Is Any Image Truly Original Anymore?

Is Any Image Truly Original Anymore?
ФОТО: digitalrev.com

The average UK adult spends 9 hours a day online. In that time we are exposed to so many images through social media and the web. In our lives nowadays we are constantly bombarded with image. It would be impossible not to be influenced by some of these inputs, even on a subliminal level.

With the introduction of social media, we are snapping more and more photos each day. Our lives are so firmly orientated around image, and whether we are taking mundane images and Snapchatting them to friends, or carefully composing works of art on our DSLRs, image is integral to our lives.

Recently I stood in a modern art gallery looking at a set of images, that were so off the wall and insane - but I’d seen so many similar online. It got me to thinking whether images we take are original anymore. With so, so many being taken and posted - surely we are rapidly running out of ways to present our world.

Of course, we must be influenced by something and even subliminally let our work be influenced by other photographers. Personally, I take no joy in standing at a location, emulating someone else’s work, then trying to put your own individual spin on it. But I do enjoy seeing the way in which inspiration from others work flows along with my own, ‘unique’ style.

But, even presented with of one of the UK landmarks - something that's been photographed thousands of times. . . how am I meant to create something truly original here? I can be as creative as I can but everything I do will have already been done. Do I strive and push every boundary to create an image I feel is as original as possible, or do I simply let myself enjoy the process in the knowledge that it will have been done before?

Yet, even with lesser photographed subjects it’s debatable whether it’s possible to create something truly original. Everything we learn in this craft has come from a past experience. If I use leading lines, it’s because i’ve seen it before.

Take the below image for example. The image on the left, is from c. 1943, the image on the right, I took a couple of weeks ago. I didn’t look up images and decide to copy the poses, but as a Lindy hop photographer, I’ve seen the old images of the original dancers hundreds of times, and can’t help but draw inspiration from them.

Yes, nobody has taken my exact image before (to my knowledge). Nobody has taken to Lindy hoppers and asked them to pose in that exact way in a line of archways in central Manchester. So, one could argue that my image is original, yet I see an amalgamation of techniques that I’ve been exposed to throughout my entire photographic career, as well as inspiration from decades of lindy hop photography.

Although this can be seen as all doom and gloom - it’s not necessarily a bad thing. One could argue that artists have been drawing inspiration from other artists since forever; and it's nothing to be ashamed of.

We can get caught up in trying to create a completely original image, but it’s not always the way. Similarly to the argument about ‘finding your unique style’, if you focus on how creating images that you’re proud of, enjoying shooting and think are your best work, it’s not going to matter.

C. S. Lewis writes, "Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it. ”

In a way - I sit in the camp of C. S. Lewis. It’s worth taking enjoying what you’re doing and the process of creativity, than grappling trying to reinvent the wheel. Despite the vast number of images being created every day - it's going to be near impossible for a revolutionary new concept that's never been seen before in any capacity to appear.

As photographers, we can accept that our work may not be revolutionary - but it can be staggeringly creative, even if the concepts behind the image have been seen before.

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2017-11-29 03:00