HT2561 - Is the Frame Part of the Artwork?

We don't just thumbtack our prints to the wall. Instead, we dress them up a little bit. We mat them and frame them and then hang them on the wall. Where does the artwork stop and the presentation embellishments begin? Said another way, are the mat and the frame part of the artwork?

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HT2560 - Describe What You See

Before you click the shutter, tell me what you see. I would be willing to bet big money that your description would mostly include details of the things you mentally isolate from the larger context. In essence, your description would be a list of objects you deem important enough to notice. Reread that last sentence and replace the word "description" with "photograph." To make a better photograph do we need a better description? Or, is what's missing emotional content and connection beyond mere description?

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HT2559 - A Catalog of Your Work

A friend of mine (who is a little older than I am) is involved in a massive project to create a digital catalog of his life's work. This consists of over 2500 finished images. He has inspired me to think about doing a similar project and catalog for my own work. But then, I had to ask myself, who would ever see it? Why would such a catalog be important to anyone other than me? Which is more important, doing new work or recording that past work has been done? Perhaps here is a compromise

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HT2558 - Losing History

When I started in photography some 50 years ago it was axiomatic and universally understood that it was important to learn the history of photography. There were, I'm guessing, a couple of hundred photographers who are still important to this day, who were the pioneers, whose work we needed to know at least briefly if not intensely. We built a library of their books, study their images, read their essays, and recognized intuitively that this was a prerequisite for our own photographic growth. Instagram and internet influencers have replaced the need to study the masters from the history of photography. I'm trying to imagine a novelist who doesn't read novels or a pianist who never listens to music.

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HT2557 - Key Tones

There's a theory in fine art photography that every image needs to have key tones, some spot in the photograph that is absolute black and another that is absolute white. These tones supposedly calibrate our vision for everything else in the image. They become tonal reference points. Like all other rules in photography, I find this one contains a truth, but not a rigid one. Key tones are worth considering, but not with inflexible rigidity.

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LW1496 - When do you own a photograph?

Do you own a piece of music because you purchased the CD, or do you own it when you have memorized the tune? Do you own a novel because you purchased the book or because you read it? Do you own a photograph when you've purchased the original print? Or do you own a photograph when it becomes so familiar that it's part of your mental gallery? Thought about another way, do you own a photograph because of the physicality of the print, or is it more important that the image is treasured in a corner of your soul?

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You might also be interested in. . .

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

and...

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HT2556 - Knowing When to Move

I think it was Picasso who said, "The trick in painting is knowing when to stop." I've adapted Picasso's thought for photograph. When out photographing, try to remind myself that the trick is knowing when to move on. I'm always tempted to move on immediately after I've pressed the shutter. I have it, so be done. If I can remember to resist this temptation, it's amazing how many times I find a better picture by being still, waiting a few moments, paying attention to the changes, and looking for the unexpected.

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HT2555 - My Advice Cannot Make Your Pictures

I spend way too much time on YouTube because it's such a great way to learn tidbits about the technology of photography. That said, there are also gazillions of videos that will try to tell you the steps you must (or must not take) to make an aesthetically pleasing photograph, in essence how to follow the rules without admitting that you are following the rules. The challenge is to learn from the technical while simultaneously using aesthetic advice with extreme caution lest you find you are making other people's photographs.

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