Abstract
Daily, we encounter manipulated, software assisted photographs, however, until recently, human agency has been central to physical creative processes. My photographs in The Buildings of England guidebooks (Yale University Press) underwent extensive image computer manipulation, but they pre-date 2022’s Photoshop AI Generative Fill. My actions facilitated a reductive tableau to clearly communicate historic buildings. Audiences for this work are only interested to see the architecture, they are less concerned by the manner of its creation. This paper proposes that AI generative images of architecture embodying ‘photographic’ accuracy aligned to actual physical environments they depict, could pose no greater threat to our acceptance of ‘reality’ than signifiers of the subject produced by analogue and digital cameras. My study employs Methodological Pragmatism including image analysis, interviews and interpretive research. It asks why we question AI as a trusted view of the world so vociferously. Is our fear that we have had viewer ‘choice’ taken away from us, ‘hoodwinked’ by photorealistic AI? There’s an argument that deceit has always been the case with photography. Audiences of lens-based editorial and advertising images seen daily in society are expected to be passive in receipt and acceptance of controlled, constructed content, regardless of provenance. Using the built environment as subject focus, my research concludes that as long as we understand and interpret what we are looking at, signifier, or signified, it rarely matters whether it was created by a camera, or a series of prompts. Education is vital. As ever, in photography, context is king.
Presenters
Martine Hamilton KnightSenior Lecturer, Professional Practice, School of Design & Digital Arts, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, United Kingdom
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
2024 Special Focus—Images and Imaginaries from Artificial Intelligence
KEYWORDS
AI,ARCHITECTURE,SOCIETY,IMAGE,HUMAN,AGENCY,COMMUNICATE,VIEWER,INTERPRET,EDUCATION
