When others copy your style!

I don't mind it really when I see other photographers copying my lighting style. In a way, I guess its flattering to know that your work has sufficiently touched another photographer enough to want to replicate it; but honestly, I don't get it!

Take my inspirations for example. There are many photographers both past and present, whose work I deeply admire and who have inspired in me the need to express my vision through photography. But as breathtaking and captivating that their work is, I realize that their lighting style represents their view, and therefore their vision of the message they are trying to convey, so it has never occurred to me to want to duplicate it.

Don't get me wrong, I do indeed study the masters in detail. But my study involves trying to understand the relationship that their lighting style has on the message they are trying to convey, and thus achieving a deeper understanding of their vision and their person. But this is only so that I can discover a deeper understanding of myself in being able to express my vision.

For me, a photograph is about light. How you manipulate, shape, shade, color and otherwise intensify or remove it altogether shows to the viewer of the photograph, the message you are trying to convey. But how I use my light, or lighting style rather, is only relevant in my interpretation of my vision, for it only represents me how I see things.

So to those of you that use my lighting style, I thank you and I am honored that you value my work. However and for your sake, I would highly suggest that you develop your own lighting style, so that your message and your photograph shows your vision, and not mine.