Week 21 - Inspired By A Photographer

As a creative artist, I have drawn inspiration from many places through the years - photography, paintings, music, and even inspirational people not in any art or entertainment creative field.

Early on in my career, when I was learning about photography, I looked to those photographers that came before me for guidance through their work. A few of them are:

• Landscape photographer Ansel Adams.
• Portrait and street photographer Diane Arbus.
• Fashion and portrait photographer Richard Avendon.
• Portrait and Still Life photographer Edward Weston.

It has not been my intent to emulate those photographers, but to determine my own style through the admiration of their work.

For this photo, I drew my inspiration from Edward Weston. There was a point in his career where he was too poor to travel for his work, so he started creating still life images from fruits and vegetables. His kids typically ate his subjects, too.

Back in his day, he would spend hours creating a long exposure image, hoping the results were properly focused at the end of exposure. Fortunately, I didn't need to do that, and instead used a faster aperture and boosted ISO to create the above image.

As the years have gone by,  I have matured in my technique and craft. I have tried really hard not to constantly follow or observe other artists, as to not have my work be heavily influenced by theirs. I would rather find that every day inspiration organically, not by the influence of other artists and creatives.