I rarely find success when I plan a picture idea, especially when I do so to a fine degree of control. More often than not, it's the unexpected that produces the best opportunities. I remember once pulling the car over on a long dirt road to photograph a juniper tree and some foreground sagebrush. As I approached, however, it was the perfectly preserved and thoroughly unexpected coyote skeleton that became the photograph I treasured.

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One of Cherie Heiser's most poignant observations about photography was that photographers make thousands of negatives, hundreds of prints, exhibit a dozen or two, sell even fewer and are famous for one. I couldn't help but think about this as I wandered through the recent exhibition at the Fenimore Museum.

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LW1467 - Five Things I Wish I'd Learned Earlier

Being a photographer means learning things that will help us grow as an artist. During my first decades, that learning was narrowly focused on the technical aspects of image making. Looking back on those years, I can't help but thinking that I missed so much of the truly important aspects of being an artist. I now wonder how my photography would have progressed if someone has shared with me some of the deeper aspects of being an artist. Then again, maybe they did and I just wasn't listening.

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Every Picture Is a Compromise, a series at www.brooksjensenarts.com.

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Over the decades, I've met and talked with a lot of people who collect artwork and photography in particular. One characteristic of collecting that I've noticed with almost universal consistency is that people have work because of their connection with the artist. Obviously, there are exceptions, but it's amazing how frequently I hear acquisition stories that involve knowing the artist in one capacity or another.

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As a creator, I like to think that if I work hard, think deeply, and apply my best efforts with perseverance that I will be able to connect with people through my artwork. As much as I want to believe this, my experience tells me that sometimes that connection is simply impossible.

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When I look at artwork, it often involves two different types of response. I can admire a work of art because of its amazing execution, or I may admire a work of art for its emotive content. Execution involves a wonderment about how the artist did it. Content involves a dialog about why they did it. I've learned that I can't process both of these ways of thinking simultaneously.

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I mentioned the other day that I had visited the Fenimore Museum near Cooperstown, New York. One thing that struck me as I wandering through the museum was that there was only one medium that was protected under glass — photographs. Also on display were paintings, sketches, etchings, prints of many varieties of media, but only the photographs were framed under glass. Is there a reason for this, or is it simply convention? This, in fact, was the topic of my very first Here's a Thought commentary back on March 1, 2019.

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One of the most interesting photography books I've seen in a long time is by gallery owner Peter Fetterman and is titled The Power of Photography. Part of the reason this book is so special is that it is so personal. Federman reviews 120 images from his collection and tells us about it, not from its historic point of view but rather from his personal point of view. It reminds me that every picture is a story, every picture has a story, and every story is a personal one.

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All drama involves a reveal of one kind or another. Audiences expect it and love it. The same can be true for photography. Why else would so many people get close to a photograph and look for hidden details?

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In one of my visits to the Art Institute of Chicago, I saw a display of photography that consisted of 35mm contact prints matted and framed to 16x20". These tiny prints were impressive and memorable precisely because they so successfully invited close inspection. The convention is to surround the image with white border, but how much is the right amount?

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