It wasn't too long ago that we saw Boris Eldagsen's AI image win a traditional photography competition in a statement highlighting the implications of AI, and it has just happened again, however this time, in reverse!
Photographer Miles Astray won both the People's Vote and a jury award in the AI category of The 1839 Awards with a fantastic image of a seemingly headless Flamingo titled 'F L A M I N G O N E'. The plot twist is, that it was a real photograph!
Instead of using an AI generator, Astray used the trusty Nikon D750 DSLR to capture a surreal moment while on vacation in Aruba, which depicted a flamingo mid-belly scratch.
The 1839 Awards is a prestigious photography competition with a whos who of judges on the panel including art directors and editors from The New York Times, Phaidon Press, and Getty Images to name just a few.
Upon winning the award photographer Astray revealed the true nature of the image shocking the jury and the public in equal measure. So what was the purpose of this ruse?
In a blog post on Miles Astray's website, he states "With AI-generated content remodeling the digital landscape rapidly while sparking an ever-fiercer debate about its implications for the future of content and the creators behind it – from creatives like artists, journalists, and graphic designers to employees in all sorts of industries – I entered this actual photo into the AI category of 1839 Awards to prove that human-made content has not lost its relevance, that Mother Nature and her human interpreters can still beat the machine, and that creativity and emotion are more than just a string of digits".
Astray admits to having ethical concerns about leading the jury and the voting public awry however chose to submit the image as a "jab at AI and its ethical implications", and hoped they too would also see it this way – and perhaps surprisingly, they did!
After revealing the truth about the image, 'F L A M I N G O N E' was of course disqualified, however, Astray received an email from Lily Fierman, Co-Founder and Director of 1839 Awards. In it, she remarked that it served as a powerful message and an important and timely statement. She added, "We hope this will bring awareness (and a message of hope) to many photographers worried about AI".
There is no question that we as an industry and as people are all coming to grips with the real-world implications of AI, and this kind of statement serves as a reminder to be cautious but also as a reminder that humans are pretty remarkable without AI assistance!
