency now, I find that as I look back at my older unprinted archives, I'll stumble upon an image with new appreciation. How did I miss this one? Is it that my processing tools are now so much better? Is it that I'm older and more artistically mature? Is it that the passage of time has made it easier to distance myself from the experiential memories of the moment?
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  HT2707 - Blind Spots and Habits 08.08.2026 2min

  Now that I've been photographing for decades, there are some subjects and trends that have become more identifiable with a larger data pool to pull from. Evidently, I find walls irresistible. Chairs must be one of my favorite subjects if the count of how many photos of them I have is any indication. Trees and rocks rate high on the list. I have no interest in architecture, but you'd never know it by looking at how many photos I have of buildings. Sunsets, wildlife, urban streets, and sports events are almost completely missing from my archives. I'm wondering if a list of what I've never photographed could lead to something interesting?
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  HT2706 - The Intersection of Sensitivity and Moment 07.08.2026 2min

  Every waking moment is an opportunity to make a photograph — but we don't. Moments don't rise to the level of photographic importance until we sense them. Photography happens at the intersection of a particular moment and our sensitivity to perceive it. I'll pause for a minute for you to think about that. If true, doesn't it seem obvious that the limitation of creativity is our sensitivity, not the availability of moments? If so, the challenge of being an artist is all about developing our sensitivity to every moment, not the never-ending search for the special moment.
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  HT2705 - Abundance Can Be a Curse 06.08.2026 2min

  I had a couple of weeks last fall to photograph in the San Juan mountains of southern Colorado. The weather was perfect, the fall colors at their peak, and I just kept shooting. I now have 967 RAW captures from that couple of weeks. What do I do with 967 perfectly focused, properly exposed, lovely images? They can't all be winners! If I toss half of them, I'll still have 400+. If I keep only the top 10%, I'll still have almost 100. I'm beginning to think that too many is a curse worse than too few.