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I have to say first. I wanted a really catchy title for this but most of what I thought up was just a bit too much. Ah but what’s in a name ?
I have been contemplating quite a few things lately and I find myself in a battle over my projects, trying to decide which to put in the number one priority slot. Part of my battle is, as I have surfed through various photographers sites and read the various blogs. I find myself second-guessing the projects I have started. The issue is simple, there are similar projects already published and shown by a few different photographers, and what they have done is similar to what I have been working on for the last year.
The works I came across hadn’t influenced mine up to the point I discovered them. I have worked in frustration since my discoveries. I feel what I have done up to this point is not unique and won’t stand out about the others because of the similarities. I have been on the verge of pitching everything I have done to this point.
Yet as I contemplate the battle and look at the reality, I think I am being too critical of my efforts and direction. Photographers have documented social issues since the beginning of the craft. I think the more notable times started early in the 20th century. There are similarities dating back to the Great Depression if you consider the current state of our society. Before the Great Depression came Prohibition and bootlegging and wide spread debauchery accompanied social attitudes of the day.
When you jump forward in time to the sixties not much is different, there are great similarities socially, drug use like marijuana and LSD replaced heroin and alcohol as the prevalent choice. The photographer of today is challenged just the same as they were in the twenties and the sixties. Just update social issues of the eras passed by to today. You still have the impoverished of the thirties, drug abusers of the sixties, and the list can include the twenties too.
I have come to the logical conclusion that I just have to follow my artistic voice and be true to myself and not worry about others that have come before and those that will come after me. There may be similarities in theme but the individual works should be unique in quality but more than likely contain a similar statement already expressed.
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