After some dramatic recent events, the blogosphere has been overwhelmed with questions and comments over what counts as inspiration, where the line is to imitation and how originality comes about within this online world. All eyes have been on bloggers has we continue to grow, evolved and inspire one another. But inspiration can lead to fussy lines and take you into a deep haze of, frankly, copycats.
And it got me thinking. What is inspiration? And where do we draw the line into completely copying?
After seeing this particular girls ‘come back post’ through defending herself by declaring that a complete copy-and-paste situation was merely ‘taking inspiration’, I started looking into other Instagram feeds.
As someone with a relatively medium following (it’s definitely not the largest but I think I have grown to a comfortable number), I can handpick numerous accounts who have taken a photo which looks almost identical to mine. Whether that be the outfit, the location or the products within the shot.
I always wonder to myself, should I be annoyed?
Copying is the biggest form of flattery. I know mum but that doesn’t mean I don’t get pissed off.
When it comes to people taking inspiration from others, I think it’s perfectly healthy. As long as every other photo isn’t a remake of what someone else has done.
In such a saturated environment, bloggers thrive on originality and individuality. So if you’re going to just be remaking someone else’s content, what reason do I have to follow you? I may aswel follow the original.
Saying that, being in a saturated environment makes for great difficulty in proving your originality. Any location I shoot on I can garuntee that I will find at least a thousand other bloggers snapping equally as gorgeous pictures. So if you’re image looks similar to someone else’s, that’s just the way it is I’m afraid chicken. As long as you show YOU through other means- the caption, the outfit or the story behind the shot, that’s what’s going to make you stand out.
So I guess what I am saying it, when it comes to inspiration, I think it’s hard not to get caught up in the whole situation. We all see a post and want to create our own version of it. We all look at others feeds and like what we see. But as long as you credit them, show them how much you appreciate them inspiring you and, above all, stay true to yourself.
That’s where we can draw the line at inspiration.
