(This image has nothing to do with the rest of this post, but this is a photography blog, after all, and I needed an image for my social media reposter to grab, so here is one I like of my family from tonight's sunset. Good golden hour light- I pretty much live in a photographer's paradise...)
Now. On to tonight's topic. Since I am still working on finding a way to make photography pay enough to be a viable retirement supplement in a few years time and will at be shooting a friend's wedding in a couple of months, I at least have to consider wedding photography, so I have spent time reading up on the topic. I definitely remember coming across the site, blog and tutorials from Jasmine Star. I think I found her stuff as a result of an interview or something I came across in a photography magazine. Can't really remember, but I do remember thinking her work was good and she clearly was on top of the wedding photography game. Then a couple of days ago I came across this article. Apparently, she and another big name photographer have recently been outed as plagiarizers. I find I am reacting to this on multiple levels.
Even though I started shooting decades ago, I don't have a long history of putting myself out there as a photographer, but in addition to photography I have been a performance artist since high school, first theatre and more recently circus arts. In the art world, is has been said that "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery," (if I could find the source of that, I would document it, but I am pretty sure no one would be silly enough to think I coined that phrase) This is true, but it is a different beast from plagiarism. You watch the artists you admire, you learn from them. You try to imitate their techniques, their forms, etc. But you do it respectfully, paying tribute to those you learn from, giving them credit as your inspiration and ultimately seeking to blend influences from those inspirations with your own individual contribution, ultimately breaking away and forging your own new path. As Isaac Newton put it, "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Even one of the fathers of modern science (and a reported egomaniac,) still gave credit to those who he had learned from.
I hold a Masters' in Social Science from Syracuse University. Earning this degree took five years of my life and a hell of a lot of writing, (not to mention an insane amount of wine, which seemed to help the writing process) all of which involved trying to synthesize the ideas of a lot of other authors and adding my own understanding, which being incredibly careful to cite anything and everything that could in any way be attributed to one of those sources. In this new age of students purchasing papers online and teachers using software and various algorithms to detect purchased essays, it was very hard to make sure while I was writing that I was crediting everything appropriately. Sometimes, I had to go way back into my past, and see if I could remember where I had seen or heard a particular idea that led to a key insight on some topic or another, but ultimately I was able to say that, even if the ideas in my papers weren't all mine, the synthesis and analysis of those ideas was as much mine as it was possible for me to make it.
In circus arts, we quite frequently see another performer do something we admire, especially in age of youtube. We take it back to the studio and try to deconstruct it. Or we learn something from an incredibly talented performer; in a class, at an open gym or skill share, and we add that to our vocabulary. But this is totally different from the wholesale copying of someone else's act. Whenever you do the move or show it to someone else, you mention where you learned it, who taught you, or even name the move after the person who came up with it (if you know the name). It is how the art grows.
As a photographer, one of the most common pieces of advice you find is to study the works of the greats who came before. Find what you like and try to figure out how they did it. Learn from their style, their techniques, their visions. Try to imitate them as a way of learning technique, then add your own unique touch. I recently posted about my inability to come up with my own unique vision for a shoot, I am still in the imitation phase. But that is ok. I am sure there are some completely original wunderkinds out there, but most of us have to start with imitation of the greats before as a learning step before blazing new ground.
So, what makes my blog different from Jasmine Star's? (other than the fact that she has millions of followers and sponsors, while I think I may be up to five regular readers...) I try to be honest. What you are getting is me, barely filtered. I am obviously new at this and am leaning heavily on the tripods of photographers before me who have been kind enough to try and teach others how to do what they do. If I have relied heavily on another blogger or tutorial prior to shooting something that winds up here, I will post links and definitely mention that person or site. Then I will try to make it clear how their advice worked in the particular instance that I am trying to show. Sometimes, the advice I am passing on is so generic that is is hard to find a single source to mention (things like- when shooting in low light, you need use a fast lens and high ISO). There are only so many ways to say certain things. So yes, a lot of blogs and how to posts will sound similar. Hell, even the bible says "there is nothing new under the sun, what has been will be again," (Ecclesiastes 1:9) So, I will try not only to share what I learn, but where I learned it, and from whom. If I ever get famous and popular enough to have ghost writers and a staff, or even an ego big enough to require such things, I hope that all of you original followers and friends will smack me upside the head and keep me honest.
I think one of the best examples of how to take something and copy it while making it your own that I have seen recently is the newest Star Trek franchise movie, Into Darkness. If you haven't seen it yet, stop reading now because there may be some spoilers coming. Anyway, this film was JJ Abrams second reboot of the Star Trek universe. The first one had some nods to the original, but this second installment really took that to the next level. A decent film on its' own, this film was an amazing remake in a way of the second original Star Trek film, The Wrath of Kahn. At certain points of the film, I found myself laughing almost to the point of tears at the brilliant ways Abrams was able to almost completely recreate scenes from the older film, yet at the same time twisting them into something entirely new and unique. (which, I have to say, coming shortly after my rant about not being able to come up with my own ideas for shoots, has inspired me... more to come later on that).
So- imitation is good, as a learning point. Crediting those you who have inspired you is mandatory. But imitation is not enough, you have to move on and make it your own. So, where does that leave Jasmine Star and company? For a lot of people she will be a fallen hero. While I did read a lot of her tutorials, I can't say she was a hero of mine. For me, the fallen hero icon of choice will always be Lance Armstrong. I read his books. I followed his tours. I must admit I had a bit of a man crush on him. He was pretty damn awesome. Then last year he finally admitted that he did use performance enhancing drugs. Something he had fervently denied in the past and I had believed. I am not really one to worship celebrity, or anything like that, but before that moment, if anyone had asked me who my heroes were, my answers were my grandfather and Lance Armstrong. I had a hard time dealing with his admission of guilt, I am still debating whether or not to delete his scene from DodgeBall from my motivational clips collection. But, as I was researching this post, I found this article on dealing with fallen heroes that says it better than I could. Those heroes are human. Just like me, just like you. Even if Lance was taking PEDs, he still was working his ass off in order overcome a massive challenge. He won against a bunch of other people who were pretty much all taking the same measures he was. He still inspired millions and helped a lot of people beat cancer, and contributed a great deal to the betterment of humanity. Jasmine Star (or her ghost writers) copied from others, but she did take her own photos and build her business and name up to where it was. Even underneath the cheating, there is an actual wealth of talent in both cases.
I like what the article linked above says. Take what you can learn from your gurus, but always remember that they are human, just like you and just like me. Learn from them; no only the good things, but also the bad. Try to learn not only from their successes, but also their failures. That is what I hope I can do here and I hope you can see me working through that. If I ever do make it to the status or a Jasmine Star or Lance Armstrong, I hope I can have the strength to learn from them and manage to keep myself honest and open, even when it isn't always pretty. So that ends the rant on plagiarism. If you repost any of this, please just give me credit and a link ;-)
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