>>3790943You're already bombarded with images everywhere. No one, absolutely no one is free from influence. As anon said that he want to get into photography and not just taking photos. To build a good practice you have to develop a good understating of that thing that you want to master. Studying and practice always go hand in hand. If some person comes up to a poet and says he wants to write poetry. The poet answer him to go read tons of poetry to train your initiation so when you will start writing poetry it will be way above in comparison to if you have directly start writing poetry without reading poetry.
And again if we are bombard with images all the time and we're unconsciously learning from those shitty images then why shouldn't we learn from best of the best. Just listen to the interview of any great musician, painter, photographer and they will always tell you about their influences. Art and intellectual activities are different from physical activity. Even in physical sports when you want strive towards achieving something higher you WILL need teachers and to have to study the small detail. Because when we talk about quality it's only minor details which make a great difference.
I agree with you that mastering the exposure and basics is a good start but this isn't enough. You can learn all the grammar and vocabulary to write thousand of pages but if you aren't familiar with nuances of literature you will NEVER go above the basic level. If you keep reinforcing your practice with studying then I can guaranty that you will get better.