The Soul of the Camera

The Rejection of Comparisons

WHEN IT COMES TO THE ROLE OF OTHERS in our photography, it is not only our audience that pulls at us; it is also other photographers at whose work we often look, sometimes nervously. Like the conversation about audience, there’s a duality.

We often look to other visual artists as we learn our craft and judge our place in the wider field. From them and their work, we often get our ideas about future direction, standards of excellence, ways to improve, and techniques we’ve yet to discover. This is the community of artists with whom we share a discipline and whose work we ought to celebrate.

But on the flip side, it is not always through the eyes of celebration that we look at the work of others. We often view that work ...