Last week I attended a classical concert in which the orchestra played the Enigma Variations by Edward Elgar. There's a fascinating story about how he constructed this piece that seems perfectly applicable to us photographers. I never knew my practice of PBPA (Photography By Pooping Around)was a strategy that could be used by serious composers. I guess if it's good enough for them, it's good enough for us, too.
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HT2622 - The Secondary Market
14/05/2026 | 2 mins.
HT2622 - The Secondary Market
As you can well imagine, I receive dozens of emails every day from galleries, collectors, agents, and promoters who have prints for sale. My first thought when I see these emails and the prices for the prints they are offering is to wonder how much of that gets back to the creator, the photographer, the individual whose creativity and effort created the work. The poor artist get nothing from the sale in the secondary market. Worse, whatever efforts they spend to market their own work robs them of the precious time and energy needed to make work.
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HT2621 - Photographers and Their Chosen Weather
13/05/2026 | 2 mins.
HT2621 - Photographers and Their Chosen Weather
Isn't it interesting how certain photographers are associated with certain kinds of weather? Michael Kenna is associated with fog. Ansel Adams is often associated with snow. Josef Sudek is a photographer of rain. Mitch Dobrowner and tornados, Alfred Stieglitz and clouds. What is your favorite kind of weather to photograph? Note how that is a different question than what is your favorite kind of weather to photograph in!
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HT2620 - The Problem with Handheld Photography
12/05/2026 | 2 mins.
HT2620 - The Problem with Handheld Photography
After using a view camera for decades, my later conversion to handheld photography has been quite liberating. I enjoy being free from the tripod. That said, I have discovered that my compositions have gotten sloppy over the last decade and I do occasionally miss the exactitude that comes with more precise composition and care before clicking the shutter.
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HT2619 - A Recitation of Locations
11/05/2026 | 2 mins.
HT2619 - A Recitation of Locations
Last fall I attended a lecture where a photographer, by projecting on a screen, shared a parade of hundred images or so with the audience. It was so curious to listen to their verbal accompaniment. The first few images had context, story, even plot line as they described what they had photographed and how. But that only lasted a few minutes. Less than a dozen images into their presentation and their verbal accompaniment deteriorated to a recitation of locations. I wonder why it is that photographers so often think that where they photographed is more important than what or why?
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About LensWork - Photography and the Creative Process
About LensWork - Photography and the Creative Process
About 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).
Listen to LensWork - Photography and the Creative Process, Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware and many other podcasts from around the world with the radio.net app
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