@
ajlopez I don't if this is going to help.
When I was doing my photography degree (a long time ago lol), we were given the task of producing a small portfolio of images which were influenced by famous art works. The reaction I got from two of my five images was very different and may illustrate the conundrum that you are facing.
In one of them, I got a friend of mine to pose outdoors on a curving road. It was late in the evening and I accentuated the perspective distortions one gets by using a wide angle lens. The image was a direct reference to The Scream by Edvard Munch.
The second image I used was a shot of a flamenco guitarist that I took at a live gig in a local bar. It was a once in a life time shot because the guitarist took up a pose (for literally a few seconds) that was very reminiscent of The Old Guitarist by Picasso.
The fist shot was deemed to be too much of a copy and unoriginal. The second was praised as a great example of seeing, recognising and allowing oneself to be influenced by great art.
I have to say that I didn't agree with the comments that I got from my lecturer. Sure, my friend had her hands to her face and was screaming. But, in my image, she was to the left of the frame and not to the right and she was on a road not on a bridge with a body of water behind her. But it was similar enough for the lecturer to say that I'd simply copied the painting. Of course, I had.
