LensWork - Photography and the Creative Process

Random Observations on Art, Photography, and the Creative Process. These 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 50 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.

Included in this RSS Feed are the LensWork Podcasts — posted weekly, typically 10-20 minutes exploring a topic a bit more deeply — and our almost daily Here's a thought… audios (extracted from the videos.) Here's a thought… are snippets, fragments, morsels, and tidbits from Brooks' fertile (and sometimes swiss-cheesy) brain. Usually just a minute or two. Always about photography and the art life.

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. He is the author of 13 books on photography and the creative life -- the latest books are The Best of the LensWork Interviews (2016), Photography, Art, and Media (2016), and the four annual volumes of Seeing in SIXES (2016-2019).

Afleveringen

HT2795 - Megapixels versus Paper and Ink

4 november 2026 · 3 min
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Here's a Thought… #2795 with Brooks Jensen Lees meer

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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HT2794 - A Visible Difference

3 november 2026 · 3 min
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Here's a Thought… #2794 with Brooks Jensen Lees meer

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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HT2793 - When the Project Picks You

2 november 2026 · 3 min
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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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LW1529 - Pretty Picture Overload

2 november 2026
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Episode #1529 from our long-running, weekly podcast
On Photography and the Creative Process Lees meer

Pretty Picture Overload

Maybe I'm just feeling ornery these days. I find I'm becoming less and less impressed with pretty pictures. Sometimes it feels like we are being bombarded from all sides with lovely images from every source. Exotic locations, idyllic scenes, super-saturated colors — it leaves me feeling a bit numb. Once we've eaten an entire cake, it would probably not be surprising if we don't want more dessert. Crescendo after crescendo after crescendo makes the music dull.

All previous episodes of our weekly podcast are available to members of LensWork Online. 30-day Trial Memberships are only $10. Instant access, terabytes of content, inspiration and ideas that expand daily with new content.

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You might also be interested in. . .

Every Picture Is a Compromise, a series at www.brooksjensenarts.com.

and...

"How to" tutorials and camera reviews are everywhere on YouTube, but if you're interested in photography and the creative life, you need to know about the incredible resources you can access as a member of LensWork Online.
HT2792 - We Engineer-Artists

1 november 2026 · 3 min
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Here's a Thought… #2792 with Brooks Jensen Lees meer

We Engineer-Artists

One of the things that fascinates me about photography is that it lies at the perfect inflection point between technology and creative vision. I love the science of mixing darkroom chemistry or mastering software and computing. The engineer in me thrills at the challenge, and the sense of accomplishment from mastering a technology is undeniable. That said, it is the artistic challenge of self-expression that provides the motivation and reward for all the effort.

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HT2791 - Prevent a Disaster

31 oktober 2026 · 3 min
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Here's a Thought… #2791 with Brooks Jensen Lees meer

Prevent a Disaster

Photographers spend a lot of time thinking about how to be successful with their images, their projects, their art life. Might I suggest that another fruitful area of thought is to anticipate how to prevent disasters. For example, my first trip to China I took a second identical camera body with me just in case my main camera failed. I always have a wrist strap attached to my camera in case I lose my grip. Every night I recharge all my batteries so that I start each day with a full load of power. Backup memory cards and hard drives. Rain protection even on the sunny days. Offloading the day's images to another memory device as a backup.

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HT2790 - Lessons That Last a Lifetime

30 oktober 2026 · 3 min
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Here's a Thought… #2790 with Brooks Jensen Lees meer

Lessons That Last a Lifetime

Years ago I used to subscribe to Popular Photography, Modern Photography, and PC Magazine. I kept them all on my bookshelves as reference material. But equipment changes and gear reviews fall out of date. With the passage of years I realized the information in those magazines were no longer pertinent to my creative life. This is precisely why LensWork, my podcast, the daily Here's a Thought, and all the other content at LensWork Online concentrate on lessons that last a lifetime. Creativity today asks the same questions as 33 years ago when we started LensWork. The challenges of art making are timeless.

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HT2789 - One Place Well

29 oktober 2026 · 3 min
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Here's a Thought… #2789 with Brooks Jensen Lees meer

One Place Well

Travel photography is surely an interesting way to take our camera out into the world. I've done a lot of travel photography and I always enjoy it. But over the years I've learned that there are two distinct approaches to travel photography that are mutually exclusive. The first kind is to constantly be on the move, looking for new locations, traveling miles and miles in a grand search. The other kind, which I've come to favor without a contest, is to establish a base camp somewhere and really work that single location for days or weeks at a time. This latter technique always ends up with better images, more depth. and curiously enough more interesting experiences.

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HT2788 - Two Kinds of Archives

28 oktober 2026 · 3 min
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Two Kinds of Archives

Here is a self-observation that I'm wondering if others have, too. When I look through my past production and my archives, I find I have two kinds of images. There are those who have worn well over the years about which I'm still excited and proud. And then there are those that have not worn well with the passage of time and find I've become ambivalent about or perhaps even loathe. Isn't it interesting how are opinions change over time?

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HT2787 - The Plot Twist, the Dissonant Chord

27 oktober 2026 · 3 min
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Here's a Thought… #2787 with Brooks Jensen Lees meer

The Plot Twist, the Dissonant Chord

Literature and music share a common technique that involves the unexpected surprise. In literature, it's the plot twist. In music, it's the dissonant chord. Try as I might, I can't think of a single example in photography that employees the same idea. How would we introduce the unexpected in a photo project? One color image in a book of black and white? One soft focus image when the rest are all tack sharp? And how would such a startling surprise in a photography project enhance the project? Maybe there's no answer to this, but sometimes asking these kinds of quirky questions opens up unexpected paths in our creative thinking.

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