More and more AI content shows up in my feed, and the sad thing is that I fall for it. Seems like the algorithms get something right. I just follow these whimsical, moody and somehow melancholic images.
One AI artist wrote in his bio: focus on the feeling, not on the technique. And yes, I think he’s right. But it leaves me questioning: what do I do with my photography? What is it good for?
It would be easy to rant about how algorithms, AI and social media ruin photography for me, but that’s not the point. I think the picture itself is never really the point, although pictures can be very powerful.
What makes a good picture for me is that it captures not only a moment in time, but is a record of an experience. Everything I’ve gone through, my whole development as a photographer, shows up in it. If it is good picture, it points to something beyond that single moment.
What do I mean by that? Yesterday I went on a photo walk through my neighbourhood in Schöneberg, from Kleispark to Belziger Strasse and the Schöneberg Museum. It was organised by Berlin Photo Walks. Along the way, I walked into one of these old buildings and found a garage painted in black, red and yellow, the colours of Germany, with a football printed on it.
It reminded me of my childhood, when my brother, the kids in the neighbourhood and I played football in the street. I was never really good at it. And all the older people in the neighbourhood hated us for making so much noise.
So here’s a picture that points beyond what is seen, because my personal experience goes into it. If I focus on that as a photographer, photography still has meaning for me and maybe for other people, too.
But I understand that this can be detached from how we create an image. The only thing that matters is that we associate a human being with its creation. I could use AI, but I won’t, because it doesn’t create the experience I’m looking for: being out and about, observing things around me, trying to notice what they reflect about me and what I can project onto them.
So here’s my thought about the future of photography in the age of AI. Big topic – tiny thoughts.
