Portals of Portent
Generative Imagery is here. I’ve written about it before, and will continue to write as the technology evolves, but what I see here is that this tool, which moves well beyond lens based image making, is a powerful way to quickly visualize ideas that often sit on the subconscious, waiting for the time, energy, and space to create. This is what platforms such as Midjourney allow-the visualizations of your ideas without a camera, much like many other non lens based mediums, but driven by billions of images made by thousands of other talented photographers and artists. Today, more than ever we stand on the shoulders of giants. Are these photographs? No, not even close. Are they something else? Indeed. But what these images really are, and if there is value in them, that is the question.
We will look back on this time as quaint, tentative first steps into a larger pool of possibilities. The ideas of ownership, copyright, authorship, and value will have settled in time, but for now these questions loom large in the creative world. For now, I will enjoy the process of making images that resonate with me and the ideas that have always driven my lens based image making process.
