I hadn’t realised quite how much of an influence Edward Weston has had on my early photographic work until I started to look back through my archive of work. With a view to finding some images clearly showing where my inspiration had come from, I found that there was no shortage of material draw on. It is very unusual these days to find somebody who is creating genuinely ‘original’ work, and so the majority of us will be taking ideas and concepts from those that have gone before. As a student it is acceptable to want to copy or recreate another’s work, but it is important that it is taken as part of a greater learning process, and that the journey continues rather than lingers to perfect copying somebody else’s work.
My image (below left) is a self-portrait. Until now I had never viewed it as trying to replicate a Weston image, probably because the pose is very different. However, in hindsight, it was taken at a time when I was very much ‘into’ Edward Weston’s work. Since having made the connection, I have more affection for my image and am happy for it to sit alongside an Edward Weston image.
Again, my work is on the left, and on this occasion I had seen Weston’s image (right) and wanted to do something similar, but in colour. Again, the pose was not a direct copy, but was my way of paying homage to Weston’s creativity.
I see! 