COPYING or is it REFERENCING AND REVISITING????

The way to succeed in the copying field is to keep your business aspirations local .Keeping it local means that local clients can hire you and pay less than if they hired the 'real' photog. Like all those tribute bands we hear about but who never cut records.
Or get famous like Meisel and just rip everybody off and say its your style, check back for Meisels series on Jack Vettriano ( a much criticised populist artist here in the UK) in IV its a straight copy but then Nick Knight did a Tamara de Lempicka series in Brogue a while back. Strangley these ‘famous’ photogs didn’t copy they referenced or revisited.
Referencing is a lot more than copying.
Look at this way: Fashions all been done the themes are recycled and stay the same but the fabrics change and so does peoples view of the fashion.
Also according to Colin McDowell its easier to reference the past than the future ( Courreges space age fashion in the 60s/70s fell into the future trap.) Hr guessed as to what future fashion would/could look like and he was wrong
Most photogs reference or revisit the past and just as fashions styles can be old but the fabrics new successful photogs bring a new take to an old idea. The trick is not reference things that are too contemporary and close.
Meisel breaks this 'rule' too. At least Helmut thought so
http://www.indexmagazine.com/interviews/helmut_newton.shtml
LEETA: A lot of photographers in the ‘90s copied your style, using hard flash, hotel rooms, cars, even dogs. HELMUT: I’ll tell you something, I’m touched if I can influence young people. I was influenced by Brassai, by Erich Salomon — they’re the people that I admired when I was very young. In fact, I still think there’s some Brassai in my photography — which is a good thing. But what really pisses me off is when famous photographers do it. I’m not mentioning names, but I’m thinking of a Versace campaign. You know the photo of the woman with the garters? LEETA: You mean Steven Meisel? HELMUT: Mind you, he’s a very good photographer. But it’s a dumb way to work. But look, young people have got to start somewhere. I grew up in the Bauhaus period, I looked at Maholy-Nacy, Cartesh [fc], and Brassai.
So there you go.
Referencing heres an example:
Heres a picture by Herman Landshoff: Girls on bicycles taken for Junior Bazaar 1946 Theyre kids having fun 1940s style http://www.lookonline.com/land-4.jpg
Now Twiggy by Ronald Traeger. She shows all the attitudes of 60s kids http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/PM/pm_820002_b.jpg
And lastly Elaine Constantine all the uncoolness of 90s kids being stupid etc
http://www.galerie213.com/dossier/cons/imcons/gr05.jpg
Theyre all kids having fun on bikes but the attitudes are different, theyre of their time, In a way the Constantine picture is a good 'copy' of the Twiggy shot really more of a reference.
These pictures give a good idea of the difference between 'copying' and 'referencing' or 'revisiting'