Photographer blends AI, artwork in ‘photo revolution’

In the center of Insa-dong, Seoul, a comfortable neighborhood the place conventional Korean tradition and up to date artwork are gathered, photographer Oh Seung-hwan is difficult the definition of images.

At his exhibition “AI Photo Revolution” at Gallery Index, working by means of Sept. 15, the veteran photographer presents a sequence of picture works created by combining his personal creative imaginative and prescient with synthetic intelligence (AI).

The exhibition coincides with the current publication of his e-book, “AI Photo Revolution,” the primary e-book in Korea to discover the theoretical and sensible elements of photographs generated utilizing the rising expertise.

Oh, a former photojournalist and images professor, describes his skilled id merely as “just a photographer.” He believes that artwork is a approach of speaking one’s emotions to others, and for him, visible communication is essentially the most highly effective software.

“The very first form of art was cave paintings. It was a way of leaving an index that ‘I am alive,’” Oh instructed The Korea Times on the gallery Wednesday. “Visual language is so powerful that it can transcend time and space without a preexisting agreement. Written language requires a promise, a shared understanding, but images communicate universally.”

In that sense, Oh defined images can also be a powerful communication software that may present the picture taker’s perspective to viewers, and he believes AI is just one other software in an extended line of technological developments, from movie to digital cameras to smartphones.

“AI has already been here for over 10 years, people just didn’t know it,” he stated, citing smartphone filters as a first-rate instance.

“It’s not a new thing, it’s a rediscovery of perception. So why live with the prejudice that AI photos aren’t real photos? We already live in a world where we use Photoshop to edit our faces.”

Oh additional argued that the digicam was initially created to precisely seize actuality, however images was by no means meant to be a factual medium.

“Photography was not originally a medium for conveying facts,” he stated. “It was a means for the taker’s expression, a communication tool.”

He identified that even within the 1820s, photographers had been already combining a number of footage to create montages. He referred to as this “making a photo,” which was a special method from merely “taking a photo.”

This historic distinction is vital for understanding AI images immediately, he stated, including that AI-generated photographs should not simply the product of a machine however are an “exclusive possession of the taker’s thoughts and expression.”

“Who is the one who receives it? Not AI, but humans. Art is one way of communication, and it changes with the times,” he stated.

Pioneering expertise in images

Oh has persistently been on the forefront of introducing new applied sciences to the Korean images scene, impacting professionals, amateurs and artists alike.

In 2014, when a resort in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, collapsed, Oh — then a professor of images at Kyungsung University in Busan — used a drone to seize a panoramic view of the accident web site. This work is considered the primary occasion of a drone being utilized in information images.

In 2021, he additionally explored images’s potential within the digital sector by making a non-fungible token (NFT) content material piece that includes greater than 10,000 photographs to type a picture of seagulls in flight.

Looking past the artwork, Oh has a transparent enterprise mannequin for the AI picture revolution. He believes that the proliferation of AI-generated photographs will create new job alternatives for photographers and creators.

Under the imaginative and prescient, he just lately established AI picture distribution platform Genspack. With an purpose to connect with creators individuals who want particular photographs, the platform will provide AI-generated photographs.

He emphasised this enterprise is about greater than enterprise — it’s also about securing AI cultural sovereignty. “I dream of a future where AI can perfectly differentiate between Korean, Japanese and Chinese facial features, a feat currently impossible due to a lack of data,” he stated.