Greetings,

Welcome to the holiday season and all the traffic that it seems to bring. But, to offset that there is pumpkin pie and spiral-baked ham. Good trade-off I suppose. Here in Arizona, other than cooler days, we’d never know it was another season if it wasn’t for the traffic.

I had a lovely shoot today with Diana. She’s probably the smallest model I work with. Tiny little lady with lots of talent and drive. And lips that go on forever. And a mop of jet-black Curley hair. I’m sure there will be a few in the gallery, so check it out.

The banner is another edit of Elley when we did our epic Star Wars set at the dunes. Next time I want to spend two days out there. What an opportunity to have the most fantastic stage our planet has to offer. My opinion of course. The contrast between the sky and the sand is breathtaking, as are the natural curves produced by the sand.

One of the slightly cooler aspects of that shot was putting a lightsaber in her hand. Although, in the movies, they always seem to use them in darker environments, so having one out in daylight was a challenge.

The popular thing on social media seems to be the artificial intelligence art one can buy now for $8. As you would expect, I think this is very troubling for several reasons. Even the news media has come out with articles on the trend. I will agree; some of the shots look cool. But the process and the dangers are pretty straightforward. In some cases, you can still read the watermark with the original artist’s name. That is theft and for profit. They just blame it on the computer not knowing enough to erase the author’s name. And they make a big deal about the AI learning styles from all of the images and paintings it can gather up. So, instead of using a human brain and taking the years it takes to develop a unique style that human artists do, it can do it in hours? All using the millions of current human-made art to imitate.

I do my art for the joy of creation. But there is a world of artists that put a roof over their heads and food on their table by creating and selling their hard-earned skills as an artist. It’s not just that one picture, it is a lifetime of learning and honing skills that you are helping support by purchasing their art. I’d MUCH rather have an original drawing or painting by someone who spent time mixing the colors and contrast to create art. Not some emotionless algorithm with no idea what it is doing other than following the program to create an output.

Be ready for the worst to start happening. Some parent isn’t happy with the grade a teacher gives their child. So they hop on the AI creator and hands it the teacher’s picture. Then they give it some other direction and what pops up is the teacher in the classroom with a naked child. A quick email to the school board with that picture and a life is ruined.

Next week we’ll be heading to Bonita Creek for the holidays and we won’t back down until the first part of January. Some snow has come and gone, and it is certainly cold up there, but I love it when it snows, so I hope we get more.

Remember, we are in the middle of a pandemic, so if you are feeling even a little ‘off’, please plan to keep it to yourself.

Until next week…happy holidays, and enjoy that tree and pie. May you and your family and friends be happy and healthy.

Stay curious, my friends!

Dave

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