Page 7 - Demo

On a personal level, I trust that your photographic objectives and aspirations have been thought through, perhaps committed to in writing or communicated in a vision board. Whatever it is, starting a new year celebrating your successes from previous years, learning from the errors and mistakes of the past and embracing the future are excellent means to making those dreams, aspirations, goals become reality. AI is a controversial topic, debated all around the world and there is a huge impact on our photography, competitions and by extension, club photography. Parallels are being drawn to when digital took over from film, statements that there is AI already in imagining editing software and all manner of justification in between for those who want to compete at the highest levels, but actually it is not their own work in reality. Yes, the base image is theirs and the instructions to AI are theirs but that is where it stops. Is this the photographer%u2019s own work? A simple question. The answer is simple too %u2013 no. It is not the photographers own work. Not all the elements are the photographers own work. A question I ask myself in this day and age, why would someone who is in club photography, competing with fellow photographers, want to rely largely on AI to take their base photo and make magic with it, then claim it to be their own work (which it is not), whilst they know the rules of club photography, PSSA and the other photographic societies in the world, who by the way, if they established you used AI, will ban you for life! What is the point? Why then bother with the traditional way of taking a photo and editing it yourself with the editing software that is available within the agreed to rules and regulations, so that everyone is competing on an equal footing?So, in closing, the principle we as PSSA apply is: if it is not your work (regardless of how you got the final representation of the image) then you cannot enter it into any competition, be it a club entry or a national or international salon entry or Honours application. However, the choice remains yours but be warned %u2013 you do this at your own peril and do not be surprised if any judge, Club Chairperson or Salon Director calls for the RAW files of your image. Any excuse like withdrawing the image from that competition or you do not have the RAW files, may lead to circumstances that may put you in an awkward or embarrassing position. Roll the dice or play by the rules? The call is yours. AI Processing Chip image generated using Dream Studio AI system.CAPA Stance on AI - Sheldon Boles - click here.SimonPage No. 7