Cape Light by Joel Meyerowitz (1979) was pivotal for me. Recently graduated with a BFA in Photography, I was still struggling with my indoctrination into the One True Path of photography: the Zone System, the f/64 school of seeing, and, of course, the notion that real photography is in black and white, period. Insecure about shooting color, and not drawn to the overblown heroics of classic landscape photography, I found Cape Light to be a revelation, and, more importantly, permission. Meyerowitz was photographing a place I knew and loved, and seeing it in a way that aligned with the sort of vision I was hesitant to allow myself until then.
Cape Light is a masterpiece in its own right, of course. But I'm grateful that it came into my life when it did, and influenced me as it did.