HT2137 - Stop Learning and Start Doing

There's always more to learn in photography, but if we're not careful learning can become our primary if not sole activity. I've said for years that the best way to approach a photographic life is by finishing work. That means doing — and ironically the more you do the more you will learn without the focus being on learning. Said another way, workshops are great but not as a diet

HT2136 - Earning a Living with Fine Art Photography

I'm sure there are people who make a living selling their fine art photographs. I know two such individuals. Period. You see, there is a fundamental economic reality that can't be avoided and that is that the buyer determines what sells. We may want to make personally motivated, personally expressive photography, but if that's not what buyers want to acquire, we have little chance of selling work. So what do we do? We find ancillary ways to pay the bills. Come to think of it, has the art life ever been different than this?

=LW1436 - Until There Is a Print

There's a school of photography that maintains the idea that digital images are not really fine art photographs. These photographers insist that a photograph has to be physical, but is that true? Music isn't physical, it's merely auditory, but it's considered art. Poetry need not be physical, but it's considered art. Why is it so hard to accept the idea that a digital image is art? Could this be related to our attempts to sell or images which need to be produced in molecules to be a valid consumable?

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

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HT2135 - Opacity and Bleed Through

All physical prints exist on a substrate, usually paper. It's a good idea to know a bit about paper and to pay close attention to the way it affects your image. Especially important for books are the two characteristics known as opacity and bleed through.

HT2134 - Nude Workshops

In 1998 when we announced a series of LensWork workshops, we received a call from a famous workshop instructor who complimented us on our offerings but advised that if we wanted to make money with a workshop program we had to offer nude workshops. By that I assume he meant nudes as models, not nude photographers. I thought about his suggestion for three nanoseconds and rejected it.

HT2133 - There Is No Bad Light

You've probably all heard that old outdoorsman's canard that there is no such thing as bad weather, there's just bad clothing. I think the same logic can apply to light and photography. There is no such thing as bad light, there are, however, subjects that look better in one kind of light compared to another.

HT2132 - Focus and Sharpness Are Not the Same Thing

Perhaps there are technical definitions for focus and sharpness I should know, but my intuition tells me there is a difference. Focus is an optical relationship between the lens and the sensor or film plane. Sharpness is a visual sensation about the smallest details.

HT2131 - Framing Is a Decor Decision

There was a period in my creative life in which I sold prints matted and framed, ready for the wall. I regularly received the most curious feedback, however, that people would unframe my print and put it in a frame of their choice, a frame that matched the decor of their room. I've even had people removed my print from the mat board and re-mat it in a style and color of their choosing.