Synthetic photograph

describing images generated by AI

Image generated March 2022

Is an image made by AI a synthetic photograph? I’m not sure how I feel about this.

In my didactics I use ‘synthetic polymer’ instead of ‘acrylic’. Mainly because of the prejudice towards acrylic being a cheap alternative to oils. Which is completely unfounded these days. I use Golden acrylics which are of very good quality with a high concentration of pigment and are better than most standard oil paint.

Are AI generated images synthetic? I suppose they are (shrug). Not sure. AI generated images have bad art associations. This is comparable to the backlash at the time that photography was introduced, but some of the shit ‘art’ that is produced is really disheartening sometimes. It’s nearly always clique and trite.

I’m not sure… The more I look at it the better it feels.