There has been a pretty spirited discussion across multiple socials about AI and photography. The question is simple enough. Is AI photography?
Most of the photographers who responded said, “no.” Many photographer’s comments showed that they had no idea what the hell they are talking about, That’s the same problem most of the world has today. Fire way about anything on social media without knowing anything about the topic. That’s what the cancel culture is really about.
I stirred up a firestorm when I said the photography has historically been a technology driven art or craft. The replies were predictable, with many of them centered around, “if all you do is type words into an app the photographer has no control.”
Really?
Where I come from photo assignments were drive been concepts, and concepts are usually expressed in words. That had an unintended effect. Everybody shut up. I suppose a lot of the photographers who were commenting are sunset shooters who just point their cameras and say, “Duh! look at the pretty colors.” There are concepts that could drive a sunset pictures, but they don’t know them.
It wasn’t until I read The New York Times food section about AI driven Thanksgiving recipes that codified my thoughts. AI produced pretty photographs but they looked nothing like the real food. Worse, the food tasted terrible.
This is what it came down to.
“But it is still humanity — with its intuition, storytelling and warmth — that drives a good recipe.”
That’s what’s I’ve been thinking using other words. Even though I tinkered with it a few months ago, I doubt I’ll be using it for anything serious.
It’s the lack of intuition, storytelling and warmth that really bothers me.
The picture? Trees at golden hour.
STORYTELLER 
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