If no-one tried to be original, you would have nothing to copy. The impulse to find new ways of seeing is the engine of art.
I fully agree.
But my point is not about the value of the originality: my point is about the "stopper" status of producing a photo "in the style of".
You saw in this very thread: Salgado is a copycat, and that's all we need to judge his photo.
And my problem is not on "is a copycat", but on "that's all we need to judge his photo".
(I'm refering to Salgado only because my photographic culture is quite limited).