An AI memory

There’s a lot of hype about Artificial Intelligence, a newish concept whose ramifications are less familiar than the two letters (AI) identifying it.  One thing is clear, AI will change our lives.

A prompt is a series of words describing what we want AI to do. The prompt: “make the bird bigger and clearer with less dirt.” Photo by Kathy White

There’s a lot of hype about Artificial Intelligence, a newish concept whose ramifications are less familiar than the two letters (AI) identifying it.  One thing is clear, AI will change our lives.


From a pro photographer’s perspective my career has been a wild ride. I began shooting film and developing it by hand in the wet darkroom and now use a digital camera capable of capturing both video and still images. Today large wall decor art is printed in my studio.  Images can be put on aluminum metal, floater framed canvas prints, acrylic or fine art paper.


Shooting with film was an art, a skill and a respected profession.  Compositions were deliberate and great photos were rare, often limited to one exceptional photo on a 36 exposure roll of film.


Shooting with digital opened up an era where everything and anything was photographed, and hundreds of mediocre snaps became the experience.  The profession of photographer suddenly became challenged, now that everyone had a great camera on their phone.  Smart phones account for 94% of all photographs taken in 2026.  Every American on average takes 20 photos per day.  14 billion images are shared daily on social media, with WhatsApp leading at 6.9 billion.


Photographers don’t like sharing very much. They put watermarks on their digital images to prevent others from using without their permission.  Permission equates to income.  Photographers pay for photo editing software and AI subscriptions.  You can imagine my surprise when I learned that Meta AI was generating images based on public Instagram posts.  Instagram required people to opt-out if they objected, instead of having a consent-first approach.  That’s a sneaky way of feeding their AI bot’s thirst for content.


After 40 years, you think I would be ready to let photography go, especially when threatened by the “theft” of my content.  Each software upgrade and shear speed at which things change has left many of my generation standing in the dust.


Kathy White came to me with a photograph of a heron she had taken with her old iPhone 6.  It was a picture of a heron in St. James Park, a memory of her self-described best trip to London ever.  Photographs are memories, and this bird photo was an award winning memory.


Best trip because her two year search for the perfect photographer’s chapeau for me had ended with a fine French béret in the perfect shade of wine found at Lock and Company “Hatters to the Royals” a 350 year old establishment on St. James Street.  Appropriately, the hat covered the thinning hair on my crown.

The surprise on my face when Kathy presented me with my hat... after her two year God-driven mission meant to spread joy.

Unfortunately the photo was far from perfect and it was the final piece in her decorating scheme, and it wasn’t working out.  It required zooming in, but due to the lack of pixels the result was unacceptable.


Kathy was frantic, terrified, stressed.  Meanwhile I’m trying to help Kathy who has been so kind and thoughtful to me.  I had all of one day’s experience with an AI editor for photographs called Adobe Firefly.  You should have seen the look on her face, as her hopes and dreams were on the line, when I offered an option using a skill I learned just the day before.


A prompt is a series of words describing what we want AI to do.  The prompt:  “make the bird bigger and clearer with less dirt.”  The result was amazing.  The size of the bird increased to fill the canvas, it’s eye and feathers were sharp and well defined, the image was overall brighter with improved composition.  AI constructed the perfect heron, doing so because of the multitude of fine images contained within it’s database, from many photographers.


Challenging times.  Is AI an assistant helping us be more productive?  Or is it a threat?   In the old days a prompt accompanied by a check would be called a commission.  Today, AI assisted with my task. Just another tool in my toolbox.


Like the Nautilus mollusk who must move on to a larger chamber as it grows, one thing is for certain, if we do not keep up with change, we will die.

Kathy holding her prize... two rolled up canvas prints ready for framing... Fond memories of our shared journey and new friendship.