“We don’t necessarily become like the photographers we admire. We recognize something of ourselves in them — and that recognition encourages us to keep going.”
This is excellent, Tomasz! 👏 I have written about the early career mentors we admire and wish to be like someday. Here you are illuminating how our relationship to admired figures shifts in later career when we have become the person we had aimed to be. Mirroring and reflecting indeed!
Thank you, Baird. I appreciate this perspective very much. In the early stages we look upward, hoping to grow into someone else’s language. Later, when our own voice has formed, those admired figures feel less like destinations and more like confirmations. It’s a quiet shift — from wanting to become, to recognizing that we already are on our path. Your comment captures that beautifully.
Here is my piece on mentors with a tribute to two of my most important ones. Did you have special people who inspired you in your early career? Not everyone is fortunate enough to have even one.
It seems to me that inspiration and "instinct" are working together bouncing on each other inside us and I visualise this as a spirally track representing how our photography evolve...
Thank you, Françoise. I like this image of a spiral very much. Inspiration and instinct are not separate forces — they move together, shaping and reshaping how we see. We learn something, it influences our intuition, and then that intuition leads us to new influences again. It’s not a straight line of progress, but a continuous circling that slowly deepens our understanding of our own photography.
I've always tried to leep an open mind when it comes to photographic influences. To some extent, I've found that I'm more influenced by photographers who fit more readily into the photographic genres which interest me. I love landscapes - traditional and more "urban" - but I gradually gravitated towards the likes of Fay Godwin as she photographed the landscape as it is, rather than as some ideal of how she thought it should be. That said, I like to try new things and seeking out influences helps me, and probably others, to experiment. Sometimes experimentation morphs into a sort of style or artistic approach. Other times, it becomes a dead end and I move on.
Thank you, Paul. I relate to this very closely. The influences that stay with us longest are usually the ones that feel aligned with how we already see — as in your example of Fay Godwin and her refusal to idealize the landscape. At the same time, as you say, trying on other voices and approaches is part of how we keep our work alive. Some experiments take root and quietly become part of our language; others simply mark where we’ve been and help us move forward. Both are valuable steps in the evolution of a personal way of seeing.
There is quite the opposite, sometimes look at photograph and think I will not do so, I don't like this. And this understanding also comes later after we have our own experience and after we spent an years to make photos.
Yes, this is an important part of the process too. There are photographers and approaches we recognize as not ours, and that clarity only comes with time and experience. Finding our way is not only about what we admire, but also about what we gently set aside. Both directions — attraction and rejection — help shape the path of our own vision.
“We don’t necessarily become like the photographers we admire. We recognize something of ourselves in them — and that recognition encourages us to keep going.”
This is excellent, Tomasz! 👏 I have written about the early career mentors we admire and wish to be like someday. Here you are illuminating how our relationship to admired figures shifts in later career when we have become the person we had aimed to be. Mirroring and reflecting indeed!
Thank you, Baird. I appreciate this perspective very much. In the early stages we look upward, hoping to grow into someone else’s language. Later, when our own voice has formed, those admired figures feel less like destinations and more like confirmations. It’s a quiet shift — from wanting to become, to recognizing that we already are on our path. Your comment captures that beautifully.
Here is my piece on mentors with a tribute to two of my most important ones. Did you have special people who inspired you in your early career? Not everyone is fortunate enough to have even one.
https://open.substack.com/pub/bairdbrightman/p/the-magic-of-mentors?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Good observation! And, I think, so true!
Thank you, Marc. Glad it resonated with you.
It seems to me that inspiration and "instinct" are working together bouncing on each other inside us and I visualise this as a spirally track representing how our photography evolve...
Thank you, Françoise. I like this image of a spiral very much. Inspiration and instinct are not separate forces — they move together, shaping and reshaping how we see. We learn something, it influences our intuition, and then that intuition leads us to new influences again. It’s not a straight line of progress, but a continuous circling that slowly deepens our understanding of our own photography.
Very Thought-Provoking!!!
Thank you, Donn.
I've always tried to leep an open mind when it comes to photographic influences. To some extent, I've found that I'm more influenced by photographers who fit more readily into the photographic genres which interest me. I love landscapes - traditional and more "urban" - but I gradually gravitated towards the likes of Fay Godwin as she photographed the landscape as it is, rather than as some ideal of how she thought it should be. That said, I like to try new things and seeking out influences helps me, and probably others, to experiment. Sometimes experimentation morphs into a sort of style or artistic approach. Other times, it becomes a dead end and I move on.
Thank you, Paul. I relate to this very closely. The influences that stay with us longest are usually the ones that feel aligned with how we already see — as in your example of Fay Godwin and her refusal to idealize the landscape. At the same time, as you say, trying on other voices and approaches is part of how we keep our work alive. Some experiments take root and quietly become part of our language; others simply mark where we’ve been and help us move forward. Both are valuable steps in the evolution of a personal way of seeing.
There is quite the opposite, sometimes look at photograph and think I will not do so, I don't like this. And this understanding also comes later after we have our own experience and after we spent an years to make photos.
Yes, this is an important part of the process too. There are photographers and approaches we recognize as not ours, and that clarity only comes with time and experience. Finding our way is not only about what we admire, but also about what we gently set aside. Both directions — attraction and rejection — help shape the path of our own vision.
Exactly!
Excelente
Thank you, Luis. I’m glad it resonated with you.
I'm agree 👍