How did you develop your eye?

[Franglais]

You know what I mean - how did you develop your way of taking photos so that your personal style? I just discovered the moment when it happened for me, while scanning my old films.

In 1976 I was trying to do good photos. My diary was full of ideas and reflections on how it should be done. It was all so BORING. Then in the Winter of 1976/1977 several things happened:

1. I started spending my lunchtimes at the National Gallery in London, just looking at one painting a day.
2. I did a Photography Appreciation evening school. No technology - we just looked at great photographers images and learnt about their life and work (Weston, Walker Evans, Callahan, Arbus, etc.)
3. I simplified my technique, just used one small camera with a single fixed lens and 400 ISO black-and-white film.

My diary improved a lot. I started doing narrative, describing what was going on around me. And in the Spring of 1977 my images suddenly seem to become more or less what they are today. Here's one of my favourites, taken in Sardinia.