Defining Your Vision

I love this quote:

"You have to perform your own visual signature, you cannot get anyplace imitating the work of the people you admire" -- Ralph Gibson

It is a theme or a message that I struggle with all of the time.  Not so much in that  I am trying to imitate anyone else, but that I am often concerned about what others think to the detriment of what I see.  A subtle shift, but one that can have the same affect on your creative work. 

It can cause you to photograph in a way that is not true to yourself and your own vision, instead playing to what you believe others want.  I believe that this can have the same detrimental impact on your personal vision as what Ralph was talking about.  A subtle difference, but still an impact on the purity of your own work. 

Below is the interview where he talks about this and a few other things.