Camera Phantasma: Reframing virtual photographies in the age of AI

Year 2024, Volume: 15 Issue: 1, 127 - 158

Michael Peter Schofield Translator: Merve Bozkurt

Abstract

The recent advent of virtual photography and artificial intelligence (specifically AI photography and diffusion models), presents a major challenge to both photographers and photography theory. All our common-sense assumptions about the ontology of the image now seem to be falling apart. Are these interlopers really photography? Can we hear the final death knell for the erstwhile medium in this era of ever-increasing media convergence and virtualisation? This practice-led investigation of these new media forms draws on the author’s recent creative work in virtual photographies, and similar interventions by other photographers and new media artists, seeking to augment and expand their practice using these new tools, whilst querying what photography really means today. From in-game photography to virtual exploration using Google Street View, to AI photography using the latest denoising diffusion models (such as Midjourney), there are surprising commonalities to explore between them, linking these new practices of image-making firmly back to traditions of lens-based photography. Rather than seeking a detailed map of this difficult new terrain, or a definitive ontology of emerging virtual photographies, the author reframes the discourse around practice, examining both photography as an evolving set of practices and also notions of media hauntology – specifically the spectral ways in which new media technologies are always haunted by prior practices and modes of communication. The importance of the frame to both traditional photography and new practices of virtual photography, is suggested as a vital and persistent dimension in photographic authorship. With that authorship increasingly contested by new generative methods, easy appropriation and AI image-making, the act of framing may become the best litmus test we have, for whether or not a photograph should be considered ‘real’ or valued.

Keywords

AI art, artificial intelligence, framing, game photography, Google Street View, hauntology, ontology, photography theory, practice research, remediation, virtual photography, virtualization

Ethical Statement

This article is licensed under Common Creatives and permission was obtained from the author, Michael Peter Schofield, before it was translated into Turkish.

Kamera Fantazması: Yapay Zekâ Çağında Sanal Fotoğrafları Yeniden Kadraja Almak

Abstract

Sanal fotoğrafçılığın ve yapay zekânın (özellikle yapay zekâ fotoğrafçılığı ve yayılma modellerinin) yakın zamanda ortaya çıkışı hem fotoğrafçılar hem de fotoğraf teorisi için büyük bir zorluk teşkil etmektedir. Görüntünün ontolojisi hakkında var olan tüm sağduyulu varsayımlar şimdilerde çöküyor gibi görülmektedir. Bu araya girenler gerçekten fotoğrafçılık mıdır? Sürekli artan medya yakınsaması ve sanallaştırma çağında, eski medyanın son ölüm çanını duyabilecek miyiz? Yeni medya biçimlerine ilişkin uygulama odaklı bu çalışma, yazarın sanal fotoğraflar alanındaki son yaratıcı çalışmalarına ve bu yeni araçları kullanarak uygulamalarını artırmayı ve genişletmeyi amaçlayan diğer fotoğrafçılar ve yeni medya sanatçılarının benzer müdahalelerine dayanarak, fotoğrafın bugün ne anlama geldiğini sorgulamaktadır. Oyun içi fotoğrafçılıktan Google Street View kullanarak sanal keşfe, Midjourney gibi en son gürültü azaltma difüzyon modellerini kullanan yapay zekâ fotoğrafçılığına kadar, bunlar arasında keşfedilecek şaşırtıcı ortak yönler bulunmaktadır. Bu yeni görüntü oluşturma uygulamalarını lens tabanlı fotoğrafçılık geleneğine sıkı sıkıya bağlayan ortak noktaları incelemek ilginç olacaktır. Yazar, bu zorlu yeni alanın ayrıntılı bir haritasını veya ortaya çıkan sanal fotoğrafların kesin bir ontolojisini araştırmak yerine, söylemi pratik etrafında yeniden çerçevelemektedir. Bunu yaparken hem gelişen bir pratikler dizisi olarak fotoğrafçılığı hem de medya hayaleti kavramını, özellikle de yeni medya teknolojilerinin her zaman önceki uygulamalar ve iletişim tarzları tarafından rahatsız edildiği sprektral yolları inceleyerek gerçekleştirmektedir. Kadrajın hem geleneksel fotoğrafçılık hem de yeni sanal fotoğrafçılık uygulamaları açısından önemi, fotoğraf yazarlığında hayati ve kalıcı bir boyut olarak öne sürülmektedir. Bu yazarlığın yeni üretken yöntemler, kolay sahiplenme ve yapay zekâyla görüntü oluşturma konularında giderek daha fazla tartışıldığı bir ortamda, kadraja alma eylemi, bir fotoğrafın ‘gerçek’ veya değerli olarak kabul edilip edilmeyeceği konusunda elimizdeki en iyi turnusol testi hâline gelebilir.

Keywords

yapay zekâ sanatı, yapay zekâ, kadraj, oyun fotoğrafçılığı, Google Street View, hauntoloji, ontoloji, fotoğraf teorisi, uygulamalı araştırma, iyileştirme, sanal fotoğrafçılık, sanallaştırma

Ethical Statement

Common Creatives ile lisanslanan bu makale Türkçeye çevrilmeden önce, yazarı Michael Peter Schofield’dan izin alınmıştır.

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