LensWork - Photography and the Creative Process

Epizodes

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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.
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  HT2704 - A Photographic 2-Minute Drill 05.08.2026 2min

  There is a situational strategy in football when the time runs short. It's called the "2- minute drill." Its essence is accomplishing a lot in very short time. We could borrow this idea for project-oriented photography. If you've only got 20 minutes or so to photograph, how do you turn that into short, multi-image project? How should we prepare ourselves for such opportunities?
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  HT2703 - Internalizing the Scene 04.08.2026 2min

  I assume that all of you are aware of the idea that a camera is a mirror, that every picture we make is a reflection of who we are. There is a kernel of truth in this idea, but I don't think it's automatic nor universal. To internalize a scene requires a conscious effort on our part. That moment is the seed of creating artwork.
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  LW1516 - Beyond the Rectangle 03.08.2026

  We photographers have quadrilaterals on the brain. Why? The world is not quadrilateral. Why not compose in circles, ovals, or other shapes? Is it because cutting round or oval mats is so difficult? Are we prisoners of the straight-edge ruler? Can we not learn from our lenses — which by the way cast round images onto our quadrilateral sensors?
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  HT2702 - When a Group Ceases to Be a Group 03.08.2026 2min

  One of the interesting things about a multiple image project is how the viewer assembles the collective idea that binds the images into a unified expression. Show three images as a group and the viewer will try to connect them. When the group becomes too large, however, it can be more difficult to see so many images as a group. I think this is one of the reasons "Seeing in SIXES" works so well. It's the sweet spot between the single image and too many to be a group
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  HT2701 - A Personal Pile 02.08.2026 2min

  I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in this. I have a "personal pile" of prints that I rarely (often never) share with anyone. They are not embarrassing, nor obscure. They are ones that I'd just as soon not have my feelings about them diluted or polluted with other's opinions. To call them "spiritual" would be too strong, but they are moments that I treasure and would like to preserve. Maybe I'm being silly about these images, but that's the way I feel.
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  HT2700 - Small Bites 01.08.2026 2min

  I wish my brain worked in a continuous straight line, but it doesn't. I bounce from idea to idea. For years I've fought this by trying to be creative in a continuous straight line. Why not take the easy path and develop an approach to project development and even image processing that uses a small bite strategy? This is not a creativity problem, it's an organizational problem.
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  HT2699 - The Creative Life Is a Daily Habit 31.07.2026 2min

  It's almost a cliché to suggest that a creative life is a daily thing. The truth is that it's true. A drop of ink in a gallon of water changes the entire gallon. A drop of creativity in an ordinary day changes the entire day. Does that mean you need to shoot pictures everyday? Might be fun, but for most of us that's impractical. The only thing I know that I can do every day of my life is think about creativity, about photography, about locations, about ideas. Thinking can go with me everywhere, fill a minute here or there, and introduce a drop of creative momentum into every day.
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  HT2698 - My Favorite Features of Digital Processing 30.07.2026 2min

  It seems that with digital processing we can do anything — and do it, if need be, at the pixel level. I find, however that there are a few tools that have dramatically allowed me to make images that were essentially impossible in the analog darkroom. These have become so integral in my image making that I can now barely imagine photography without them.
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  HT2697 - New Life for Old Ideas 29.07.2026 2min

  Over the last 50 years in photography, I've had a number of ideas that I thought were good at the time, rejected because they were too odd, and now realize they were pretty good ideas all along. I let convention rule my thinking, an attitude that I now realize is always a mistake. Never let convention get in the way of your creativity. Here are three examples.