a reflection on art, AI, and whether making things still matters
The start of a new year always brings a kind of reckoning.
We look ahead with a mix of hope and unease, trying to imagine what the coming months might hold. Lately, the world feels especially loud. Politically tense. Economically uncertain. Emotionally exhausting. It’s hard to know where to place your focus when so much feels unstable, and when every headline seems designed to pull your attention in a different direction.
I’ve also noticed another worry surfacing among artists and photographers. With AI now able to generate technically perfect images in seconds, many people are asking a question that feels both practical and existential: What’s the point anymore?
On the surface, the fear is about technology and whether photography still matters when machines can create flawless images on demand. But underneath that, I think the fear is deeper. It’s the fear that the thing we care about, the thing that once helped us make sense of the world, might lose its meaning. That the act of creating might somehow become irrelevant.
I don’t see it that way.
Photography was never really about making perfect images. Not for me. It has always been a way of paying attention. It’s how I slow down enough to notice how light moves across water at dawn, or how weather reshapes a familiar landscape, or how wild places have their rhythms regardless of what’s happening in the news.
Long before social media algorithms entered the conversation, photography gave me a way to focus on the good things the world. That hasn’t changed.
What matters most to me isn’t the photograph itself, but the experience of making it. Being outside. Slowing down enough to notice changes in light, weather, and mood. Letting the world reveal itself over time. Photography deepens that experience. It requires me to be present in a way that few other things do.
We’re not trying to rush past the world in search of snapshots to check off our list. We’re trying to create something that matters. That’s why I’ve always said I make a photograph, not take one. “Take” implies removing something. What I’m really doing is bringing something into existence that wasn’t there before.
What matters most isn’t the photograph itself, but the experience of making it.
As I step into this new year, I find myself thinking a lot about attention, not as something passive, but as a deliberate choice. There are so many things we don’t control: politics, markets, global events, technological change. We can stay informed, but we can’t fix everything, and pretending otherwise only leads to exhaustion.
Some days, I’ll be honest, I want to turn off the news forever. It often feels like it makes my life smaller rather than more informed, filling my days with anxiety and a sense of helplessness. And yet, I don’t believe disengaging entirely is the answer either. We do have a responsibility to pay attention to what’s happening in the world, if only because awareness is part of citizenship and care.
The reality, though, is that one person’s direct influence is limited. For many of us, it’s only on voting day that our impact on the larger system feels concrete. Outside of that, the question becomes more personal: How do I live in a way that reflects the world I want to see?
I keep coming back to the idea of sphere of influence. I can’t steer the course of history, but I can choose how I live within it. I believe that if more people paid attention to the rhythms of nature, cared about wildlife, lived a little more simply, and treated each other with kindness, the world would look very different. So I try to lead by example. I try to live a good life. To pay attention to the land, the weather, the light, and the creatures moving through it. To stay connected to the natural world. That feels like a form of influence that’s actually within reach.
This is also where my thoughts keep circling back to art.
I worry sometimes that people will stop making art. Not because they’ve lost the desire, but because their feeds are suddenly full of perfect, synthetic images, that were made in seconds with prompts. When everything looks flawless, it’s easy to believe that what we make, with all its imperfections, no longer matters.
I don’t believe that either.
Our art is about staying in a relationship with the real world. Human art carries traces of attention, effort, and care. It reflects time spent looking, waiting, noticing. Those things don’t disappear just because technology changes.
Our art is about staying in a relationship with the real world.
Living well, paying attention, and continuing to create may be small acts, but they matter. In their own way, they are acts of resistance. Resistance against numbness, disengagement, and the idea that perfection is more important than meaning.
This brings me back again to attention, because attention is one of the few things we truly control. What we follow. What we linger on. What we reward with our time. Our social media feeds are not neutral; they are shaped by what we choose to look at and engage with. In that sense, attention is a kind of daily vote.
If we want a world with more care, more beauty, and more humanity, then we have to choose to look at human things. We have to support real people making real work. We have to follow artists, writers, photographers, and thinkers who help us stay connected to what matters, rather than what is sensationalized to create a reaction.
Focusing on beauty during difficult times isn’t denial. For me, it’s orientation. It’s a way of remembering what we’re trying to protect in the first place. Nature is still here. Seasons are still turning. Birds still migrate. Light still finds its way through clouds. These things don’t fix everything, but they remind me that not everything is broken.
Photography remains the tool I use to focus on the good things in the world. Not to produce perfection, but to practice attention. Making art, for me, is less about the result and more about the way it teaches me how to be in the world.
Making art teaches me how to be in the world.
If you’ve been wondering whether it’s still worth making art, I hope you keep going. Do it for yourself, for the experience. And share it, so that real images of the real world don’t disappear into the noise.
Making real art based on real experiences feels like a small thing, but it’s the part I can do. And it may be more important than ever.
If you feel like sharing, I’d love to hear what resonated for you.
Anne,
I’m very far behind in reading all of my emails. You have expressed this so well. From my experience with photography, I see myself saving beautiful views to look at later to remember the people, places and wildlife that I have had the opportunity to see. It does bring a calm to my life when I review those pieces of art. Thank you for expressing your thoughts on photography and AI. True photography needs human interaction.
It all depends on your motivation – for me as an amateur, very novice photographer the process of planning, execution and editing images into an image to be assessed (mainly by myself) includes emotions along the way that you will never get from a machine generated image. When the plan works and the perfect sunset, flight of the bird, raw savagery of a close encounter with a predator or emotion – these are what makes me try again and strive to improve.
For the artists – well you can buy a garment in a store or you can make your own which is truly unique and gain the satisfaction of personal attachment to something you made. AI has not introduced anything new in this regard and so bringing your own flavour remains the challenge it was. It may be copied but true creativity requires a nugget of yourself and that cannot be easily created in AI
Dear Anne
Hunting a moment, An event, Apart of time, Experience sharing them with others, Be loyal to the History of photography and photographers
in all categories and legacy of art. and the most important things in photograph for me making showing and presenting my sense to others via photography, Ai doesn’t and doesn’t do it .
Well said Anne,
As a 78 year old man , I have had the luxury of seeing a tremendous amount of changes during my life , most of which take some getting used to. I am sure that Ai has many technical advantages , but like all changes they have a down side . I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to work with black and white film when I was a teenager and into my early adult years , at the same time I loved to see the advances in camera equipment and processing . I have been able to expand my photography greatly because of digital photography and processing although my age meant that it took me a bit to get comfortable with it not having grown up in the digital world . I do tend to ignore the parts of these advancements that I find are not to my liking . God knows that I have the same problem with America’s political direction .
I have always felt that the images that I made really only needed to satisfy me and if others liked them that was great , but if they didn’t that was ok too .
I will continue to use the parts of technology that work for me and skip over what I find as not to my liking . The older I get , the easier I find it to shrug my shoulders and think ” to each his own “
Clicking the shutter is just a snapshot. The photographer is the one who creates “The Art.”Art whether photography or painting is a creation of our training, vision of the scene and story we want to tell. If we ask AI about composition, AI cannot see what we can see. How to we know the resources selected, or the qualifications of the person collecting the AI data? The people I will choose are talented photographers and mentors like Anne. They are the ones who got me to my present competence level. Enough Said!
So many, including me, totally agree with your sentiments.
My son committed suicide two years ago. His wife decided to cut off any contact with their two (teenage) children, so my last link to David has been severed. They live in N. Vancouver. Photography has kept me relatively sane as I navigate through the never-ending grief. When I need to still my mind, I go for a walk (I live in a rural farming area) or take a drive to the shore somewhere (I also live close to the Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick), armed with my camera. Sometimes our dog, Harley, accompanies me. Most times I’m alone. I try to involve my husband in these jaunts as much as possible, as he’s also grieving the loss of his daughter (from a prior marriage) three years ago. He supports my photo obsession wholeheartedly and often serves as a VALS (voice-activated light stand – ehehehe) or scene builder for me. It’s a tough winter this year here on the east coast, but it does provide some excellent photo opportunities. There is nothing more peaceful than to be out on a quiet day/evening when the snow is falling lightly (with no wind) and the temperature hasn’t dropped to sub-arctic numbers yet.
Beautifully said, Anne, thank you so much! The magic is in the observation and feeling of what is important to us as humans. AI can help us capture that, but it cannot do it, and it’s for this reason that it can never be an artist, whether graphic or of any other sort.
Being an artist is more than mastering a technique with specific materials. If that is all one has, one is a technician, not an artist. The essential requirement is awareness of emotional meaning—of what carries impact—and the ability to recreate it using whatever medium is at hand: fingers, brushes, oils, watercolors, digital tools, a camera… or AI. When painting with a brush, it rarely behaves exactly as we expect. We accept what works even if it doesn’t exactly match what we planned (guided by our artist’s eye), correct what doesn’t (guided by technique), or start again. Working with AI is no different—it’s just on a different level.
Artists, fundamentally, are all art directors: of our fingers, our brushes, our camera lucida, our digital filters, our cameras, or our words paired with AI.
So well said Anne!!! For me the hobby of photography is so important because it immortalize a moment in time which can never be repeated. When I see the photograph – as is – back come the immotions and experience when it was taken. Truly precious!! Blessings in abundance.
A great reflection on where we are as we start 2026 in a world of more stress etc than ever. Being in a quiet space with a camera
at dawn is a magical experience and if we get a decent image to take home it is a bonus.
Hello Anne, Firstly we want to wish you a brilliant 2026. Having read all the above comments, I must say that I fully agree with most comments. However, I, too, like to make photographs with the cameras I have to hand at the time. My shots don’t always thrill me but I like to be in the moment. I would not feel true to myself if I were to ask AI to make a brilliant photo from an ordinary one and then boast that I took that photo. Your Friend in Australia, Ron.
Well said and stunning images as usual.
I feel a need to be out in nature. A photo trip, working in my garden, a drive outside the city. Just slowing down and looking around at what there is to see. Photograph it and if I like -pick on my wall to view again. Thanks Anne.
Great article and love that winter picture. Ai is gonna do what Ai is gonna do but as a photographer Im still gonna go out and get the real shots and all I hope Ai will do it fix some area in PS or LR that I might have messed up in a during a shoot(photo that is).
Love this!! Yes, I’ve been wondering the same thing for a few years now….and after I tuned into myself, discovered that for me photography is a way of seeing and sharing beauty and the love I feel for our planet and nature. I did downsize my tech though…after several years of chasing giant multi-frame HDR landscape panoramas I got sick of the tech and the editing and now mostly shoot and share photos from my iPhone…and the people on social media cant tell the difference…its the quality of the light, composition and my stories that they love.
“What matters most to me isn’t the photograph itself, but the experience of making it”. I couldn’t agree more. I’m happiest when I’m outdoors, camera in hand, looking at the natural world. AI pictures might also be an art form, but the experience is missing.
Real photography with a real camera!!! Thank you for your Real and Fantastic Photographs Anne!!!!
Hi Anne – WELL SAID!… For me, photography is about being in the moment. Some more special than others, but all experienced with my senses in full motion. I sometimes wish that I could some how attach the emotion I’m feeling during a beautiful sunset/sunrise. The emotion of being present with nature offering its spectacular show of the moment, the day. The sounds, smells and sights that present themselves during magical moments. The healing properties the immersing oneself into natural surroundings gives me perspective on the REAL world and wish that more of us would recognize how special this is.
Your perspective on all of this is spot on and thank you for writing this. The punch line for me was – “I believe that if more people paid attention to the rhythms of nature, cared about wildlife, lived a little more simply, and treated each other with kindness, the world would look very different.” It can’t be said any better than that.
Take care,
Martin
First; you wrote a well written blog. Years ago, when I first became aware of Photoshop manipulation, I thought it was an abomination to photography. Around that time, a very “techie” friend was getting into the craft. His photographic eye wasn’t great, but he could fix almost anything with software.
After a couple of trips, I stopped enjoying side-by-side comparisons. As an old-school film guy, my belief was simple: get it right in the camera.
After many conversations—and some reflection—I came to a realization: it’s all art. You may love the Classics and deplore the Surrealists, but both are valid. I finally made peace by thinking of myself, and others like me, as photographers, and those who rely heavily on AI and digital manipulation as illustrators. Not better or worse—just different forms of art.
Anne, As always beautifully written. The photographs were perfectly chosen. It has been a tough year 2025. I have seen things politically I never expected to see in this country. I have experienced health issues with my husband that no one ever wants to face. Photography is my sanity and has been for decades. This year it was hard to continue. Ai frightens me from a geo-political stance but Ai is not art. Thank you for reminding us. Well wishes to you.
Janet, I can feel you on that about” Photography is my sanity and has been for decades”, except for only about 15 years. For me, Im just not into that Ai thing(to each their own).
I agree and love to see an authentic, well-composed picture that, for lack of a better word, is a little dirty (not perfect). It’s like live music, it gives you the feeling that you’re at the concert, missed notes, extra lyrics in the wrong place. Eric Clapton is known for “just leave it as it is.” A good picture puts you at the location it was taken and lights up your imagination.
Very well-said! What a timely and lovely essay. I have, indeed, been wondering about the purpose of my photography. I’ll likely never be a great photographer like you are, but it gives me pleasure and definitely brings the good things in life into focus. Thank you for reminding me.
Thank you so much for this. You have filled me with hope.
Beautifully said Anne and I agree with you wholeheartedly. Thank you for reminding us of the importance of reality and purpose-driven living in these chaotic times. The main two passages that resonate with me are – “ These things don’t fix everything, but they remind me that not everything is broken.” and “ Making art, for me, is less about the result and more about the way it teaches me how to be in the world.“
The lovely images in this piece also make me stop and wonder what your experience was like when you observed these scenes. Kudos to you for the inspiration!
Anne,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and articulating your outlook. It is insightful and reassuring.
My foray into photography began with film when I was 7 years old [I think it was]. It took me a long time to go past attaining a technical expertise and understanding the process to enjoying the making of the image.
I taught photography to high school students, initially with 35mm B&W film and by the time I retired, entirely with digital. I retained one legacy project, a paint can pinhole camera to at least expose my students to the basic essence of image making. Their fascinations at watching the image gradually appear in the tray and the multiple steps of the process was more intimate than inching out of a printer. It might be nice if more people have such an opportunity.
I hope your confidence is rewarded, that artists, and photographers in particular, will not be dissuaded from practicing their craft. You are correct the true art is about the journey and not so much the destination.
MW
Dear Anne, Comment dit on? Or how you say- BOOM!
I hadn’t given up “making” photographs but shrugged many a night mumbling …Why bother?
AI has interfered yes but with writing such as yours on this cold dreary day- Let the Games begin!
Thank you thank you!
Signed a low level but with feeling ol lady photographer!
Oh, and one more cliche I am so guilty of…”LET THE SUN RISE. I AM READY.” by L.M. Browning
Happy New Year Anne!
I appreciate your sentiment, also finding myself looking forward to each opportunity to get out to play with the camera. It is cathartic to connect with nature, despite the changes that are happening with our natural world.
I disagree though that AI can create the perfect image, as what I see is not very perfect. The current work being offered with AI, although it can be considered a form of art, is not representative of photography. It is a form of art, requiring considerable time in front of a computer, and the challenges of a society where we already spend too much time in front of a computer.
I will continue to look forward to each opportunity to be out in nature, slowing down and appreciating the beautiful dynamics of the world around us.
Enjoy your year ahead, and looking forward to seeing more of your art!
Cheers, Harvey
What a lovely article you wrote. It reminded me of the saying ‘stop and smell the roses’. You can buy artificial flowers which can be practical in certain situations but they never give you the sensory enjoyment of the real flowers.
I loved your blog! I am 85 years old and have loved making pictures since I was 10 years old and got my first camera. Growing up on a farm has been a blessing because I saw fields planted and harvested. I saw baby calves born and grow and become part of our dairy herd. I planted gardens and picked apples off our trees and then bake pies.
I loved looking at the pure and unpolluted night skies with trillions of sparkling skies, the moon in all its phases and seeing the northern lights for the first time. I loved catching spiders and returning them to their intricate webs.
My love appreciation for nature, animals and the changing seasons have created in me a desire to capture the moments I have enjoyed with my camera and share them and the experience with others. There’s a story behind the photographs I make.
Brilliant and encouraging thoughts. Thank you. We need to be reminded that, in a sense, creating art, being mindful, valuing nature and all creatures great and small, is a form of resistance to the chaos and destructive forces that distract and disorient us. So, this is a very helpful reminder to keep our focus on beauty, truth and goodness. In these we experience life and meaning.
Anne,
Thank you!! This is just what the doctor ordered!