Growth in photography often feels like a series of overwhelming choices. We look at different genres and techniques, trying to find a starting point that feels right. But the most effective roadmap for development is found in a classic idea you've probably heard: great artists don't just copy, they steal.
Finding a Starting Point
Picking up a camera for the first time is usually exciting. A whole world of possibilities is ahead! But quickly, we often realize that our photos aren't what we hoped they would be. Trying to understand how to improve can be like trying to find a needle in a haystack. There are so many genres and different ways of approaching each one. Even as we gain experience, the same feeling returns when we try something new. Having a foundation in landscape photography doesn't necessarily mean you will immediately feel at home shooting portraits.
The well-known expression "good artists copy, great artists steal" provides a useful framework for these moments. It gives us a way to approach a new genre or even our photography as a whole by moving through two distinct phases: borrowing and stealing.
The Value of Borrowing
The easiest place to start is borrowing from other photographers. One interesting element of this is that it has a key part of success built in. In order to borrow, you have to steep yourself in the collective body of work that makes up a particular genre or style. This requires a shift from passive scrolling to active seeing. You should dive into photos from the masters and lesser-known photographers equally, treating it as research into how they solve problems. Notice what you are drawn towards and what you don't like as much.
When you find something that strikes you, try it out! You can do this in a literal way by shooting the same scene in the same style as a photo you admire. Or you might apply a particular photographer's approach to a subject you happen to have nearby. See how close you can get to their work.
This is essentially the "cover band" move. Instead of seeking out your own version of success right away, you are replaying the hits. People like the hits for a reason. And many artists and musicians have made entire careers out of this.
If you want to take your work further, think about how these different approaches felt to you. Try on different styles like you are trying on clothes to see what fits. As you do, you might find you are becoming an artist who remixes the classics. Your work might look like what came before, but it becomes somewhat different because of the specific way you've combined those borrowed parts.
We often overlook an interesting and surprising benefit to borrowing: the inevitable failure to replicate something perfectly. You might try to mimic a master's use of light, but because you are using a different strobe, or because the sun is at a slightly different angle in your part of the world, the result may not be an exact match. Initially, this feels like a mistake. But looking closer, these "failed" attempts are where your own thumbprint first starts to appear. Your inability to be someone else is often the first step toward being yourself. By leaning into these discrepancies instead of correcting them, you stop being a technician and start becoming a stylist.
If you want a structured way to explore multiple genres while you experiment with borrowing, The Well-Rounded Photographer: 8 Instructors Teach 8 Genres of Photography offers a useful overview from instructors working across very different styles.
Learning to Steal
When you borrow something, it is never truly yours. There is always an expectation that you will return it, like a library book. In photography, that means you will always be expressing yourself with someone else's voice.
Stealing is different. We have laws against stealing objects because they belong to someone else. Stealing is trying to redefine who possesses it.
While this is still true in a strict sense for creative work, too, the concept of "stealing" for growth is less about taking what belongs to others. If you literally took a finished photograph and claimed it, that really is just theft. That is obviously not what is meant by great artists stealing.
Instead, this stealing focuses on the aspect of making something your own. It's about internalizing elements from others' work. While borrowing keeps the original style visible, stealing means taking these small pieces and combining them in a new or different way. You make them your own by using them to express your particular perspective. Every choice to take an element has an impact on how you express yourself, with the results compounding over time as you layer one influence over another.
Truly artistic stealing is not mimicking the entirety of someone's approach. Instead, take the smaller parts that resonate with you. Maybe it is a specific subject, an element of composition, or a way of seeing light. Maybe it's a way of handling shadows or particular styles of color management in post-processing. It's by collecting these small parts that you build up your own photographic language, and your unique voice begins to emerge. Being influenced by many sources, and applying them to specific scenarios you find yourself photographing, is how you build yourself up as an artist. Instead of duplicating as a borrower, you are telling your own story of a thief!
The Integration of Influence
Ultimately, the goal is to move past the stage where your influences are obvious. We all start by standing on the shoulders of those who came before us, and there is no shame in that. Real originality is often just the result of having unidentifiable sources. By the time you have "stolen" from enough places and filtered those pieces through your own experiences, the seams between those influences start to disappear.
The transition from borrowing to stealing is really just the process of becoming honest with yourself about what you actually like. When you stop trying to replicate a whole image and start integrating the specific details that appeal to you, the "theft" disappears. What remains is a voice built from a thousand different influences, filtered through you as a unique individual. Instead of covering the hits, you're writing your own music with the notes you've gathered along the way.
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