Plagerism

Plagiarism in Photography

https://ccombs.wordpress.com/2007/02/08/plagiarism-in-photography/

This article was very thought provoking for me.  Especially at the end of the article where he quotes Mike Johnston,"photographers have two stages of development. In the first: you strive to emulate other photographers. The second: you strive to differentiate yourself from other photographers."  Which I believe is true, but what happens when something is photographed by two professionals, which turns out to be quite similar.  Maybe it isn't plagiarism, but coincidence?  And who is judging whether someone purposefully plagiarized or if it was happenstance? 

I think in our world today, with the ease it is to take pictures and manipulate, plagiarism is becoming even harder to distinguish.  There has always been a fine line with visual plagiarism, but now with the ease of technology things are going to become quite interesting - by forcing artists to push their art even further - what is art, what can art be, and how can you differentiate yourself from everyone else?  In some cases it makes things more difficult, but in other cases it may make our creative minds think even further outside the box.