Assignment 37Tribute Photo

“All photographs are accurate. None of them is the truth.”

—Richard Avedon

Purpose: Replicate a Famous Photograph in Your Own Unique Style.

All art is derivative—no one creates in a vacuum. Everyone is influenced to some extent by what has gone before. If you don’t study the work of other artists—not just photographers but painters, writers, musicians—then your influences will come to you second hand from people who do, usually through billboards, ads, television, and magazine articles.

A Question of Influence

A large-format landscape photographer told me that he doesn’t look at anyone else’s work, as he does not wish to be influenced by anyone. I thought it circumspect not to point out that his recent work was photographing ...

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