LensWork - Photography and the Creative Process

Here's a Thought… #2712 with Brooks Jensen

Why the Sharpest Lenses

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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Here's a Thought… #2711 with Brooks Jensen

One Kind of Photography

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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Here's a Thought… #2710 with Brooks Jensen

Your Best Is Often the Least Important

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

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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You might also be interested in. . .

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

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Here's a Thought… #2709 with Brooks Jensen

The Return to Film

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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