My Facebook friends know how I can go off on a rant about copycat photography sometimes. My latest was about the pervasive “girl wearing a creepy rabbit mask in the woods” shot that seems to be so popular with Holga-toting liberal art students lately. Worse? How about the girl in the mask holding balloons? Or, as my friend, Jeff Kauffman quipped, holding a picture of an old woman? Ooooh, how thought-provoking. Well, at least it’s not all about taking pictures of your own feet anymore. Or the ever-popular, pseudo-documentary “homeless guy” project. We’re making progress.
I’m not totally against one picture looking like another, however. Sometimes there’s real merit in an homage, or fun in a cliché, or an idea just feels right to carry on. Some photography repeats itself for good reason. Portrait photographers like Avedon, Karsh, and William Coupon have made their signature looks stylistic classics. Sometimes, it’s what your commercial clients expect.
And sometimes, a copy just happens because two photographers had the same great idea.
I don’t know what category Jack Guy’s photo fits into (bottom photo). But should he have shied away from the idea just because it had been done before? I don’t think so. It’s an excellent, illustrative image. And it works for its intended audience.
But, if you’re in a photography class somewhere in the world, please don’t do the rabbit mask thing to fulfill an assignment. Try something that hasn’t been so played out. Your instructor will love you for it.
Images: Top, Hilary Swank by Norman Jean Roy. Bottom, Jillian Michaels by Jack Guy.
Oh, hey. You want some real cliché shots? Try this!
