Colford Studios wrote:
Does anyone think that by looking at another photographer's work they might subconsciously reproduce at some point later on or do you think that looking at other ports can be beneficial?  For that matter, has anyone ever copied another photographer's work either knowingly or unknowingly and if so, what'd did you do when you realized?  Just a topic for discussion.

I copy other people work all the time. I'm a thief and a hack.

or ... it can be looked at that a great image may prove to be a starting point for work that I want to pursue, like taking the first line of a great poem and writing my own from it's origins ... na, I'm a hack.

Koray wrote:
I personally wouldnt mind subconsciously creating a masterpiece that resembles someone elses masterpiece. I like it when people comment on my stuff using big names as my influences.
there are also certain poses, techniques and styles being explored by millions of people but all their own way.

copying is a big no.
but being influenced is not something you can avoid.

Good point, perhaps I'm mixing up influenced with copying.  It's easy to see similar styles/themes in some of my work that I also see in others work.  I had a conversation with Greg Gorman about this topic and he said, "It's all been done before really, you just have to put your style to it."

Colford Studios wrote:
do you think that looking at other ports can be beneficial?

There is a long and noble tradition in the arts of copying the work of masters as a form of self-discipline and education.
From an intimate understanding of one's inspirational heritage, and the heritage of the medium, comes strength of vision.
One's work may be inspired by masters, be filled with quotes and references to great work, but traditionally when an inferior artist attemts to elevate his or her own work by wholesale incorporation of the expressions of others inspiration has degenerated into plagiarism.
Look at the work of critically acclaimed masters and be inspired.  Yes, even attempt to duplicate pictures as a learning exercise.  Then produce and display your own work inspired and informed by that traditional exercise.
Finally, Postmodernism lays waste, theoretically, to all of that tradition.  Grab a piece of someone else's work, photocopy it, sign the result.  Go carefully here before condemning Postmodernism wholesale, however.  Photography is a strongly Postmodern medium.  Best to understand Postmodernism before slamming it.

Koray wrote:
I personally wouldnt mind subconsciously creating a masterpiece that resembles someone elses masterpiece. I like it when people comment on my stuff using big names as my influences.
there are also certain poses, techniques and styles being explored by millions of people but all their own way.

copying is a big no.
but being influenced is not something you can avoid.

Agreed.

Brian Diaz wrote:
If you copy 1 other person, it's plagarism.  If you copy 20 other people, it's influence.

LMAO!

Darren Green wrote:
When I used to teach photography, one thing i'd tell my students was to pick the photogrephers they admire and respect and imitate them.

That was exactly my Photo 101 final project.

Daguerre wrote:
I am a combonation of all the people I've ever respected-- photography included.

True, I think that we're all a sum of people that we've respected or who otherwise respected.  In fact included into that combination are people we don't respect/like, they've also taught us what NOT to do.

Michael Donovan wrote:
It happens. But you add your own twist to it.

This happened a lot when I was doing Standup Comedy. Many performers would do a bit that was oddly similar to something I had heard 20 minutes earlier. We all worked closely together, so many of the ideas start to bubble around in our collective minds until two people had the same material.

This also happens, in its own way, with Improv (I do Improv with Second City). Oner performer will make a wild reference and it will stick with the other performers. They will make references to it and not realize that it had been used multiple times already!

Obviously it is not intentional, but it is something to recognize!

That's what I think is the biggest/most likely scenario.

Justus Lowry wrote:
"Creativity is knowing how to hide your sources" - Albert Einstein

Now that's a keeper!

Colford Studios wrote:
Does anyone think that by looking at another photographer's work they might subconsciously reproduce at some point

That's the most rediculous thing I've ever heard of.

Here's a shot I did yesterday though.




ETA: a little humor and apologies to Bruce Talbot #7244 :: please smile bt

I have copied other's work subconciously and alternately have seen what I thought was original turn up in another photographer's port.  I thin everything we do is based, consciously or otherwise, on what has gone before us.  And I think it's okay.

David

Colford Studios wrote:
Does anyone think that by looking at another photographer's work they might subconsciously reproduce at some point later on or do you think that looking at other ports can be beneficial?  For that matter, has anyone ever copied another photographer's work either knowingly or unknowingly and if so, what'd did you do when you realized?  Just a topic for discussion.

I have this desire to take two black and white photographs. Each with the same four models. In the same exact poses.

One will have them nude except for high heels and maybe gloves or hats. In the other they will have high fashion dresses.

Habenero Photography wrote:
Beginning photographers often start out trying to copy the style of a photographer they like.  .....  I often look at other ports to find lighting and posing styles I might like to try.

that is so true. Whether for model photography, or just general photography, sometimes I find the way someone's taken a shot gives you a new way of seeing things that you hadn't noticed before. Then when you go and take some photos, you notice it more keenly.

Just speaking from my experience as a general photographer, once I saw an architectural shot by someone else that was a new way of looking at ladders. I went out, and shortly after, found a similar ladder and took it from the same angle, then showed the person who took the original. He seemed to be kind of amused that I had thought it cool enough to try and copy the idea.

In an artistic forum, I find that a lot of people have similar ideas, and sometimes I'll get messages from other people saying "Oh hey, I saw your picture, I did something like that too, check it out!"

It seems pretty common that people end up copying people. and people copy the person who copied someone else, and the ideas just spread and twist with each person's new perspective.

Wolf189 wrote:

So dish, did the dog beat her or what?