Wynn Bullock will never know the impact his artwork has made in my life, but I can unhesitatingly say that his artwork set me on a 50-year trajectory that continues to this day. We will rarely know — perhaps never know — how our work will affect others. The one thing we can know with certainty is that doing our work will include ripple effects that will change our life in unexpected ways.
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HT2593 - Mindlessness
15.04.2026 | 2 Min.
HT2593 - Mindlessness
It may seem silly to insist that images of a mind of their own, but just pretend with me for a few minutes of experimentation. Pull up an image in Lightroom or Photoshop that you have not previously processed. Now, just sit back and look. Try not to think. Let go of photography, of art making, of analysis, of memory. Just look with an empty mind, at least as mindless as you can. Try to be open to the image and its will. The measure of your success as an artist is how successfully you let go of being an artist.
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HT2592 - That Which Is Not Media
14.04.2026 | 2 Min.
HT2592 - That Which Is Not Media
We cannot have art without some medium of expression. That said, what makes art important, meaningful, valuable, and memorable are the elements which are independent of the medium. Think of Billie Holiday's singing independent of the record, the tape, the CD, or the digital stream. The same can be said for photography. What really counts is not the medium of the print, but rather that content that touches our heart.
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HT2591 - The Thrill of Discovery
13.04.2026 | 2 Min.
HT2591 - The Thrill of Discovery
We've all experienced the thrill of discovering a new subject, location, or artist previously unknown to us. I distinctly remember, after having been involved in photography for 20 years, the first time I saw the work of Josef Sudek. Last month I "discovered" the piano compositions of Isaac Albéniz. I believe that finding and treasuring such fellow artists is one of the most powerful reasons to be involved in the art life. This is especially so if their work inspires us in our own creative path.
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LW1501 - If Not Now, When?
13.04.2026 | 12 Min.
LW1501 - If Not Now, When?
I've been involved with photography long enough to watch a number of my friends and LensWork-published photographers pass on to that eternal darkroom above the clouds. Life is fleeting, and the march of days relentless. It's amazing, as I look back, the number of times a photographer has told me about a project they are looking forward to doing only to run out of time. If we don't produce our work now, who knows if we will be able to do so in the future?
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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.
Über 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).