I Just Said No

I Just Said No

I am grateful for every single subscriber to LensWork, every member of LensWork Online, and every one of you who read our blog posts. Every single one of you. Thanks. And, there are lots and lots of you, according to our web stats and page counts.

That said, however, I do actually have a perverse kind of joy in that our web stats are a fraction of those for the big photo websites like Michael Reichmann's or even Michael Johnston's blog. I remember when Maureen and I announced our first LensWork Workshops in 1998. We received advice from a well-known workshop instructor that if we really wanted to make money with our workshops, we should offer a series of "nude" workshops — by which he meant the models, not the photographers. Female models. Young, pretty ones, no doubt. We declined.

Similarly, I suppose if we wanted to really jack up our web stats and readership to Reichmann/Johnston levels, we'd offer a never-ending flow of gear talk, equipment reviews, cutting-edge news on new models, and other camera related content. My problem, however, is that I simply cannot let go of the idea that photography is not about cameras. Cameras bore me to tears, frustrate me because I have to bend to their demands, and constantly drain my wallet and my patience. I would be the first in line for the cameraless camera, if one were possible. Besides, on the rare occasion when I do need a gear-fix, there are plenty of places to go, so it's not necessary for us to add to the crowd noise.

Anyway, we made a decision in the earliest days of LensWork to focus our energies on photographs and creativity, rather than on cameras and camera techniques and we've stuck with it all these years. That gathers to our website a smaller group of people than the bigger sites, but I like to think that you who read our stuff are the core of what fine art photography is all about. We may be smaller, but I prefer to think of us as being focused — no pun intended.

All this came to mind this week because we coincidently received several calls and emails from folks wanting us to put their banner ads on our two websites. They'd pay us, they explained, and we'd make money. Although the logic was undeniable, we declined this advice, too. Don't get me wrong, we need money to keep our little business running as much as the next guy , but we've always relied on a simpler philosophy — that if we offer something of value that helps people, they'll be willing to buy it from us for a fair price. It's worked out just fine so far.

When we stopped taking outside advertising in LensWork back in 2003, people told us we were nuts. They predicted our demise in short time. We had faith in the power of content. We had faith in all of you who, like us, are more interested in photography than photographic equipment. We had faith that there was a place in the market for a family of products that celebrated the image rather than the gear it takes to make it. Yes, our web traffic may be smaller than the big sites and our website may be free of banner ads and other revenue-generating clutter, but we like it that way. As long as you folks keep agreeing with us and subscribing and buying our publications, you couldn't pay us to put banner ads on our website or outside advertising in our magazine. In fact, you can't.

Again, my heartfelt thanks to all of you. Your support makes it easy to say no to the banner-ad folks.

Brooks' books on photography and the creative process are available in print from Lulu.com, and as eBooks for Kindle or EPUB readers. As one of the membership benefits, these eBooks are available in their entirety to members of LensWork Online via download.

Comments

[Andy Garcia]

Brooks, thank YOU for the quality content, and the focused approach on photography and the creative process. I would not like it any other way, and is in fact why I happily subscribe to both LW Extended and LW Online. And might I add that Lenswork Daily is gem all to itself.

Please, keep up the great work!

Andy Garcia

[Jim Bullard]

And thanks back at you Brooks. I can only speak for myself but I appreciate what you do. I do hope however that should it ever become a choice between accepting ads and folding your tents that you will not be so ideologically committed to not accepting ads that you would deprive me of LENSWORK.

[Vartkes Peltekoglu]

And the core philosophy of LensWork is the reason why it is so uniquely valuable.
As a way of establishing context to my comments, let me say that I subscribe to six photog publications, read several sites every other day minimum (including the fellow Canadian's site) and buy about two dozen carefully selected photography books per year - (this may be the last year that I buy paper-version of books since super tablets of the non-Apple kind are on the way).
If I find myself in the poor-house one day, LensWork Online will be the last publication I will let go.
Keep on with the the very valuable contributions you make to the photography tribe. This content will live as your legacy for the art form long after we have both gone to a better place where the dynamic range is much wider and the cameras can capture it all!
cheers
Vartkes

[Aleksei Saunders]

As others have said - Thank you Brooks.
Thank you for the images, the inspiration, the thoughtfulness and the wisdom.

Cheers,
Alex

[Vitali Prokopenko]

Lenswork is the only photo magazine I'm still subscribed. My respect to you Brooks for keeping it true to photography.

[Henkki Zakkinen]

Those stats need careful interpretation in any way. I have the nagging feeling that the number of hits and the number of attempted spam comments is tightly correlated, at least I can say that for my site. What does that tell me about my visitors?
I'll stay on the list of your online-subscribers, definitely. And I hate too much advertisement. So bravo!
Henkki

[Lidija Ivanek (SiLa)]

"We had faith in all of you who, like us, are more interested in photography than photographic equipment. We had faith that there was a place in the market for a family of products that celebrated the image rather than the gear it takes to make it."
Thank you!

[Robert Swiderski]

Lenswork has always been and will always be close to my heart. The work Lenswork introduced me to and the ideology Lenswork stands for, was a huge influence on who I am as a photographer today. When I need inspiration, I can look at issue 98 or issue 8. Both are equally important and meaningful.

To me, Lenswork is always about the soul of (fine art) photography. It will never date, it will always be inspiring and I am thrilled to see that this approach has not and is not changing. This is what makes Lenswork - Lenswork. Never disposable and always relevant. Thank you Brooks and Maureen!

[Mark Matheny]

Brooks, there's not much I can add that hasn't already been said in the previous comments, including;

Thank you!

[John Barclay]

No, THANK YOU!

[John - Visual Notebook]

All I can add is that Lenswork has been my favorite magazine for five years now and I can't see that changing anytime soon. Thanks for the great publication!

[Andrei Baciu]

Same here! A heartfelt 'Thank you' goes to you from me too!