 The more pictures that you see, the better you are as a photographer. One of my all-time favourites, Robert Maplesol, and that is, I think, that's probably the biggest truism in photography. If you want to improve as a photographer then you need to look at and consume as many photographs and images that you possibly can. Think about what happens when you are taking photographs and what is occurring before you press the shutter. There are so many processes but the start of that, the very kernel of that image you're about to take, comes from seeing what is the potential in front of you and comparing that to all the images that you've seen before that are inside your head. That you can draw upon them from inspiration to combine various elements in different ways and put them together in a unique format that impresses people, that makes them go, wow! But if you've only got one or two ingredients to choose from, then your work is it going to end up being bland? Or are you super capable of putting them together in a completely unique way? Well, I don't know about you but I think I would struggle if I only had one or two ingredients to work from. So that's why I love, I love to invest in digging out and seeking out images that I can file away, that I can use later on, and if you do that then you're going to have a far wider pool of inspiration to draw from, especially when comparing your work against, say, your contemporaries. It is so difficult these days to stand out from the crowd, to make images that have something unique to say, that aren't just a repetition of the same image that's been regurgitated again and again and again. These are people whose pools of inspiration have become mucky and dirty, much like a watering hole in Africa during the drought, because there are so many people going to the same place. So by seeking out images that, you know, in any places, books, his two books that I picked up today just came in the post that were like super cheap, this, this book here was a pound. It was brand new in a wrapper, it's actually, you can see what we're talking about, MapleThorpe, it's David Hockney, Vic Munance, Catherine Opie, Sterling Ruby, Cindy Sherman, Heidi Salami, Robert Wilson, all these people talking about their favorite MapleThorpe photographs. Wow, a pound, you know, it's crazy. And this other one I bought just because of the strength of the cover, and I love these sort of things, that it's called underwater cathedrals, you know, there's water tanks and things. Also, a couple of quid. Now, I don't, you know, I like spending money on books, you may not be that interested in spending money on books. So go online, go beyond Flickering, but go beyond Instagram, look up an artist whose work you love, look at album covers, music videos, anything that intrigues you. Jazz covers, if you're into jazz, well, then you are on a hot streak to finding so many interesting examples of photography that you can draw hugely from that many other people have overlooked. So take the plunge, commit to being a better photographer by looking at as many photographs as you possibly can, and your photography is going to thank you for it. Robert MapleThorpe was a fantastic photographer, and I'm so pleased that that quote exists, because it's not just him, it's all the photographers. There is a common theme that the more that you look at work of other people, other visual artists that stimulates you, that you find intriguing, then the better and stronger your images become. And I cannot stress that enough, I keep going over the same ground, but it's true. If you want to become better, a new lens is not going to do it, a new camera, these are just tools. Take the time to seek out work that you can use, that you can take pieces from like a magpie, and you will be so much the richer and more powerful and strong photographer for that. And I can't wait to see what you come up with.