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TheSonyWorld Photography Awards (SWPA) 2024 winners have been revealed, hand-picked from a staggering 380,000 entries.
Is there a place for AI-generated images in photo competitions?
Winner of the Landscape category Eddo Hartmann spent several years in a remote part of Kazakhstan known as ‘The Polygon’, once home to the Soviet Union’s major nuclear testing facilities, creating otherworldly landscapes.
How should photo competitions respond?
“Im a hardcore traditionalist.
I have borrowed the metaphorical meaning of lingchi to showcase the cyclical nature of domestic abuse.
Adali Schell took 2nd place in the professional Portraiture category with the seriesThe First Car.
I dont think it should be brought into the same domain as human-produced photographic images.
We spoke at length about her moving series and I urge you to discoverA Thousand Cutsfor yourself, too.
Here’s what she said about AI:
“Im a hardcore traditionalist.
A Thousand Cutsby Sujata Setia. The picture of her subject overlays red and is then physically cut into and re-photographed.
For me, I havent tried to create yet with AI.
I find it fascinating, but its a completely different genre.
Florawon the Still Life category at SWPA 2024.
This series highlights the important role of pharmacognosy in modern biology.”
As artists we must follow the new way of doing art.
Federico has a different stance on AI-generated images to Sujita.
Father and Sonby Valery Poshtarov.
Yes, I think AI-generated images are totally fine.
Its not a problem.
But the viewer needs to know it.
People not knowing its AI is the problem.
But its up to us how we use it.”
While posing, fathers and sons hold hands for the first time in years, sometimes decades.
Its a powerful moment, often filled with hesitation or even resistance.
It serves as a global stage, encouraging fathers and sons from around the world to join the act.
Valery passionately spoke about AI with me in the context of his work.
Theres two more people holding hands.
Theres humanity waiting to be involved in this shared act.
The talented creatives I spoke with had wide-ranging stances on utilizing AI and its potential place in photo competitions.
But a common thread throughout our conversations was one of transparency.
I doubt that sentiment translates to future photo contest rule changes that allow AI generated images.
I’m sympathetic this is a complicated topic after all.
