Done before?

I've just discovered that the personal photo project I'd been working on for the past year (on and off, would have kept me busy for another few years) has been done before by another, who happens to be a talented and famous photographer I had never heard of up until this morning.

I am kind of bummed right now.

So, those of you who've had something like that happen to them: do we go on, or do we find something new?

armis wrote in post #17095199
I've just discovered that the personal photo project I'd been working on for the past year (on and off, would have kept me busy for another few years) has been done before by another, who happens to be a talented and famous photographer I had never heard of up until this morning.

I am kind of bummed right now.

So, those of you who've had something like that happen to them: do we go on, or do we find something new?

Well, if I decided to not do things because they'd been done before, then I'd never do anything.

Even though it has been done before, you can do it your way, in your own style. In fact, I find it very interesting to see the same thing done by different artists; there is no better way to demonstrate the fact that each of us has his/her own unique personal vision. You really don't have to feel bummed over this; take heart, pour yourself into the project with a renewed energy and enthusiasm, and see if you can do every bit as well as the other photographer did with the project.

armis wrote in post #17095199
I've just discovered that the personal photo project I'd been working on for the past year (on and off, would have kept me busy for another few years) has been done before by another, who happens to be a talented and famous photographer I had never heard of up until this morning.

I am kind of bummed right now.

So, those of you who've had something like that happen to them: do we go on, or do we find something new?

Years ago I was a fan of a TV show called "Northern Exposure", about a quirky group of characters living in Alaska. One of them, an artist, decided to build a catapult and launch a cow as a piece of performance art. When he told the local film buff about it as it neared completion, the buff replied, "Cool, just like 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail'". The artist, shocked, abandoned the project for a while, but finally completed it and launched a piano instead of the cow.

As the character said, "It's not the thing you fling. It's the fling itself."

Launch the piano. Make your statement.

"There's nothing new under the sun."

I didn't make up that phrase, of course. It's been said before.

Take it and run with it and make it yours. You can have 25 people photograph the same bridge and get 25 completely different images. I'd keep going. After all, you've already got time and effort invested in it, right? It's your project. Do it!

You do it. In photography pretty much everything has been done by someone somewhere. You have a vision, complete it. It's still your work.

If the only reason you were doing it was to be doing something that had never been done before... yeah, time to move on to something else.

Otherwise, if you were enjoying doing it keep on keeping on.

Next time you feel like getting intimate with your significant other, remember that sex has been done before, in every way conceivable and probably with greater skill. Does that mean you shouldn't do it?

After 2000 + years of two dimensional art, I would say it's all been done before. The question is how can you do it and make it yours?

Yep, personal style reigns supreme! Add your own view...

Bryan

Dont get disheartened - do your project, your way !
Someone else may be doing the same thing at the same time, but it doesnt really matter, your way is your way.

Pretty sure my project has been done before, i am certain that bits and pieces of it have.
Last night i counted another 4 photographers all shooting the same sunset/water crashing over rocks that i was shooting

MichiTimm wrote in post #17097439
If the only reason you were doing it was to be doing something that had never been done before... yeah, time to move on to something else.

Otherwise, if you were enjoying doing it keep on keeping on.

I agree!

Armis, you still have months and year of work that you developed. No one can take those proofs away from you or say it otherwise. You should still feel proud of that accomplishment.

Armis lets not forget that Walker Evans photographed America does that mean Robert Frank shouldn't have done The Americans? Evans also photographed on the New York Subway does that mean Bruce Davidson shouldn't have done Subway?

Do the work and if it's real it will have a way of getting all sorted out.

moose10101 wrote in post #17096044
As the character said, "It's not the thing you fling. It's the fling itself."

Launch the piano. Make your statement.

Bull's eye!!!!