Einheit00
2023
KI or the extinction of photography!
What a sensation it was as the first chess computer Deep Blue won against Garri Kasparow back in 1997!
Now it’s 2023….and our cars still don’t fly….
But it’s totally normal nowadays that computers play better chess than humans and AI pics on DA look better than a work by a human pro artist! Well….no, we aren’t quite there yet, but we’re heading in the direction quite fast when the KI might provide the better “stock photos” or “illustrations” and maybe also the better composition for images that will be sufficient for most use cases.
As for the artistic value of the stock photos I made on famous places, which where shared a billion times on social media and me standing on the exact place where hoards of photography workshop attendees left the imprints of their tripos, I feel it would be hypocritical to complain about the missing “art” in AI art.
Also the fact that in the future it will be more and more difficult to see the difference between a “real” photo and an AI enhanced one is not something I concern of. Photography itself was always something between illusion and documentation and speaking of famous photo locations again, most of them look rather underwhelming compared with some shots you might have seen from pro photographers. These photos are suggesting you’ll enter a “fairy tale world” if you go there, but in reality these places too are still just plain and simple “world”.
So what about stock/landscape photographers like me, will we cease to exist? I doubt it. Take for example a photo of the Old Man of Storr in Scotland. Millions of people where there and took photographs of it, from all angles with all weather conditions and in various image qualities. There is really not a single reason to go there and do another shot of it. Yet, if you search for “Old man of Storr photos” of it you’ll find at least a new photo every day. Why is that? Because people for whatever reason just want to go there and take a shot.
Also pro artists will certainly not forced to retire because of AI art because…well, world chess championship is still played by humans.
Finally, just to prevent misunderstandings: the line from my “About” entry here on DA “How much more beautiful would this world be, without me?” it wasn’t meant as an expression of Weltschmerz but just a recognition that most landscape photos look better without having me posing with a selfie stick.
2022
Gentle reader, long time no see!
My last entry was made made 2019 but as you know in 2020 there was an "issue" which disturbed our hours of idleness a bit.
And as it seemed we got through the worst, in 2022 there started another "issue" and I don't know how many issues have yet to come but I'll try to entertain you with some stock photos again, while we are waiting in the back-country for the saviour girl.
Because since we are familiar with French history and Japanese animes, we all know very well that there always has to be a girl that must sacrifice herself to save us, the country and the entire world.
2019
2018
Gentle Reader,
this year I'd like to focus on landscape stock photography of famous locations from a few different countries.
These pictures are primarily meant for enjoyment as a wallpaper on your device, as pictures for blog entries and inspration as a drawing reference. But of course if you can use the for photomanipulations etc. you may do so as well.
The photos I'm providing are often a bit post processed but I try not to do „too much“ myself because you may want to have just a basic picture for your own processing. If you'd prefer images right out of the camera without any post processing or fully finished pre-made backgrounds, please let me know.
I may try to sort the stock photos in sub-folders for each country and type of photo (landscape, animals, clouds etc...). But to be allowed to create subfolders, you need to have a premium account. Will see, if some nice people donate some points to get a premium account I'll do this.
2016
Another year is gone. For me a year with great changes. That is valid for my DA account as well. It's the year I gave up figure photography and started to draw/paint instead.
Looking back to my old figure photography I have to say without praise myself, some of them look really cool and I don't understand why they didn't get more attention. In fact, 5 years of doing figure photography and photomanipulations where five lost years and considering the attention they got, I produced one flop after another. Not to mention that there is no way to earn a single Dollar with it.
Doing drawings about a year now was the total opposite of a story of success either, but I'm not nervous about that right now. Drawing is a quite different procedure than photography and I needed some time to discover the secret of drawing anime charcters. There is a lot to learn and a lot to practise and some expensive investments to be made. For 2016 I will continue to practise, try differnt style and techuniques learn what people want to see. Hopefully things are going well and I'll produce at least one image which people will like and consider me for commissions by the end of the year.
Happy New Year to all of you!