To us photographers, a book is most frequently a collection of great images. To the rest of the world, a book is a collection of great ideas or stories. Perhaps this is the reason why the market for photography books is primarily other photographers. For example, I suspect many of you are a member of a book group of one kind or another. Have you ever heard of a photography book group?

LW1400 - A Book vs a Collection of Images

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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HT1922 - Art and Physicality
When I think of the word "artwork," I immediately think of physical things: Painting, prints, sculptures. But then there are lots of artistic media that are not physical in the sense that the art is not a thing: dance, music, theater, poetry, even novels. Where does this leave photography?

HT1922 - Art and Physicality


HT1921 - The Still Image
In an age in which life seems to be progressing at an ever faster pace, the still image/photograph is having a difficult time competing. I have no doubt that it's only a matter of time before we visit the Louvre and have an AI generated personal conversation with the Mona Lisa herself. Forget I said that. Shhhh. Don't give them any ideas.

HT1921 - The Still Image


HT1920 - Stuck on the Shelf
A book stuck on the shelf is a sad thing. Don't you think that if books were sentient that they would want to be opened and enjoyed? I've been known to purchase a book because I have intentions of reading it, but never do. It's a bad habit and not only an insult to the book but also to the photographer. 

HT1920 - Stuck on the Shelf


HT1919 - Your Favorite
As we all know, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Well, mostly, anyway. And as the creator of our artwork, we decided which is our best image and that is the one we typically print. What makes us think that our selection of "the best" is the same image that others will choose as their favorite?

HT1919 - Your Favorite


HT1918 - An Affordable Medium of Delivery
A book is not artwork, but a novel is. A book is a medium of delivery, a novel is the content that is delivered. Does the same logic apply to photography? What if I said that a print or a book is a medium of delivery the same way that an LP or a CD is a medium of delivery for music, but neither are the artwork itself?

LW1400 - A Book vs a Collection of Images

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