True or False: Crows Invade Santa Cruz Beach!

How many birds are on the fence? You may see four. Are there four? Were there ever more than four? or were there fewer?  Were there any at all? We used to call it collage.  Now it’s called Artificial Intelligence (AI).  [AI always looks to me like the name Al. How I wish for a different font…]


If I spend a lot of time learning how to make something happen in Photoshop or Procreate, or if I’d been clever enough back in the day to do this in the darkroom, I feel like I can call it mine, maybe call it art.  But here we are, some of us, up in arms about AI (no not Al, poor guy. He didnt do anything wrong.) Is the work unacceptable if it’s all done by an app? A person has to prompt the app, at least right now.  Just like a person has to manipulate Photoshop, or an enlarger, or a pair of scissors for that matter.

I love this article on Artificial Intelligence:  https://www.lensculture.com/articles/phillip-toledano-another-america-ai-generated-photos-from-the-1940s-and-50s.  It is itself a prompt. What is real? what do we trust? is photography still a viable medium? what does any of this have to do with me?

Clearly this has caught my attention. I’m hoping to hear back from fellow Blippers. Have you tried AI? why or why not? what happened? Have you used other apps to alter images? have you made drawings from your imagination? what else do you have to say about all this?? 

And in case you’re wondering, there was one bird on the fence. He hopped around and I took several shots, then put them together in Procreate. It didn’t take very long.