Through The Lens: Does A.I. Pose a Threat to the Art of Photography?
by Shawn Burke
Photo by Paul Skorupskas on Unsplash
I’ve always enjoyed composing, capturing, and creating great landscape photography. Ever since I was a kid growing up in Florida during the 70s, and even into the 80s, traveling to California and Colorado as a teenager, when I only had a roll of 12 or 24 frames of film to shoot. With every click of the shutter, light would instantaneously flood through the lens and expose images of what I saw, and capture the scene perfectly on the film. A few days later, I would stop by the drive-up photo lab and pick up my pictures. I loved the anticipation I felt as I eagerly pulled over in the parking lot and began thumbing through the images, rediscovering the beauty of the light and colors I had captured. I still have many of those photographs from over 40 years ago. I still enjoy looking through them and am immediately transported back to some of those scenes I captured and preserved so many years ago.
A beautiful orange glow of a sunrise with warm light filtering down through the trees, a cascading waterfall shimmering down a moss-covered wall, vibrant, colorful wildflowers growing on the mountainside, a bald eagle circling and soaring a few hundred feet above me, and luminescent emerald green waves rolling gently towards a white sandy shoreline.
The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
-Psalm 19:1 (NIV)
There was a moment of peace, tranquility, and creativity as I was surrounded by God’s beautiful creation. Capturing the beauty in a photograph to share with others and to look back and reflect. I loved learning new techniques as a young photographer and growing in my understanding of light, exposure, composure, and composition. I would read photography books and countless magazine articles that helped me add to my toolbox for understanding my camera settings. I spent hours in various conditions testing and finding the perfect balance of ISO, shutter speed, and aperture to best capture the changes in light and exposure. The early years of my photography helped me develop the ability to create stunning imagery, which led me to start a photography business to earn some extra income as a young husband and father.
Here are a few photos I took in my early days of film photography. It's funny when people occasionally comment that it is A.I. when I’ve shared my work on Facebook or Instagram. I took these photos over 30 years ago, long before digital photography and A.I. came on the scene.
Purgatory Waterfall, Durango, CO (1984). Image courtesy of Shawn Burke.
Treasure Bay, Biloxi, MS (1994). Photo Courtesy of Shawn Burke.
Aspen Glow, Durango, CO (1986). Photo courtesy of Shawn Burke.
Summertime Sky, Cheyenne, WY (1998). Photo courtesy of Shawn Burke.
I began taking family, sports, and school photos in the early 2000s. I even took on a few weddings… and discovered I didn’t enjoy them nearly as much as I enjoyed shooting landscape photography. While I was able to make a little bit of extra money, my heart and lens continue to pull me back towards nature and capture God’s amazing, creative beauty in the world around me.
When my children were much younger, we used to play a game similar to I Spy called Who Made It? My wife and I would alternate saying a word describing something we can see, such as…a tree, house, airplane, cloud, bird, car, the ocean, or the moon. In response, our children would say “God made it” or “man made it.” They were really good at the game and were intuitively dialed in. They could answer 100% of our words with the correct response. Sometimes, if there was a photograph or painting of an animal, a tree, flowers, or a mountain…something in nature, they would sometimes get stumped but could argue their response either way.
Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) is an oxymoron. Artificial is just another word for fake, synthetic. From fake news to fake videos, to fake cars, to fake weather, to fake drama, to fake music, to fake sex, to fake friendships, to fake advertisements, to fake photography…we are being bombarded every single day with one intent: to entice us to buy something or to deceive us. It is specifically designed to stir up fear and anxiety, meant to rob us of our peace and well-being. It actually creates confusion and chaos. It begins to pull us further and further from reality, to the point where our mental faculties begin to shut down, and we just continue to be fed by the machine. It kinda reminds me of the 1999 movie The Matrix. If you believe this is far-fetched, take a look at what some of the big-tech moguls have warned us about concerning A.I.
“And mark my words, A.I. is far more dangerous than nukes. So why do we have no regulatory oversight? This is insane."
~ Elon Musk[1]
ZOINKS, Biloxi, Mississippi (2013).
Photo courtesy of Shawn Burke.
[2]Mark Zuckerberg warns of an A.I. Bubble leading to a market crash: “The Meta CEO acknowledged that the rapid development of and surging investments in A.I. stand to form a bubble, potentially outpacing practical productivity and returns and risking a market crash.” Even DeepMind CEO and Nobel Laureate Dennis Hassabis says that current A.I. doesn’t have PhD capability. Current A.I. "doesn't have the reasoning capabilities of great human scientists who can spot some pattern from one subject area and apply it to another.”
From the very beginning of this shift, I have always felt like Scooby Doo & Shaggy when I saw A.I.-related content and images popping up. It feels really creepy and seems like something isn’t quite right, like I am being tricked or lied to. It makes me think about the need for human interaction and conversation. I don't want to live in a simulation or a world where everything caters towards what someone or something else wants me to think or feel. I tend to gravitate towards what I know to be true and real. So I yelled, “ZOINKS” and said, “Let's get the heck outta here, Scoob!”
With the rapid shift to seeing A.I. pop up over the past few years, to being absolutely bombarded by it now, young parents may have to start a new game called man-made or machine-made. Some A.I. is really easy to identify, but it is getting harder and harder to discern the difference. I’ve already started playing this game with my 10 year old grandson, and he’s pretty good!
Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
-Galatians 6:7-8 (NIV)
In today's news, here's another actual quote I read on Facebook again this morning…
“Can the admins of this group please stop allowing fake A.I. garbage to ruin this group?”
A.I. Garbage (2026). Photo courtesy of Facebook.
While so many people are joining in on the A.I. fun, using ChatGPT to make silly cartoon pictures of themselves, relying on Meta to answer difficult questions, or A.I. to take over mundane tasks like research or problem-solving, I have avoided participating in the lure. Call me old-fashioned, I don't care much! I prefer to exercise using my skills, intellect, and ability to do my own research, rather than rely on the imitation, simulated, sham, make-believe, or untrue. It is a thief of true creativity and masquerades as though it were real. It blurs the lines between fiction and reality. It deceives and causes us to question…could this be real? For some, it is easy to find the fraud, while many others are lured into a fantasy of something otherworldly. Some images I have seen recently have been too perfect, over-edited, and far too outlandish to believe. They tend to aim for shock value and try to trick us into believing that what we see is real. To me…it actually feels creepy as if I am being tempted or baited to try a little bit– just a little taste. I mean, what can it really hurt anyway?
Maybe my bias against A.I. stems from my 35 year career as a meteorologist. I learned the old way of weather forecasting from critical thinking and applied science, monitoring real-time weather conditions, utilization of tried and true prognostic techniques, then applying the laws of physics, geoscience and sound meteorological reasoning. Modern day weather forecasts are quickly being cranked out by supercomputers and A.I simulation. While some of the short-term model forecasts may prove to be accurate in a 3 to 6 hour window (now-casting), long-term forecasts beyond 24 hours are typically only accurate half the time, at best. You might as well be guessing whether or not it will rain! These inaccuracies have led to a large-scale mistrust of weather forecasting and have led me to this question…Is the overdependence of A.I creating a trust gap in other fields as well?
Actual intelligence requires your brain and cognitive function to be truly creative, to learn or understand things, and to deal with new or difficult situations. Intelligence requires the use of logic and reason to determine reality from fiction. It requires discernment in distinguishing truth from lies. It is what gives us the ability to love, to write, to paint, to create art, to compose a photograph, to find solutions to help solve problems, and to inspire others.
I prefer to remain innovative and exercise my creativity in photography as well as in other areas, such as writing and art. Here are a few more of my photos from In The Light Photography.
Waiahole View, Oahu, Hawaii (2008). Photo courtesy of Shawn Burke.
Lily, Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii (2013) Photo courtesy of Shawn Burke.
Diamondhead Light, Oahu, Hawaii (2010). Photo courtesy of Shawn Burke.
Fred, Navarre Beach, Florida (2023) Photo courtesy of Shawn Burke
So where do we draw the line? Is it merely a tool we occasionally use, or is A.I. a crutch we rely on for everything we do? Whether you use A.I. daily or prefer to lean into personal creativity, do you feel A.I. is threatening to destroy our ability to create and sell art and photography? If so, why or how does it pose a threat? How about those who create art or photography to earn a living in business? I’d like to hear your feedback or comments. I’d love to connect with you and discuss art and photography and how we can continue to leverage technology while pushing our creativity to the next level.
WORKS CITED
Catherine Clifford, "Life with A.I.", Elon Musk: ‘Mark my words — A.I. is far more dangerous than nukes’, (Mar 13 2018), https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/13/elon-musk-at-sxsw-a-i-is-more-dangerous-than-nuclear-weapons.html.
Dr. Jeffrey Funk. "Zuckerberg joins AI bubble warnings, cites risks and benefits" (Apr 2026), https://www.linkedin.com/posts/dr-jeffrey-funk-a979435_tech-ai-technology-activity-7375121968351731712-DcI1.
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