LensWork - Photography and the Creative Process

Here's a Thought… #2797 with Brooks Jensen

Artmaking Is Problem-Solving

I have a daughter who loves puzzles. Watching her attack a puzzle reminds me of the process I engage when working on art. The end can often be visualized, but the means to get there cannot. That could almost be the definition of a puzzle. To reach the end requires innumerable steps almost all of which are essentially trial and error, or perhaps I should say "educated and deduced guess" followed by new understanding which leads to another educated guess. We sneak up on the answer rather than pouncing on it.

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Here's a Thought… #2796 with Brooks Jensen

Drive-by Misses

The other day I was talking about my preference for base camp shooting rather than incessant travel. We've now been on the road for a month and I hate to think of how many things we've driven by that appealed to me photographically but were impossible to access because we're pulling the trailer. These drive-by misses are almost painful.

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Here's a Thought… #2795 with Brooks Jensen

Megapixels versus Paper and Ink

Some of you have unlimited budgets and can skip this thought. The rest of us have decisions to make. Do you buy expensive, high megapixel cameras that leave a smaller budget for paper and inks? Or, do you choose a moderately priced camera that allows a more generous budget for prints, better lenses, travel, faster computers, etc.? More lotto tickets is not the answer.

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Here's a Thought… #2794 with Brooks Jensen

A Visible Difference

The jump from 35mm to 8x10 is immediately visible. Because of this, photographers with roots in film axiomatically believe that bigger is better. By extension, 60 megapixel cameras are better than 20. But is that true? Is it a visibly true?

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Here's a Thought… #2793 with Brooks Jensen

When the Project Picks You

I'll readily confess that most of my best projects are not preplanned, purpose driven, and not the result of conscious searching. I stumble upon them. They whisper in my ear. They hesitatingly reveal themselves. They are less a declaration that commands me and more an invitation that seduces me. They arrive as a hint, a glimpse in the corner of my eye, a question that often begins, What if?

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