I had someone ask me yesterday, why I state that I don’t want AI submissions on my site. It’s simple really, but some people won’t like the answer.
AI isn’t photography. Call it whatever else you want, or ask AI to tell you what it is, but it isn’t photography. At no time did anyone take out a camera, find a scene to photograph, examine and make a determination about the amount of light or whether the subject requires a faster shutter speed, more depth of field or an adjustment in white balance.
AI to me, is just another form of art, which is fine. I have nothing against art. Just don’t try to pass it off as photography. Photographers, especially the really great ones, may return to a single location that is distant and hard to reach, time after time, until the lighting conditions, weather conditions or subject behaviour is such that it affords them an opportunity to take ‘the’ picture. For most good photographers, knowing their subject is essential in order to capture its nuances. It it is an animal, all the more reason to understand the behaviours of an animal if you want to succeed in capturing the perfect photo.
Does any of this apply to AI? Of course not. One need only ask a range of questions in order for the computer to seek out images and information to compile. Does it look like photography? Generally, no, it doesn’t, but if you’re not an avid photographer you may make assumptions about a visual representation that simply aren’t valid.
“A photograph is something created by a camera. Whether that be a pinhole camera photo clumsily exposed onto film or your latest iPhone 14 Pro Max, these are products defined to produce a photograph out of light that enters it. What’s definitely not a photograph is something not created by exposure to light, like hyper-realistic paintings or “AI generated photos.” And the latter is nothing more than a machine creating something out of existing references.”
The previous paragraph is taken from Feroz Khan in the PhoBlographer, February 24th. I suppose I agree with him. I’m a bit of a purist when it comes to images. I grew up being stupified by the excellent work of Ansel Adams and Yousuf Karsh. Each in his genre was an absolute master who spent many years perfecting their craft. The results of their work speaks for itself.
So I hope that it is understandable from my own perspective as to why I’m not in favour of AI imagery. As someone who will trek for miles at altitude to discover an image that may have never been captured, although not always successfully, I still believe in, and enjoy the pursuit all the same. Irrespective of the form of photography you want to discover, the only way to master it is to spend time doing it. It is said that to become proficient at any skill or art form requires 10,000 hours of investment. I’ve never counted the hours, but the more time I spend immersed in learning about the quality of light, composition, timing and expression, the more I believe my output benefits.
Find your passion, find your niche and bring both to your photographic pursuits. Enjoy, be well and be safe.
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