25.5.08

Room for one more...





Quite often (and more than I would like) with all my web surfing, or as I like to call it, research, I come across images that are shot in the same location. Although this is not unusual in itself when you see the same subject matter and even the same composition It makes me ask a few questions: 'Have I being followed ?' and 'Who's that over there with a camera?' spring to mind.
I should point out right away that I do not claim to be original, far from it I model my appearance on Bruce Willis and am mistaken for a younger version of him daily.
I came across the image above by the very talented Rob Hann who I do not know personally but get a good impression from his work that we share similar influences so at least we have something in common.
I shot my version of Niland (yes, they have the same title) as part of my Salton Sea project, but asides the same location and subject matter, what I find most bizaar is that I found this car completely by accident. You cannot see it from the road and you almost have to drive off-road to find it. But even with the same location, content etc, etc they are still 'different' images, each with there signature style.
A lot of photographers think in a similar way, but this my friends is not plagiarism. There was a time I would not go to certain places just because others had been there. But now I see it as more of a challenge as it makes you look harder and produce a more unique body of work. This was my whole ethic behind the Salton Sea which is probably one of the most photographed areas of California.
So let us not get upset if we think our images have been copied and let us not remove them from our websites. Now go and create and stop following me....

ORIGINALITY IS UNDETECTED PLAGIARISM

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