If imitation is the best compliment

Aquarium Dreams · Oct 4, 2007

Why does it feel funny to look at it? I never really learned how to take a compliment, so maybe that's the problem, heh. I'm just starting to experience this, so I'm wondering how other people feel when they see their friends and other photographers influenced by their work.

Christina · Oct 10, 2007

Well to know you have inspired anyone is a awesome thing. But i cant say that my works ever done that.

Has yours? And what photo was it?

terri · Oct 10, 2007

It's generally supposed to be a positive thing, although I guess I might feel funny if I thought someone was literally trying to imitate something of mine - as opposed to just liking a process I used and giving it a try on their own. I suppose there can be a fine line between imitation and inspiration.

What was your experience, AD?

Hertz van Rental · Oct 10, 2007

How do you know your work has influenced someone unless they tell you?
And if they tell you are they sincere or just after something?

To put the original question into perspective:
No-one can develop a style without having been influenced by someone else.
If your work has influenced someone then it follows that the person you were influenced by has also influenced the person influenced by you.
And the person you were influenced by must have been influenced by yet another person... and so on.
So it ain't just you influencing someone but a whole string of people :lol:

castrol · Oct 10, 2007

I would consider it quite the honor for someone to feel that my photographs
are good enough to have inspired them to try and make their own.

Although, recently, after taking some motorcycle racing shots...a friend of mine
decided he thought they were so awesome, he wanted to do it. Needless to say,
he failed miserably. Heh. Some things are not as easy as we make them look.

Aquarium Dreams · Oct 12, 2007

Thanks, guys. I feel a little silly, and I guess what I'm talking about is "inspiration" more than "influence." I've been going out shooting lately with a photographer friend who has a much different approach than me. I usually shoot alone, so it's fun to have someone else to shoot with. Usually we go to the same location, and due to our different approaches, see and shoot different things. The last time we went shooting, though, she was uhhh.. kind of in my way. Instead of shooting her own thing like usual, she started off by following me, and setting up right where I had just been shooting. Then there was this really weird instance where I was approaching an old building (the kind of thing she doesn't usually shoot) and while I was looking around for a good angle, she set up behind me and told me to get out of the way. I suppose what's really bothering me is that I really enjoy shooting with this person, but if we're going to be tripping over each other shooting the same things (which was never a problem before), then it's not exactly productive for us to be shooting together, is it? I mean, is it?? I feel really silly, did I mention that?

Joxby · Oct 12, 2007

Theres only 2 of you, how much in the way of each other can you get.
Seems like you were quite happy when your subjects were different, she got her stuff, you got yours, all was well with the world.
But now......

*faint wiff of competition*

Aquarium Dreams · Oct 15, 2007

It hadn't occurred to me that she was trying to compete, but it makes sense now that I think about it.. she refers to other photographers as "the competition." She's semi-pro, and is always talking about ways to make money with photography, whereas I'm just a hobbyist who likes to submit to galleries. I don't think competition is innately a good thing, especially among friends. So yeah, if she's getting all weird and competitive, we'll just have to stick with talking about photography over coffee. I'm still hoping someone else will weigh in on this.

LaFoto · Oct 15, 2007

The times I was/am taking photos TOGETHER with and AT THE SAME TIME as someone else has usually been with my sister.
And we have soon come to the agreement that we pretty much SHARE the work among us rather than produce two different approaches to always the same subjects from only mildly differing perspectives.
Doesn't work all the time, but works better than being with someone who gives you the feeling they can possibly do better than you from the self-same angle or they at least TRY to get better than you from the self-same angle.

Even though.. come to think of it - when I first went to a TPF meet-up in England (2 years ago), we were a good many TPFers all in ONE location, so naturally many photos were taken of the same scenes/objects/subjects. Later it was surprising to see how each of us had produced THEIR photo, though.
I went looking for threads on that meet-up, but someone the one on Day 1 seems all lost, and apparently I myself once deleted ALL the photos I had contributed to those threads from my server, so there are only red x's left. A pity. Would have served as a nice example...

Otherwise I can't weigh in much - though I might want to add that I become extremely shy whenever I notice there is another photographer around somewhere. Yes. Me. SHY. Believe it or not.

The Phototron · Oct 15, 2007

Just remember this, even if two photographer were to stand at the same spot, point their camera at the same thing, the shot could still be very different.

Scouting a good subject shouldn't be the whole point of photography, though it is an important part of it. Two photographers shooting the same thing is actually a really good idea. First you can compare the vantage point, angle, framing, exposure. And you see what works, and what doesn't.

Battou · Oct 15, 2007

Hertz van Rental said:
How do you know your work has influenced someone unless they tell you?

I encountered a similar yet opposite occurrence just recently. Wile crossing one of the bridges here in town I noticed the reflection of the trees in the water, (yes, yes, I know...Water Reflections, common, gotcha) so I took the shot. Later an image was posted on PL (witch I featured) of a similar subject in reflection. Once I got mine back from processing I posted mine, by all outward appearances my image looks to have been heavily influenced by the image on the main page when in fact the image was not yet posted when I took my shot. It's entirely possible it's a case of same thought process as opposed to inspiration, one may never know wether or not is was influenced unless told.

sabbath999 · Oct 15, 2007

My wife and I often shoot together. She is a NOOB and I have been shooting for 25 years, so basically it is fair to say that "I have taught her everything that I can teach her" in a short amount of time. Not surprisingly, we end up with a lot of very similar shots, but I am always surprised and quite delighted when we go through the images together at all of the stuff that I didn't even see at all that she got. The more experience she has, the less her stuff looks like mine.

Aquarium Dreams · Oct 15, 2007

Lots of good input here. I guess I'm just not used to shooting with other photographers. It would be nice to shoot with more people, to see where perspectives diverge. It's too bad those TPF meet-up shots are missing, because that would be interesting to see. I can imagine it though, a big group of photographers in one area, all seeing the same things, but seeing some things differently, or seeing some things that no one else sees at all... Sounds like fun. Maybe creepy at first (like all social activity), but I'd get over it. :lol:

JerryPH · Oct 21, 2007

I cannot address how you feel about how her apparent competitiveness affects you (perhaps you really do need to talk about photography over coffee... and *touch* on that subject with her, maybe?)... but as a budding enthusiastic amateur, I look at a lot of pictures specifically for ideas.

Yes, I *try to* copy technique, concepts, traits, angles, styles of many photographers... its one of the ways that I learn. Most of the things that I try to copy are not even from pros, but random images I may catch at say, perhaps, something that captures my interest on flickr and comes from a true novice.

As a hobbyist, we do this for pleasure. When something stops being fun, we have two choices:

- look at why its not fun and try to address it
- stop doing it and search for something else that gives us pleasure

I think this is a relatively minor issue with an easy solution one way or the other.

Let us know how you decided to deal with this little challenge. :mrgreen: