Hey guys, Andy here. I am not a religious man but the more I learn about Pope Francis the more saddened I am of his recent passing. A child of migrants, and a moderniser, when compared to another current international figure dominating the headlines, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, the juxtaposition is stark.
A bouncer and janitor Pope Francis was humble, aimed for “a poor church for the poor”, championed the rights of outsiders like refugees and migrants, and promoted peace. Comparatively Trump inherited wealth, is a convicted felon, has deporting people to be imprisoned in third party countries without due process, and has done little to stop, arguably encouraged, conflict in Gaza and also the Ukraine. Bone spurs anyone?
On becoming Pope, Francis washed the feet of 12 young inmates at a detention centre in Rome; Trump started his second term by engaging the world’s richest man to cut aid to the world’s poorest people. The former was a religious man at the apex of an international church, the latter a narcissist with a following bordering on cult like fervour and worship; the differences between the two men could not be more clear cut.
As the son of a refugee I have written about being an outsider, and having grown up conservative (I stress with a small ‘c’) I find myself being pulled increasingly politically to the centre (if not even to the left). It is hard to see poverty and suffering, which I witnessed first hand in both Iraq and Afghanistan during my service, and not think, ‘There but for the grace of God go I.’ It is by this rationale that I undertook portrait projects that covered the veterans who became political activists in order to help Afghan interpreters seeking refuge in the UK; you can not be moral some of the time.
My photographic origins were founded in 80s and 90s fashion photography and photojournalism. Perhaps it is fitting that as a mixed race child of both the Far East and also the West I visually balance the glamour of fashion (Herb Ritts, Richard Avedon, Helmut Newton et al) with the visceral grit of photojournalism such as Derek Hudson’s covering of Gulf War syndrome. For my sins I was not brave enough to be a conflict photographer; after seven years service I found the notion of carrying a camera, and not a rifle, into a conflict zone less than appealing which is how I became a fashion photographer.
Photography, for me, is about capturing a moment in time; be it to promote the latest Spring/ Summer collection or how Vietnam War photographers like Larry Burrows and Philip Jones Griffiths spoke truth to power and helped changed public perception of the war at home in the USA. As a portrait photographer I aim to try and take as meaningful and as genuine a portrait as I can. It is a moment in time of who a person is; this is the challenge to take an image which, hopefully, is good enough to print and stand the test of time.
It is this train of thought that guides my attitude towards AI. Many of the people that kiss the ring of the mad king Donald are the same ones behind AI; they are billionaires who are acting with impunity by using creative works, to train AI, without permission or recompense to those behind the works. I am disturbed that the UK is looking to allow an exemption for this to occur as it will set a precedent of changing the law to benefit law breakers rather than to protect the rights of authors.
Human memory is fallible. Can you accurately recall what happened last year, ten years ago, twenty? Photography is part of the evidentiary documentation of our pasts. While photographic editing and manipulation is not new there is far less friction today then ever before to tweak, to amend, and to change an image. Include in this equation that AI offers photographic generation; ie you no longer need to take an image of something in the real world, you can simply generate an image using word prompts.
What is the long term impact of this? What happens now we can easily create or edit photography according to how we want something to be rather than how it actually was? Weather conditions, facial expressions, adding or removing people; these are just examples of what can now be achieved almost instantly. It is human nature to change things to make them appear better; what are the consequences of using AI to falsely generate an alternate history of happy and joyful images today of events that may have been far from that? If you swap out a sad face for a happy one in a family holiday snap, is anyone going to remember the truth in a decade? What happens if we retrospectively look at fake images and believe they are the truth? I am the sum of my experiences; I am who I am because of both the good and bad I have experienced. Who am I if, at some point in the future, I am presented with fake documentary evidence contrary to how I recall an event?
andybarnham
I am a portrait photographer based in Cheltenham, UK. Born in Hong Kong to a Chinese mum and British dad, I had an international upbringing while I educated in the UK. I started photography as a hobby while serving as an officer in the British Army.
After my service I turned this passion into a career and became immersed in London's sartorial scene. I am now focusing my camera on portraiture and using this eye for detail which was refined over ten years. As a former Royal Artillery officer it is only fitting I shoot with a Canon camera.
