Advertise on podcast: LensWork - Photography and the Creative Process
Rating
4.6from
This podcast has
20 episodes
Language
EnglishPublisher
Brooks JensenExplicit
No
Date created
2005/06/30
Latest episode
2026/10/06
Average duration
3 min.
Release period
1 days
Description
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).
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Check latest episodes from LensWork - Photography and the Creative Process podcast
HT2766 - From Whence the Inspiration
2026/10/06
Here's a Thought… #2766 with Brooks Jensen
From Whence the Inspiration
There are photographers who prefer not to view the work of other photographers. I understand the concept, but I can't help but wonder what they are missing? Do they also not listen to music, read novels or poetry? Watch films or talk with others? I've always thought of art as a Grand Conversation, a conversation that spans time and space. My art is a response to those from the past as well as those not yet born. One of my most fond photography memories was sitting next to Oliver Gagliani in his living room, listening in silence to Mahler's 4th symphony in its entirety. When the music ended, he pulled out a set of prints that that were inspired by Mahler's music
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HT2765 - Way to Go, God
2026/10/05
Here's a Thought… #2765 with Brooks Jensen
Way to Go, God
When does a scene/subject become worthy of making a photograph? After all, we don't just point our cameras at anything, but we pick and choose those scenes or subjects that we think are worthy of capture and processing. Why are those captures worthy? I've asked this question for years in workshops and conversations. The most common reason photographers give for making a photograph boils down to a variation of "Way to go, God!" I love a pretty picture as much as the next person, but certainly there are more reasons to produce a photograph than a pretty scene.
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HT2764 - Archive or Burden
2026/10/04
Here's a Thought… #2764 with Brooks Jensen
Archive or Burden
We spend our life amassing a pile of prints that form our archive. It can also be said that our archive is a burden that our heirs will be responsible for whether or not they want it. We can't take it with us, unless the software engineers figure out a solution to this pesky problem of mortality. Maybe we should be buried with all our art like ancient Egyptian kings, taking all our important possessions with us to the next world.
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HT2763 - Visual Syncopation
2026/10/03
Here's a Thought… #2763 with Brooks Jensen
Visual Syncopation
Structure in a presentation of images can be both good and bad. Structure can provide form and consistency to a presentation. It can also become predictable, repetitious, and boring. This where visual syncopation can come to the rescue.
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HT2762 - Understanding Fatigue and Exhaustion
2026/10/02
Here's a Thought… #2762 with Brooks Jensen
Understanding Fatigue and Exhaustion
There are times when I try to go photographing in spite of feeling exhausted. It never works. This week is one of those times. I just can't bring myself to get excited about grabbing my camera and getting out there. Worse, I feel guilty about it. As I've thought about this in the torpor of my fatigue, I think I've had a flash of insight about this.
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HT2761 - The Immersive Challenge
2026/10/01
Here's a Thought… #2761 with Brooks Jensen
The Immersive Challenge
We all have art we love and art that leaves us cold. In thinking about my own responses to artwork, I've come to the conclusion that the artwork I like the most are those pieces that create in me the largest immersive response by pulling me into the world that the artwork makes for us. This is, for example, where the novelist has so much to teach us visual artists. What if I were to propose that Tolkien and Ansel Adams are essentially facing the same creative challenge in different media?
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HT2760 - The Cynic in Me
2026/09/30
Here's a Thought… #2760 with Brooks Jensen
The Cynic in Me
This is the best time in the history of photography to be a photographer. That said, the cynic in me can't help but worry about the future of photography as an art medium. Because it has become so easy to make a technical stunning photograph, I wonder if the mystery in the craft has disappeared? If it's easy and everyone can do it well, is it still an admirable medium for making art?
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HT2759 - Not ETTR, but ZJSOTR
2026/09/29
Here's a Thought… #2759 with Brooks Jensen
Not ETTR, but ZJSOTR
I'm sure you have all heard the advice, "Expose to the Right." In theory, that's well-founded reasoning and advice. In practice, I've found ETTR a bit impractical and prefer a more pragmatic strategy ZJSOTR — Zebras Just Short of the Right. This is even more true here in the age of AI Noise Reduction of our RAW files.
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HT2758 - Forgotten Masters
2026/09/28
Here's a Thought… #2758 with Brooks Jensen
Forgotten Masters
With the passage of time, it's natural that some artists become more valued and others fade from popularity. If this happened to Bach, why would it not also occur in photography? These days, I almost never hear anyone mention Diane Arbus, Aaron Siskind, Barbara Crane, William Garnett, Linda Connor, August Sander, Art Sinsabaugh, Ralph Eugene Meatyard, Laura Gilpin, Elliott Porter, Ruth Bernhardt, Clarence John Laughlin, Don Worth, or Fay Godwin. This could be a lengthy list indeed. If the public doesn't remember them, at least we who have inherited their photographic legacy can and should.
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LW1524 - Photography as an Art Medium
2026/09/28
Episode #1524 from our long-running, weekly podcast On Photography and the Creative Process
Photography as an Art Medium
Of late, I've experienced a number of well-meaning friends who insist on showing me what and where I should photograph. I know their heart is in the right place, but I also know that they do not understand the creative process. That's too harsh. They do not understand my creative process. I've been trying to understand their premises and I think I've begun to do so. In fact, I think this is a universal misunderstanding of photography as an art medium.
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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.
HT2757 - Entering the Creative Bubble
2026/09/27
Here's a Thought… #2757 with Brooks Jensen
Entering the Creative Bubble
The world of athletics can be divided into two different sets of action. There is the preliminary part of preparation. Then there is the performative part of the competition. I think this provides a useful metaphor for photography and points out an interesting idea about preparation. When I'm out with my camera, my goal is to enter the creative bubble and starting the work of being a photographer. Like the athlete that stretches and warms up before the competition, what should I be doing as a photographer to prepare myself before entering the creative bubble? What is the creative equivalent to stretching and warming up?
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HT2756 - Too Much Salt Spoils the Food
2026/09/26
Here's a Thought… #2756 with Brooks Jensen
Too Much Salt Spoils the Food
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
2026/09/25
Here's a Thought… #2755 with Brooks Jensen
The Subjectivity Scale
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
2026/09/24
Here's a Thought… #2754 with Brooks Jensen
The Exposure Triangle Reconsidered
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
2026/09/23
Here's a Thought… #2753 with Brooks Jensen
Blue Light Blues
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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Podcast reviews
Read LensWork - Photography and the Creative Process podcast reviews
paintthrower 2025/09/27
not just for photographers
a professional photographer for a long time i am now an artist painter maker creator whatever you want to call it. ive been a follower of Brooks Jense...
ProTrumpet 2025/01/02
This is simply awesome!
I wish I discovered this podcast months ago! Short, simple, clear, useful.
buranis 2024/09/04
Every day I learn something new
This is by far the most instructive photography forecast I follow. For a small time investment, every day there is something new and enriching to lear...
Hasan200 2023/10/24
Awesome Podcast
This is the best podcast on photography. Brooke has such clear, soothing and pleasant voice. He speaks to commonsense and reason. Even my wife, who ...
sdweller 2023/08/13
Simply the best podcast on photography
This is simply the best photography podcast. It is the one that makes me think, inspires me to be a better photographer.
Jarhead0369 2022/10/28
Well worth your time.
Many photography podcasts go for too long, this is well-done and concise.
VJWild 2022/01/06
Quick powerful bits of wisdom
I’ve had this podcast on my feed for a few months now and only recently did I start listening. Big mistake!! I should’ve been listening WAY sooner. Th...
Christen Humphries 2021/11/06
Thoughtful analysis of creativity
Daily musings on the creative process, and my new favorite podcast for artists.
Joseph Haz 2021/08/10
Great Podcasts
Excellent content, great subjects that are touched and most of all a great balance of opinions!
cas5photo 2021/07/14
So glad I discovered this gem!
I’m so glad that I discovered this gem! These short episodes are filled with the advice and musings of a mature photographer and artist. It is often ...
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