A picture speaks a thousand words.

Behind every picture is a story.

Behind every story is a person who invested part of their soul into it.

Take this photograph for example, what do you see? 

A cow, right? 

The photographer just walked up and took the picture? 

A 5-minute job. 

Photography is easy. Take out your phone. Point and click. Job done. 

Actually…no. 

I asked the photographer, Vicki Wilkinson, to tell me the story of the cow, and here it is.

“My sister asked for a photograph of a cow for Christmas – as you do! 

I had noticed that there were some interesting looking cows in the field behind my nephew’s school. 

On this particular day, I was on my way home from shooting a corporate event and I decided to stop off at the field behind the school. 

I parked up, camera at the ready, only to find the cows were right in the bottom of some sort of valley. I couldn’t get any decent shots from where I was, so I went to find the farmer’s house! 

The farmer told me it was too dangerous to go in the field and I should just give up. 

Give up? I don’t think so. 

I was quite insistent that I needed to get close to the cows for my photograph. 

The farmer was very kind and said I could try and coax them up to the safety barrier on the roadside with some carrots. 

Off I went to Asda and bought some carrots.

Sure enough, after what felt like a year, the cows started heading my way. The mummy cow who features in my image was quite protective over her calf that stood close by. 

I managed to get a few good shots but as soon as my finger hit the trigger, I knew this shot was the one!

After 6 hours of editing at home I was happy with the final product. And my sister had the perfect Christmas present.” 

It has come to my attention recently that people are using AI to create their artistic photos. Is it even a photo if it hasn’t been taken with a camera?

Can the artist feel the same about a piece that took 2 minutes and is computer generated than a piece that required:

• The idea
• The craft
• The work
• The effort
• The time
• The sweat
• The tears
• The frustrations
• The exhilaration
• The creativity

How can someone produce a piece of art with AI in a few minutes and expect to feel the same emotional connection with it? 

Where is the pride, the sense of self and the sense of achievement? 

Photographers like Vicki spend hours finding the right location, perfecting the lighting, placing items in the background and then the editing later.