Page 10 - The Hunt - Fall 2023

EDITOR'S NOTE
Embracing AI
Iassumed it would be a struggle to come up with compelling images for this month’s feature on ghost hunters. After all, how do you capture the very essence of something that may or may not be of this world? It’s virtually impossible to contact this sort of subject and arrange a portrait. And even if I could make contact, I’m sure there would be communication issues. As for actually photographing said ghost, well, no one has really proven they’ve done that.
Enter the trendy new digital tool with a futuristic name. Artificial intelligence seems to be slowly taking over our lives and making many of us creative types scared for our jobs. I’d just come home from a photography class in Maine where instructor Elizabeth Opalenik had shown us the work of AI artist George Disario—stuff that was incredibly inspiring. Suddenly, this pesky assignment felt like an opportunity to try out the medium.
I did a bit of research and tried a few platforms, typing descriptive phrases into a prompt box and clicking the “go” or the “generate” button. Each result offered a different image or variation on the theme. Another of my colleagues, Olaf Willoughby, is creating imagery using AI and
his own photographs. For the August issue of Main Line Today, the designers at our sister publication created a compelling AI composite
of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. from over 100 different images.
With a great deal of practice, I can certainly see using the different platforms to generate images in the future. At this point, I’m still
basically a beginner. But beginners have to start somewhere. Hopefully, you’ll enjoy what you see in this month’s feature. I’ve also included another image above.
Jim Graham Contributing Editor
Architecture | Comprehensive Property Design
8 THE HUNT MAGAZINE fall 2023
JIM GRAHAM