seen and internalized a diverse body of photographic work spanning its history, thereby incorporating a particular way of seeing. In my mind, I've invented a specific canon of photography. This canon of photography seems natural to me, second nature. I’ll be reminded of it in the world around me, in the things I encounter. But I didn't make up this canon of photography. I've borrowed it from experts and acquired it through daily exposure, no, daily bombardment from the culture that surrounds me.
Now, as I look back, I see many influences in the work I’ve made and begin to wonder if the work I made is singularly “mine.” I know it cannot be. I may see with my eyes, but my mind knows and recognizes the world through these other ideas, these other conceptions. True, the world I confront is uniquely mine, and mine alone. I occupy and move in a distinct space and travel a solitary path. But I share my time on this planet with some 6.5 billion other people, and I am genetically and culturally predisposed to see and understand the world from perspectives garnered from those around me; my clan, my group. I am a social animal and my predilections, indeed the way I even conceive of the world, is predicated on that.
I'm sure you’ve notice your conceptions shift at a specific juncture, when something you've experienced has notably “struck” you. A benign example: you go to see an art exhibit and get so thoroughly immersed in it, that upon leaving the show, your mind spins with these other ideas. You suddenly are aware that the world around you reflects that “other” vision. Or you go to a movie and you notice that you were so transfixed that even after the film
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