39. Exploring AI's Role in Photography: A Coach for Reflection and Growth?

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been diving deeper into generative AI. At first, I had it write for me. What it wrote sometimes gave me inspiration but generally what it created did not feel like me. As I began to learn more about its capabilities I began to paste all of my previous writing into ChatGPT and told it “use this to learn about me.” Once I had everything in I started to ask it questions about myself… and I was fascinated by what it came back with.

Here are the (re-prompted and edited) results when I asked it to help me understand why I do photography:

1. Photography allows me to connect with the world, express my unique perspective, and show where I find beauty in the overlooked and tell meaningful stories.

2. I feel successful with photography because it’s an art form where I can create work that matches my vision, unlike other mediums that require fine motor skills I find challenging.

3. My curiosity drives me to notice textures, lines, and patterns, and photography helps me discover and reveal the extraordinary in the ordinary.

4. Photography keeps my mind active and engaged, turning otherwise boring situations into opportunities for creativity and exploration.

5. Photography motivates me to get off screens, leave the house, and be more physically active, encouraging me to walk and immerse myself in the world.

6. I love the positive reactions I get to my photography, my reflective writing, and my teaching, which fuels my passion and affirms my creative efforts.

7. Teaching photography brings me joy, especially when I see others grow, improve, and react positively to their own progress and achievements.

I’ve been doing a bunch of work getting it to help me write curriculum, create exercises to work on specific areas and more. Stay tuned and in future weeks I will share more of how it is helping me.

If you are interested in trying this and need advice, or if you are just curious about my experiences, leave me questions in the comments.

In the meantime here are some recent random photos.

Warmly,
josh

p.s. I’ve been really busy with a wonderful new job that has me going to an office five days a week. Its taken a lof of time that I was using for writing and photography. Now that I’m settled in I’m working hard on rejiggering my schedule to ensure I have time to shoot, write and read — I really miss getting to stay on top of all my substack friends’ newsletters. I’m still here and desperately trying to keep up. See you in your comments soon — I hope.