I remember with aging nostalgia when we would feel so proud about a new image we'd created. "Wowee," we'd proclaim, "Look at what I've done!" We were told that 10 new prints a year was a good crop. Now, here in 2026, I'll receive an email announcement about once a week with this same excitement. "Announcing my new print." I wish I could be excited about such pronouncements, but they leave me feeling underwhelmed.
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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.
HT2570 - Macro Viewing, or Tiny Screen Syndrome
23.03.2026 | 2 Min.
HT2570 - Macro Viewing, or Tiny Screen Syndrome
Can you imagine what a thrill it was in the first half of the 20th century when the means of making a photograph evolved from the contact print to the enlargement? Bigger prints were breathtaking and that trend continues even to today. There is today, however, a reality about viewing fine art photography that should make us photographers a little uncomfortable. Most of our images will now be seen on a tiny screen that is smaller than a 4x5 contact print.
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HT2569 - A Few Clunkers
22.03.2026 | 2 Min.
HT2569 - A Few Clunkers
I have no idea why, but I felt compelled this morning to look back through my 180 projects published in Kokoro, the first of which was completed in 2015. Ten years, 36 issues, 180 projects. I wish I could report that they were all brilliant and have withstood the test of time. The reality, however, is that there are a few projects I now see as clunkers. That's the thing about the art life, we always produce with enthusiasm but occasionally mature with a cringe.
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HT2568 - A Portable Gallery
21.03.2026 | 2 Min.
HT2568 - A Portable Gallery
Here's a story about my friend, the late Kevin Raber. Whenever we would find ourselves discussing an image or a photographer, he would immediately pull out his tablet and bring up the image we were discussing. His tablet was, I think, primarily his portable gallery. He carried with him the entire set of LensWork, a good percentage of his own photography, lots of images from photographers he admired, and an assortment of images that were important to him. My portable gallery is limited to images retained in my memory. Kevin's portable gallery is a much better idea.
This RSS feed includes only the most recent seven Here's a Thought episodes. All of them — over 2500 and counting! — are available to members of LensWork Online. Try a 30-day membership for only $10 and discover the literally terabytes of content about photography and the creative process.
HT2567 - Moment Is Not Quite the Right Word
20.03.2026 | 2 Min.
HT2567 - Moment Is Not Quite the Right Word
One of the things I particularly like about the Seeing In SIXES concept for photography is its ability to expand or stretch time. Instead of the instantaneous photograph, with six images we have the capability to express a moment. I've never been comfortable with that term. Describing the unit of time for a Seeing in SIXES project is difficult. A moment is too short; an hour is too long. I think this is so because it's not a measure of clock time but rather of conscious attention. Somehow, "unit of consciousness" seems a bit clumsy.
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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).