Hi,
Well, Michael, you were right in the first place. The image and the idea behind it -- I gather from the article that Michael Christman is doing quite a series of those images -- are new and unique. Just because someone else, somewhere else, has done something similar does not impact the uniqueness of the idea and the resulting work -- that was the reason for quoting Edward Weston.
And please keep editorializing!
Thanks,
Jean-Michel