This is how I start the new year.

Some folks make resolutions, some make significant life changes, lots of folks dedicate themselves to dieting, or quitting smoking, or improving themselves in some way.

Me, I just go and hang out with Laura, take some pictures of a lovely lady with some lovely light.

Just to make sure I still can. I can shoot, I'm doing alright. I'll let the rest of life take care of itself.

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Film Crit Hulk blew my mind the other day.

He was speaking on the new version of Les Miserables, discussing how the director is an obvious devotee of Stanley Kubrick, using many of the same shots.

But that, crucially, the director had no true understanding of Kubrick's motivations, of the reasoning behind the shots, and so used them clumsily and, often, at cross-purposes to his intent.

And I see the same thing a lot lately with photography, folks copying the form without an understanding of the function within.

Some people are merely drawn to the aesthetic. Others believe they understand the Whys, but lack the proper perspective, as thus their understanding is distorted.

To which the reply is often, hey, it's art! Everyone copies everyone!

To which the reply is also often, hey, that's how people learn!

To which I reply, ah! This Was how people learned. They would sit in their art classes and dissect the masters, mimicking in order to understand.

But that was in the hermetically sealed environment of a classroom. The dynamic shifts when you go public

It's a favorite Hunter S. Thompson anecdote that he would type out all of Hemingway's novels, in order to understand the prose, the cadence.

But he never published those copies. The dynamic shifts when the work becomes public, where the direct influence can be hidden, can be ignored, can be forgotten. These days, copying in public is just Part of the Game.

And sure, back before the internet, some artists copied others. But when they did, they prayed no one would notice.

For the most potent criticism in art is that it is merely a copy of another artist.

Influences are all well and good, we all have them. But if they show, if someone can look at your work and needs not be told where the influence is, if it's right there on the surface? Then the work has a serious problem.

We are not the sum of our influences. We are the choices we make.

Yourself + your influences does not equal you. It equals you copying your influences.

Watching a documentary on Gregory Crewdson, I heard him say that David Lynch was an influence on his early work.

To which I thought, ah, I can see it now. It's there.

But he had synthesized the influence thoroughly enough that it was only apparent once he'd mentioned it, and even then, it was merely a component.

Intentional copying is a worthwhile exercise only in short bursts, only so long as it is necessary to learn the lesson.

Beyond that, you enter the realm of mimicry, and do a disservice to both yourself and your influence.

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Oh how I fumbled during the beginning of this shoot. Just couldn't See anything.

Was having a bad day, set off by minor annoyances, but you get a few of them all knocking on the door together, it has an effect.

So I was off my game, too much buzzing in my ears.

Which is when, to her everlasting credit, Laura called bullshit. Not in so many words, but by reminding me things are okay, the buzzing was not the sound of a bomb, but just some flies hovering.

Friend of mine texted me yesterday, she was freaking out, her relationship was falling apart in front of her. Or so she believed.

She heard the buzzing, as we all do, and mistook it for the sound of disaster.

As we all do, until someone points out we've been mishearing things.

Thankfully, that is often all it takes, someone else to help you interpret the signals you are too close to hear correctly.

Then you can get down to taking shots that you and Laura both giggle like schoolchildren over, like this one.

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Why would anyone want to shoot from far away?

It's a theory I've got, the closer you get, the more comfortable you are with your subject. Got your folks that always like to shoot from across the street, their subject unaware, unable to participate or even grant permission.

Got your folks, like to get in real close. I'm one of those folks. I like the intimacy of it, like to be able to interact with my subject in that close space, make it a communication, a partnership.

Yeah, I could get this same frame from a long lens, but...hell, it's like Leon from The Professional. The way I look at it, it's just like that. Closer you can get, better you are. Able to be in such proximity to another person and have them comfortable, not raising any alarms.

Then it's you affecting what you are observing. Participating, versus merely being a voyeur.

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Happy birthday, Laura.

Could not ask for a better face to shoot, a better friend to hang out and talk photography with.

And it's all due to Flickr, to a period in time where folks felt quite comfortable reaching out on Flickr and meeting each other.

Say what you want about the Internet, it made every photo I've ever taken of Laura possible.

Give Thanks.

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