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The photo vs. life threads always come to cross-purposes and burn out, almost always for the same reasons.
Anyone who can work from photo references (even poor ones) and produce excellent work is blessed indeed and should continue to do so and reap great fortune. They are gifted with an eye for life, even if they cannot always work from life. For some, the gift is natural, and for others, it follows from careful attention and practice in life settings.
The only time (for the most part) that it matters whether a work has been drawn from photographs is when it looks like it, and the artist doesn't realize it. That's the hazard, and I believe that's the problem 99% of the time when a photo reference issue comes up.
One other issue, which is rarely spoken of, is that the habit, the dependence upon references can sometimes leave one adrift, as the musician who cannot play at all if he hasn't any sheet music to read. The audience usually doesn't care whether the piece is played from written notation or from memory or through improvisation, if it sounds good. But in the musician's head, these are very different methods and meditations. Not "good" or "bad," just useful in different ways.
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