LensWork - Photography and the Creative Process

Episod

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  HT2756 - Too Much Salt Spoils the Food 26.09.2026 2min

  Not long ago we tried a new Italian restaurant, just for fun. I ordered eggplant parmesan. Is there anything worse than bland, tasteless Italian food? Of course, I couldn't help but compare this to photography. What do we want in food — or a photograph? Intensity, a sensual thrill, a memorable experience, a good time, a sense of lingering satisfaction. We don't want bland, yet too much salt spoils the food. Similarly, too much "volume" in a photograph overwhelms the senses
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  HT2755 - The Subjectivity Scale 25.09.2026 2min

  Imagine, if you will, a linear scale with Objectivity on the far left point and Subjectivity on the far right point. Every photograph you produce (or have ever produced) can be located on this scale. Is the image factual and optically faithful to normal human vision, or is it imaginative and a personally expressive, fanciful, or an emotional interpretation by its creator? Is it documentary, or an expressive fiction?
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  HT2754 - The Exposure Triangle Reconsidered 24.09.2026 2min

  There are certain unavoidable truths in photography that are based on the laws of physics. At least, that's the way I think about it. The Exposure Triangle is one of these. The ISO is fixed, the shutter speed selected for sharpness, and that leaves the aperture as our primary tool for controlling exposure. This was a foundational truth for the first 35 years of my photographic life. And then it all changed.
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  HT2753 - Blue Light Blues 23.09.2026 2min

  We spend hours and hours, sweat numberless bullets, and endure creative torture so that our precious and precisely crafted art preserves our creative intent. After all that, it can be altered beyond our control by the Blue Light Filter of our viewers' phones or tablets. And then there's the problem of uncalibrated computer monitors. Should we abandon the archaic concept of photographic excellence in the hands of the master artist? Should we give up the myth of control?
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  HT2752 - We Are Media Producers 22.09.2026 2min

  Media, plural. In my youth, I produced one thing — black and white prints matted and occasionally framed. How quaint. How anachronistic. How 20th century. More recently, I count a dozen media I regularly use to produce my artwork. What makes this a particularly important aspect of photography today is that each of the various media all have their dedicated audience, many of whom are exclusive in their consumption of artwork. If we don't produce in their preferred medium, they might never see our work.
• 
  LW1523 - The Next Big Adventure 21.09.2026

  We're off in the RV travel trailer for another extended trip! Our route will take us across the southern US during 8 to 10 months, photographing along the way, and, hopefully, without skipping a beat in these podcasts nor the Here's a Thought commentaries. We're starting this week in Nantucket. I've never been here. I don't know what I'll find. How does one photograph a new location? Here's four key ideas that illustrated my approach.
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  HT2751 - Chasing Dollars 21.09.2026 2min

  I prefer not to think too much about the amount of money I've spent in my life to support my photography. Whenever I do, I find I can't help but sympathize with those who pursue print sales and publishing contracts. As a hobby, photography is almost as expensive as boating or golf. I can't recall, however, knowing anyone who thought their hobby of boating or golf might produce an income that would cover their expenses. I believe it was Robert Henri who said, "The Art Life is a privilege for which you need to be willing to pay."
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  HT2750 - The Toys with the Least Interference 20.09.2026 2min

  Yesterday, I suggested that any camera could be used to create art. If that's true, then how do we select which gear to buy or use? My answer to this thorny question is based on ergonomics and our state of mind. The ideal gear is that which is most comfortable and most invisible as we handle it. Reserve our limited brain power for content, not knob control.
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  HT2749 - With What You Already Own 19.09.2026 2min

  None of us own the ideal equipment for our artmaking desires. The trick is not letting that suspend our pursuits. The first time I ever clicked a shutter was when I was 10 years old on vacation to visit my grandmother. I used my parents' Kodak Brownie Hawkeye. If that was still the camera I was using today, I'll bet I could still make art. My art would be different, but I'd adapt to what I could do rather than give up because of what I couldn't do. Creativity is the art of the possible.
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  HT2748 - Photography and Beauty 18.09.2026 2min

  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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  HT2747 - The Complexity of the Medium 17.09.2026 2min

  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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  HT2746 - Right On, Write On, Right On 16.09.2026 2min

  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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  HT2745 - Denied Access 15.09.2026 2min

  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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  LW1522 - Spray and Pray and AI 14.09.2026

  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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  HT2744 - Long-Forgotten Books 14.09.2026 2min

  Perhaps it's understandable that as a publisher I have a fond relationship with books. I weep over the fate of books (and the photographers who made them) when I see a great book subside into the obscurity of history. Newly minted books emerge from the bindery with such hopes and momentum. Then decades pass and that once-great book, like us I suppose, recedes into the dark corners of our book shelves or the dusty confines of the used bookstore. Or the local landfill or recycling center. I like to think that books are a first step toward immortality. In practice, I know better.
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  HT2743 - The Assumption of Effort 13.09.2026 2min

  When we see any accomplished artistic expression — regardless of the medium — we naturally assume that such excellence is the result of substantial effort and talent. Just think of the effort required to compose a symphony, write a novel, or carve a statue. With photography however, we are advised "f/8 and be there." Press a button and make a masterpiece. Art is hard; photography is a snap. We photographers know this isn't true. Worse, that perception is even more prevalent now than ever.