In my ever continuing quest to be a better photographer I study the works of other artists to see what I can learn from them. One of the artists I have been studying recently is Edward Weston. He has a very well known photograph of a pepper that is quite beautiful. While I never intend to copy another artists work I sometimes will shoot something very similar as an exercise to "see" the light, subject matter and approach that they used to make one of their well know images.
This, while nowhere near as memorable or beautiful as the Weston pepper is one of the test shots made in my learning process. I like it–and I don't. The light is nice. The curves are interesting but it is still a complete derivative of a previously made photograph. But, I can take this knowledge, experience and approach and add it to my knowledge base for anything else I shoot in the future. I love to learn.