Back to the point of this post and its motivation... In the truest spirit of this quote I stole this directly from my friend's wall.
The concept of originality is one i have spoken to many people about. From young new photographers to more seasoned artists of many mediums, I am asked quite often where i get my inspiration and what i draw from. my simplest answer is that I am constantly looking for unique and original images and works from which to umm... borrow from. Call it what you will, my view and the point of the quote concur that there is no such thing as an original work. Everything you see and everything you may create has been influenced to some degree by another body of work. Myself i draw much of my inspiration from music as well as other photographers, and i'm not ashamed to say i take any opportunity i get to redo a work that has touched me and make it my own. I would hope that many of my friends and readers (those that haven't given up on me after my long hiatus) are familiar with the "photographer's last supper". In case you are not, here it is...
It's just amazing what a great group of friends are willing to do to ensure my sanity by helping me make this vision a reality. This image is a perfect example of the true words above. Of course most people will assume that my inspiration for this work came from the classic work by Leonardo DaVinci, it actually did not. yes I did borrow some of the aspects of it, but the image that motivated me to create my own version really came from the at least for me iconic image by one of my most drawn upon creative sources, the great David Lachapelle.
This image, filled with many of the most relevant music and culture names of the day yelled at me from the second I laid eyes on it many years ago and it never left the very front of my mind until I was able to make it a reality. So in an effort to help me clear it from my head and make room for new ventures, some of the members of my own epic group of photographers, The Factory, helped me make it happen. (although several of the people in my image are no longer with my group it is still going strong with a few new great additions as well).
The point and purpose of my rambling is that i struggled with this odd concept of originality for many years. I would think of an idea and soon find that it had been done or find out where i drew it from and it would feel defeating. As if i had no original thoughts of my own. I nearly gave up the artistic aspect of photography over this, I felt like i would be forever plagiarizing someone in some way. Then i came to my own conclusion to embrace the fact that everything I see inspires me in some way. As the quote says, whether it be old films, new films, music or whatever, as long as you are being touched by something then it is quite ok to let it affect you. To let it transform you. To change your mind about the world and move you in a new direction or even to let it help push you along the same path you've been on. As long as you keep moving forward then the good greatly outweighs any harm.
I have been looking for a good way to give some much overdue credit to someone that rightly deserves it. The latest group venture by The Factory was our very cool redo of a classic literary piece "Alice in wonderland". The idea for this shoot came from our very own Laura Moppin of Laura Moppin Photography and she deserves full credit for making it happen. Although i don't feel it got quite the attention that our "last supper" received, it was a huge undertaking and deserves to be recognized for what it took to make it happen. First of all, here is the image we created...
This image took hundreds of hours of preparation and planning, not to mention the many hours spent the day of the shoot on makeup and setup. This was a very expensive image to produce with all the costuming and props as well. The real beauty of making an image like this is seeing a dream and a vision come to life though. Laura directed us all as far as what we needed to get for our own wardrobe and the acquisition of all the various items need for this image, both as props and as supportive elements for the shoot itself. This was a true group adventure which included a trek to a top secret location over 50 miles from manhattan, almost entirely organized by Laura. But again, this is not a unique vision that came completely out of her head, She drew inspiration from an image she had seen which we chose as the foundation for our interpretation. The image we drew from was the promotional photo that came from that big movie studio that does all the animated movies, you know the one i mean, and the star of the version of "alice" that we channeled is that famous guy, the one that has been in a few really good pirate movies that may or may not have been based in the caribbean islands... you know who i'm talking about. Sorry to talk in such vagaries but pardon me for not wanting to my ass sued off by said giant studio.
Nevertheless again the reason for my post is simple. Draw on the things around you, let the things you see and experience move you and cause change in you. Do your best to interpret these things as to how they affect your life and your art and don't worry about originality. Somewhere, someone has already done what you are about to do, in some form or another. You have two choices, either embrace the inspiration and find a way to make your version uniquely yours, or be stagnant and ineffective by waiting for a truly original concept to smack you in the head. This is sure not to say that new ideas do not happen, ever. Of course they do, everything you see was done for the first time at some point, but move with what moves you. Do your best to take the things that impact your life and thoughts and do whatever you can with them, just keep shooting. Or drawing. or painting. Or writing. Or composing music... whatever makes you jump out of bed and reach for your weapon of choice.
