Mark, I would not suggest taking your work to another photographer for a judgment about its value; take it to someone who is respected in the curatorial world (as Steiglitz was at the time). Remember that the guys who made the pilgrimmage to Steiglitz were doing cutting-edge work and they wanted it seen by the most sophisticated eyes in the art world. If you are doing what you think is cutting edge work, then look around for that kind of person to show it to.
However, nowadays there really isn't any one curator-type who is considered the end-all decider of what is good and what isn't. You will get just as many opinions as the number of people that you show it to. So I urge you not to make the mistake of putting all of your faith in the opinion of one person, because if they trash your work then it can be devastating (I know-- I have made that mistake a few times over). You can only judge whether your work has value in the art world after having it reviewed by a large number of people and seeing the patterns that emerge.
I would recommend attending the portfolio review events in Houston, Santa Fe, Portland Oregon and possibly elsewhere. If you do that you will hear many widely varied opinions about your work; some will make sense and others won't, and after a while you will get an overall sense of how your work is viewed and where in the art world it might have value. In the end it really comes down to how much you value your own work; I think successful artists value their own work, and in doing so they teach others to value their work.
Good luck,
~cj
www.chrisjordan.com
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