Photo by Diane Arbus

Susan Sontag with her son David Rieff photographed by Diane Arbus in 1965.

Rieff writing about Sontag in his recent book Swimming in a Sea of Death:

“If I don’t believe in my own work,” she once said to me after one of her books had received a particularly disdainful review from a writer who made much of how seriously my mother took herself, “why should anyone else?”

I go back and forth about posting work by other photographers on this blog. The primary reason I do it is to show work that influences me and pushes my own work forward. (See here and here.)

I always come back to an old Cuban saying my Mom and my grandmother Mimi use to tell me all the time — in Spanish, of course — while I was growing up:

Dime con quién andas y te diré quién eres.

This is literally translated as “Tell me with whom you walk and I will tell you who you are” and loosely translated as “A man is known by the company he keeps”.

I’ve always been a little suspect of the phrase. Just because I keep the company of a certain person doesn’t mean that I am like that person or that their ways are mine. However, that may still be the rebellious kid in me bucking the parental wisdom.

The funny thing is that I keep coming back to that proverb every time I consider posting the work of influential photographers and artists on this blog. It’s as if a part of me truly believes the proverb to hold some truth.

I’m thrilled that I can find and wax rhapsodical about connections between people that inspire me and my own creative process. Making and finding meaning in those connections pushes me to be more passionate about my work and my life.

So yeah, I will likely continue to post influential work alongside my own work around here. My influences and inspirations are the company I keep. I couldn’t be more proud to walk with them.

Andrea, Catalina Beach © Baldomero Fernandez

This photograph by Baldomero Fernandez has been a favorite of mine for a few years now. It, along with much of Baldomero’s work, has been an inspiration and a guidepost for my own work.

There’s a sense of tension and mystery in this photo. The telephone appears to play a significant role in the story. However, the woman’s gaze is not on the phone itself but on something beyond the camera’s view.

Is someone coming towards or looking back at her? Is she staring off into space, lost in a thought, thinking whether she should call or not? Is the phone ringing, the woman choosing to look away and ignore it?

This photograph makes me want to linger for a while. It makes me want to know more about it. And, most importantly, it makes me want to create photographs that have a similar impact.

© Todd Heisler/The New York Times

I love this photograph of Bruce Springsteen by Todd Heisler. Simple and well composed. (It accompanied this article from the New York Times.)