Just Another Ferris Wheel Photo

While outside the Texas State Fair Grounds on a photo shoot last week, I ran to the fence with my trusty IPhone and took what I thought was a pretty cool snap shot. When I showed it around back at the shoot the first comment I heard was, " wow, bet you're the only person ever to take a picture of that Ferris wheel!" Pretty accurate comment, and one that got me thinking. How many photos would we not take if we thought "that photo's already been taken"? Or more likely, how many photos are taken because someone has seen a photograph of the same subject?

I have always been inspired by others work but have always tried to put my own spin on the subject I'm photographing. I never thought about why I didn't like a photo (mostly my own), until now. Is it because the photographer, maybe subconsciously, is trying to recreate the same image as the one they saw in the book or museum rather than use it as an inspiration? I now think that in my case it's that the photograph I shot too closely resembles a work I've already seen.