I think we're in the 'early digital camera' phase of AI art gen.

The real photographers knew they were shit photos. They were grainy, bad lenses, and ugly. A lot of people still liked them because they were much more convenient for a lot of uses than the film ones.

Well, I guess there's still a lot of film people. But film had a ceiling. Digital cameras kept getting better.

The adaptive film photographers eventually adopted the tool. A lot of their skills transferred well to the new medium. Most waited until the cameras got good enough, though.

I'm not sure when that'll be with AI art gen. Seeing scenes broken up into layers in the latest gpt image generation, though, made me think we might be near.

▲

Sharlin 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Incidentally, the "early digital camera" aesthetic has been back in style for a couple of years now.

▲

breezybottom 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

No, it hasn't. You're confusing digital cameras with Polaroids.

▲

Sharlin 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

No, I’m not. Old digital point-and-shoots, and the harsh direct flash aesthetic, have been very popular. Some specific camera models that some random popular TikToker happened to recommend have been selling at quite a mark-up.

Two-ish decades is the standard length of a trend cycle. 00s is now retro in a cool way. Gen Z/Alpha, who have grown with phone cameras, want a different look, and having a real flash is particularly attractive because it allows taking reasonable photos in night clubs etc. Just like we did back in the day. (browsing old Facebook photos)

▲

breezybottom 3 hours ago | parent [-]

How do you quantify that as a trend? Prices change all the time. How many people actually bought it?

The stuff about "generations" and trend cycles is nonsense.

▲

Sharlin 3 hours ago | parent [-]

Ok, think what you want. I have zero interest in arguing about stuff like trying to quantify qualitative things.

	▲	breezybottom 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		That's a bold statement on HN. Perhaps you confused this with reddit.

▲

kowbell an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

Polaroids are much bigger but I've also seen a resurgence in crappy early digital cameras in young adult spaces. There's been a slow rise in all things Y2K in some spaces and getting a crummy digital cam from a thrift store or ebay is a sick find.

	▲	breezybottom 29 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Quantify this. What constitutes a resurgence, or a slow rise?

▲

rubidium 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

It’s the same cultural response as the analog movement. The collective sense that everything Covid on stole our future, and AI is only making it worse.

▲

eloisant 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Also remember the days of the first color printers.

People were so proud to show off their colors that every single word was in a different color.