Fashion Editorial: What Lies Beneath by Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott ~ Inspiration or Plagiarism?

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Inspiration or Plagiarism? You decide

On the left are images from Mert and Marcus’ What Lies Beneath. On the right are images from Jeff Bark’s Woodpecker series ( 2007).  To me it's beautifully done plagiarism. Inspiration is a great thing, but always try and put your own spin on it or at the very least pay homage to the original artist.
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Interview with Photographer Stefan Ruiz.

Ruiz is a charismatic guy with an eye for interesting subject matter. I find it intriguing that Ruiz is influenced by painters, Flemish specifically. The lighting depicted in the paintings he references are more interesting to me than his own mug-shot style flat lighting. I would like to see him break free of the two lights flanking the camera set up and give the subject more shape and form with light. The Flemish  masters understood light and how important it is to the overall impact of the image. Check out Rembrandt lighting

Stefan Ruiz

Jan Van Eyck  

SELF-PORTRAIT of REMBRANDT