Win by using real photos to participate in AI competition

(NADS) - At the Color Photography Contest 2024 organized online by 1839 Awards, Miles Astray's photo of a flamingo standing on the sand "Flamingone" was awarded Third Prize in the AI Photo category and an additional Readers' Choice Award.

Photographer stripped of award after using real photos to enter and win top prize in AI contest

However, this image was taken by Astray, not created by a computer. "I wanted to prove that nature can still beat machines and that the creative work of photographers still has real value," he said. "When I saw AI images beating real photos in competitions, I started thinking about the opposite, so I submitted a real photo."

Flamingone photo by Miles Astray

Immediately after learning of the news, the 1839 Awards judges removed the photo from the website and revoked the award. In an email to PetaPixel, the contest organizers said that while they appreciated Astray's "strong message," the entry was disqualified to meet the criteria and "respect other artists."

The 1839 Awards were launched in 2020 to "celebrate photography and those who use cameras as a creative medium", with two main awards: the Color Photography Contest held in the first half of the year and the Photographer of the Year held at the end of each year. The jury includes photographers and photo experts at the New York Times, Getty Images, Phaidon Press, Christie's and Maddox Gallery.

This year, the Color Photography Contest added an AI Photo category alongside the Architecture, Still Life, and Film/Analog categories. AI Photo is also a special and unique category where the submitted photos are not created by a camera.

Previously, some AI works have won photography competitions, such as a photo of two surfers labeled "taken by drone" in February last year, but it was later discovered to have been created by Absolutely AI. A month later, the photo "The Electrician" was awarded the Creativity Award at the Sony World Photography Awards (SWPA 2023) but was also removed from the list.

Source: https://nhiepanhdoisong.vn/nhiep-anh-gia-bi-rut-giai-thuong-khi-dung-anh-that-de-tham-gia-va-doat-giai-cuoc-thi-ai-14746.html