Artificial Intelligence and AI Art generators have inundated my internet news feeds as of late. And now that I have spent some time experimenting with these new AI art generation tools, I am beginning to understand what all the fuss is about.
So, this article will be a brief summary of what I have found, what kind of an impact I think AI art generators are going to have on both photography and other kinds of art, as well as some predictions about the immediate future.
Before we get into it, I’d like to mention that all of the images in this post were generated by artificial intelligence using the DALLE-2 generator.
First Impressions
If I’m honest, my first experiments with AI and visual art were pretty bad. I couldn’t seem to describe/create anything that looked real, interesting, compelling, artistic, etc… Within an hour, I had pretty much dismissed the entire concept. However, after seeing–yet more articles–on the topic, I decided to give it a second go. Slowly, as I dove deeper, I began to see what all the hype was about.
While these tools do struggle to create life-like imagery (in many cases, the details give it away quickly), I think that that particular aspect of the AI will improve rather quickly.
Currently, where AI art shines is with slightly more abstract concepts.
With a little practice, interesting double exposures, explosion or mashup-looking imagery, landscape pieces, as well as architectural art can be generated pretty consistently. The resolution might not be there yet, as these images are still only 1 Megapixel in size, but that will come with time.
The Moment My Mind Changed
The breakthrough moment for me, though, was during the creation of my recent YouTube video on AI art.
Typically, when I finish a video, I upload it and then begin working on the thumbnail image if I don’t already have one (which I did not in this case). In my mind, I had an elaborate photo I was going to take in my apartment, but setting up the lights and taking the photo was probably going to take me an entire evening. I decided since this was–after all–a video on AI imagery, I might as well see if I could use the AI to generate a thumbnail for the video. So, I set myself to that task.
After about 20 minutes of trial and error (instead of an entire evening), I had my thumbnail.
Mind. Blown.
Sure, it has its’ problems. It doesn’t look quite like a REAL image. However, I also could not have created anything like this in my apartment.
The landlord strictly forbids explosions.
Conclusion
I think the story above sums up the entire point perfectly.
These tools are going to save people countless hours, reduce the cost of imagery, and pretty much change the entire landscape of photography and all visual arts. I don’t know when it will happen or to what extent exactly, but I think the writing is on the wall.
Some of this will be great, awesome, useful, and fun. Some of it will be sad, unethical, controversial, and will result in the loss of jobs.
Naturally, as someone who loves photography dearly, I have mixed feelings about this prospect. With that said, I am also someone who takes a great interest in technology. So, at this point, I am excited about the prospect of integrating AI into my creative work over time.
We shall see.
I have this hobby. It’s kind of a strange one.
My friends and I own trucks that we’ve strapped and bolted a bunch of equipment to: tents, water jugs, air pumps… that kinda thing.
Then, we take these trucks and we drive them down roads with big rocks, to places where vehicles don’t really belong. The goal, mostly, is just to get away from civilization. To enjoy the outdoors.
However, since I was abroad for a few months—and also because Southern California is tire-meltingly hot in summer—we hadn’t really done any trips in a while. So, long overdue for some camping, we packed up said trucks and hit the road in search of altitude, epic views, and slightly cooler weather.
Northern-ish Arizona is where we ended up.
On the morning of day one we found ourselves in Sedona. But as the temperatures climbed in the early hours we all agreed to head further north since we definitely didn’t want to spend the day driving around in the heat. So, what happened next?
We spent most of the day driving around in the heat and the crushingly intense Sedona sun. Poorly executed plans, terrible weather, and badly timed decisions are all common threads with our little trifecta.
It’s kinda what we do.
Couldn’t help it though, the area was gorgeous, and Zach discovered he could legally fly his drone, which costs two thousand dollars and apparently can hardly be used anywhere in the United States of America. So, we endured.
As late afternoon rolled around, we rambled our way off the trail, ate some sad burritos, and began our trek further north and up above 7,000 ft.
After a few hours of hunting we found a campsite near a meadow. I hit my gas tank on a rock, and Danny and Zach threw a frisbee while I lazily watched in a chair. Pretty standard drill for our party. They can never get me to join activities; I don’t like activities. Unfortunately, I didn’t take many photos at this location, which I regret because it was quite pretty.
I do this a lot: I sit in a chair looking around at my incredible surroundings while thinking about how I should take some photos. Then I continue to sit in the chair.
Not all was lost though, from that chair I got a photo of Zach and his dog in another chair—score.
The next day we decided to look for a camp spot with a view, but Zach and I were feeling a bit lazy from the long drive the day before. Danny (who is obsessed with his maps made of paper) found a potential location and promised me/us it was only 15 miles and about an hour or so of driving. Danny makes lots of these kinds of promises. We’ve learned become skeptics.
I would like to hold what turned out to be a three hour drive against him, but the spot he found was by far the coolest place I have ever camped. So he was redeemed. Not that he cared one way or another. Danny is very secure in himself.
At this location, we got all setup and I took a nap while Zach and Danny went on a hike. Because I don’t do activities.
I did make some time for an Instagram-style selfie though. It may look as if I am contemplating the gorge, but I am not. Instead, I am wondering if I am standing in a way that looks weird in this frame, because I am not a model, no one is manning this camera, and I can’t be motivated to go back and forth and review the shots over and over.
When my friends returned we were assaulted by two things: mosquitoes and a brilliant sunset. The mosquitoes are why my friends are dressed like actors from Monty Python and The Holy Grail. The sunset is why I ended up getting a bunch of photographs I am really happy with from our trip.
More drones were flown. Beers were consumed, and we spent the evening having a nice chat by the fire. Eventually, we wandered off to bed in our tents. Naturally, I wondering if a bear might attack me in the night, as I always do in these kinds of places. But per the usual, that never materialized. Instead, we awoke in the morning without fanfare, and made the 8 hour trip home. Another beautiful drive.
We had a fantastic time, an epic trip, and some good experiences with some great friends.
I don’t really know how to end this story, so I’ll just leave you the way we started. With a photo.
Well, I have been back in the U.S. for about a week now. Finally got some time to go over all of the images I shot in Berlin. So, I figured it was time for a post.
Not much to say except that Berlin is a visual mess for someone like me. I tend to gravitate towards a lot of simplicity and subject isolation in my photos. That was very difficult to achieve there. Consequently, I felt like I had to adapt my style a bit.
In a way, this happens anywhere you go with a camera. Every city, person and landscape presents different challenges.
Berlin just has a lot going on, pretty much everywhere you look.
In the end, I got a few images that I am happy with, but nothing that ranks among my subjective best. I had a very pleasant time regardless, and appreciated the creative challenge.
Headed to Colorado Springs this week to check out an RV, then finally back to LA. Hope you all are well.
