‘I understand the controversy, but the images are in line with what I have always done’. That's Magnum photographer Carl De Keyzer’s reaction to the fuss surrounding his new book ‘Putin's Dream’. He made this series of photos using AI, artificial intelligence.
Magnum photographer Carl De Keyzer uses AI to create controversial photo series on Russia
Colin Clapson
Published:
‘With an ordinary laptop in my kitchen’. That is how De Keyzer made “Putin's Dream”, his new photo series full of Russian scenes. It is the photographer's second book focusing on Russia. Only this time, De Keyzer made a virtual trip.
In 1988, De Keyzer travelled to Russia for his book ‘Homo Sovieticus’, a tome about the Soviet Union. In the years that followed, interest in the country remained high. De Keyzer planned to take another look at Russia during a road trip. The suitcases were even packed, but eventually the outbreak of war threw a spanner in the works.
Out of boredom, De Keyzer then started playing with AI: ‘It turned out to be a means of expanding my vision, an emergency measure to bring my lost project to life’.
De Keyzer uses his photos to train AI
All the images in ‘Putin's Dream’ were created using AI. Still, a lot of work was involved: ‘You get results very quickly, but I wanted images that resembled my work’. To stay close to his own photographic style, the photographer trained AI with images he himself had made in the past.
In this way, De Keyzer imposed his own style on AI and was able to create some everyday scenes in line with his own work: children playing in the street and boxers chatting amongst themselves, but, thanks to AI, the book also features less obvious images of a Russian oligarch and Putin and his entourage.
De Keyzer wants to use his images to draw attention to the war in Ukraine and its many victims. ‘The book is really about a dictator’s dream of conquest’.
Outcry on social media
To promote his book (to be published in early December), De Keyzer posted several images online. The publication of these images immediately led to a fuss on social media. De Keyzer even ended up deleting the images from his Instagram page.
De Keyzer understands the controversy and realises that his images lead to more disinformation: ‘But I like to work with confusion: my work is always somewhere between propaganda and personal commentary. The images are in line with what I have always been doing’.
The photographer repeatedly mentions that this is fiction. According to De Keyzer it is also important to keep pointing this out. ‘But now the debate is too much about AI and too little about the subject of the photo series’.
Even the renowned photo agency Magnum sat down with De Keyzer: ‘I had a conversation with the president and the vice-president, but it was actually very amicable’.
There was never really any question of losing his membership. ‘They were most concerned - and didn't like the fact - that I hadn't informed them of my plans,’ he says. De Keyzer believes Magnum would have advised against the idea.
‘Not everything that is new should be burned down’
Will he use AI in the future? The photographer is currently thinking about it, ‘I didn't expect this fierce reaction’ he says.
Still, de Keyzer hopes that people now realise that photography and AI also have a future: ‘The work is made for people who are open to new techniques. Not everything that is new should be burned down.’