That aside I needed to keep reminding myself as I read the article that this is about photography as art, aping the style of old photographs. But those old photos don't necessarily look the way they do because the photographers of that time were after a certain aesthetic, they were simply the best photographs it was possible to make at that time.
It can be very hard to beat the zietgiest of an age at their own game. There is something special in that, which we try to measure up to, but still can't quite reproduce exactly even with better technology.
Will there ever be a eugene atget or a walker Evans or a Dorothea Lange that beat them at their own game?
Eugene Atget or Walker Evans or Dorothea Lange were doing their thing in their now -- so beating them at their own game would be doing your thing in your now.
-- Brian Eno