Conscientious

"The compelling pictures of coal miners [...] are by Song Chao, a 24-year-old amateur photographer from China, but you'd be right to make a connection with the celebrated American photographer Richard Avedon. [...] Until two years ago, Song had been unfamiliar with Avedon's photographs, indeed much of Western photographic history. But, as Alain Julienne, curator of Song's show at the annual International Photography Encounter at Arles, where these portraits were shown for the first time, points out, Song already possessed a plate camera and had initiated his series before discovering Avedon's oeuvre." (source)