LensWork - Photography and the Creative Process

Wynn Bullock's classic 1973 monograph titled A Way of Life poses a question that is still pertinent to today's photographers: What is photography as a way of life? For 50 years I've tried to develop a deeper understanding of photography as a way of life and I keep coming back to one idea: Cultivating awareness in the moment.

I was recently having an email exchange with one of our subscribers about the differences between LensWork in print and LensWork on-screen. He much preferred the print edition. On exploring this further, we decided it wasn't as much about media as it was about the handheld experience.

The other day I recorded an episode of Exploring the Back Issues that featured the work of Julie Meridian from her project Specimens that was published in LensWork #82 in 2009. One of the things that struck me in her project was the number of variables she used that keeps the work interesting.

I was recently listening to a podcast interview with Huntington Witherill. He was asked if he is still working on his body of work that became the book Photo Synthesis. He casually mentioned that he'd stopped working on that project after about 400 finished images. That's not a typo - - four hundred images!

I have about 100,000 images in my Lightroom catalog and 12 months ago a lot of them were not yet keyworded. Using the "chip away at it" philosophy, I've been keywording small groups of them every morning with my first cup of coffee. Keeping at it like this, I'm almost done with keywords for all 100,000 of them.

I used the term dessert photography to indicate a certain kind of super duper expialidocious image that is a combination of extraordinary light, extraordinary weather, extraordinary landscape, with an extraordinary moment. These are certainly lovely images and get a lot of attention. But just like dessert there is a limit to how much I'm that kind of photography I can consume before it becomes too much, a bit off-putting, if not downright sickening.

There's a subtle difference between styles in a layout program and presets in an image editing program. They both have their purpose, but it can be important to understand the differences.

Organization is important. Any time wasted looking for a negative or a digital asset is time robbed from your precious creative time. Here is my strategy for quickly finding files in Lightroom. I'm sure this is applicable to other software, too.

My second piece of advice (I know, I was supposed to have just one, so sue me) is to not give up on an image too soon. Not every exposure is destined to be a masterpiece, but far too many photographers give up on an image before they've discovered its limits for potential.

I was recently asked if I had one piece of advice that I'd recommend universally. I do, actually: GET CLOSER. This solves so many weaknesses that I'm not sure you can go wrong by moving in a bit - - or a lot.

Changing the distance to the subject or changing the focal length of the lens can radically change the level of detail that can be rendered in the final print. Here are two use cases where keeping this in mind can be useful.

Earlier this year I was snookered while out photographing because I was unaware of a flaw in my extension cable release. Luckily, it didn't ruin my session and I was able to get what I wanted, but I was embarrassed that I hadn't tested this use case scenario before I got into the field.

We've added two new channels for 2022 over at LensWork Online. If you aren't a member yet, you are missing so much! Consider a 30-day Trial membership and see for yourself the amazing amount of inspiration and motivation we provide there on a daily and weekly basis. Fully 12 "channels" of new content every week!

There are, of course, good reasons to plan and prepare and know where and why you are going to photograph. There are also, however, some very good reasons to let go and just wander about. And not all of them have to do strictly with photography.

Extending last week's discussion of "personally expressive photography," this week the topic is an even more thorny one - - trying to define that slippery term "Fine Art Photography." Definitions may escape us, but we can circle the idea and perhaps clarify the root ideas that differentiate Fine Art Photography from other types of photography.