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Category: AI

April 19, 2026

How to Turn Your Photo into a Cinematic Video Clip Using GenAI

I recently snapped the photo on the top. I then went home and used generative AI to modify it to create the photo on the bottom. But I didn’t stop there. I continued to evolve it into a short video. The fascinating result is below.

Have you ever encountered a visual moment that you immediately felt compelled to capture with a photo? It happens to me all the time. Taking a walk on the street… hiking in the forest… or commuting to work. I just see it and say to myself, “Wow, that would be a great picture.” 

I imagine you’ve experienced this too.

One Frame is All You Need

And whether you happen to be carrying your camera or can quickly pull out your smartphone, it’s often possible to capture the moment. But the visual opportunity usually lasts for just a few seconds, right? You might get off a couple shots, but then the opportunity has passed.

If you’re also attracted to the motion of the moment and you want to shoot a little video clip, that’s usually a much harder task, because there simply isn’t enough time.

That’s where GenAI video creation tools can really help. No, they can’t turn back or slow down time, allowing you the freedom to shoot that perfect video. 

But GenAI can take your photo and then magically generate a few seconds of realistic action from your freeze frame. 

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

This faux reality is clearly not the same as recording the real deal.

But if you consider the potential of this amazing and disruptive AI video creation process as an art form, you can sidestep (for the moment) the ethical debate surrounding fake video use.

Today, we’re simply talking about using your very real photos as the creative foundation to generate video art. Think of it as a realistic-looking digital painting in motion.

And instead of having to start from scratch with just words and a series of complex prompts, your photo can instantly provide a ton of art direction for your scene. From there, you can focus more on creating the action in it.

Here’s an example of how I do this…

Start with One of Your Photos

Upload your photo to the GenAI platform of your choice. For today’s demonstration, I’m using Google Veo. I snapped this photo of a man flying a kite on the beach on a cool spring afternoon. 


Animate your Photo

Then I asked Veo to bring it life.


Change the Person in your Photo

Next, I asked Nano Banana to change the man into a woman.


Create a Cinematic Video

Finally, I had Veo create a video from that new photo and add a tracking dolly move to the shot.

This cinematic motion added to the scene was especially impressive, because that would have otherwise required a video crew for the day with expensive gear to pull off.

I generated this video clip in about 30 seconds.

Impressive. Most impressive.

AI Video Creation Tip:
Use a Start and End Image

Often, it’s easier to get what you’re looking for if you first upload what the first and last frame of your new video should look like (using two of your photos). 

That will provide the guardrails for your Gen AI platform to appropriately fill in the middle. Otherwise, it might do anything it wants, creating entirely unwanted action. Even uploading the same photo as the first and last shot can help stabilize the output.

Perfect results are not guaranteed, but I’ve found it captivating to explore this process. Here are a few more examples based on my own photos.

Woman Sits on Church Steps in Barcelona

My original photo
GenAI video


Man and his Dog Walk to Waterfall

My original photo
GenAI video


This is Serious

So yes, this is really cool. But what’s my practical application for all this beyond showing off a parlor trick of sorts?

Well, clearly, this is all about the future of video creation. And GenAI video will only continue to become more realistic. Again, beyond the ethical questions surrounding this topic, there are massive implications that are already rewriting the rulebook for the entire video production industry.

And as video production sits at the center of my career, I’ve been paying close attention to this revolution.

It’s easy to play in this sandbox in the name of art or personal photography. But there’s a much larger arena that’s already being impacted.

Soon, playtime will be over.

It’s time to skill up. 

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March 1, 2026

My Ode to the Fading Winter

There is an upside to this year’s brutal, wicked-cold winter. Simply that it’s coming to an end. And now it’s time to start looking for spring.

Yes, there are colder places on this planet with more extreme winter conditions right now. But let me just say as I don my weatherman’s hat from the greater New York City area… it’s been a brutal winter. 

Blizzard. Ice. Single-digit temperatures. Yeah, lots of fun.

I like to say it’s been “wicked cold.”

That line harkens back to a past life when I lived up in the Boston area and just about every winter was brutal. “Wicked cold” was simply… winter. 

But I’ve softened considerably across years of experiencing coastal Connecticut’s gentler winters. And now, it’s been something of a rude (re)awakening.

I will say, however, that shoveling all the snow hasn’t been quite as difficult. Why is that? Well, we’ve got the power of a high school sophomore on our team. And that’s made a huge difference. #TeamLester #grateful.

Power Up

I’m also grateful that we haven’t lost power across these winter storms. Sure, I charge everything up, including my portable power banks. But… as we all know, without a full generator back-up system, portable power banks will only cover you for so long.

Plus, I know we’ve got an exit strategy. #thankstofriends

Wicked Fun

But here’s the really good news. Wicked cold doesn’t necessarily have to mean wicked bad. Winter can be wicked fun.

  • Plus, I’ll always take the bite of brisk over summer humidity.
  • A fire in the winter fireplace is always a special experience.
  • And I’ve got admit, there’s a certain satisfaction that comes with surviving a certain amount of adversity.

And suddenly, spring is right around the corner.

Hello Spring?

Yes, it’s early, but I hope we’re close to that tipping point. Not to predict, but I see early signs beneath the retreating snow line.

And to celebrate this pending seasonal shift, I present to you yet another
Barrett poem.*

Ode to the Fading Winter

My weatherman’s hat is placed on my head, 
To report on single digits I dread. 
From cold New Yorks streets to the Norwalk shore, 
It’s wicked cold, like Boston days of yore. 
Though I’ve softened in the years in between, 
This brutal frost is a rude, chilly scene.

The shovel goes fast, I’m happy to say, 
With my high schooler’s strength to lead the way. 
Go #TeamLester! We have strength in the snow, 
Using three shovels and stacked in a row.
With an exit plan and friends close at hand, 
We’re weathering storms across frozen land.

But wicked cold days can be wicked fun, 
More than humidity and summer sun. 
Fire in the hearth and pride in the soul, 
When you’ve survived the freeze and reached your goal. 
The struggle stings, but the win is so sweet, 
As we clear ice and the slush on the street.

Now snow retreats and the sun starts to climb, 
We’ve reached the tipping point, it’s about time! 
The signs of the green are starting to show, 
Peeking from patches of melting white snow. 
Goodbye to the ice and winter’s sharp sting, 
I’m ready to say a “Hello” to spring.

*Editor’s note: I prompted the videos and structure of this poem into existence using a little GenAI assistance via Google Gemini and Flow. Thank you!
(My ice photos are still the real deal.)

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February 15, 2026

How to Use AI to Visualize Your Memories

Using generative AI to create images from your life in cartoon form is one way to reflect the essence of a memory, especially when you don’t have a photo. 

I’ve always been a bit obsessed with capturing family photos to document our story.  And I often refer to my photo library as the official record of our lives. More than just the images themselves, the metadata of the ‘where’ and ‘when’ is quite useful.

But the photos we collect may not always live up to the memories we hold onto. 

And this limitation often crops up for me when I sit down to design and print a photo collage card. Sometimes the pictures from yesteryear just aren’t there.

So, I’ve just tried an experiment…

Text-To-Photo Prompts

I decided to generate new images for a photo collage from my memories. No, this is not science fiction. Thanks to the magic of generative AI, I scanned through my memories and turned a few into photos. 

How? Simply through some simple AI text-to-photo prompting.

I didn’t try to create photo-real images. Instead, I decided to visualize my past in cartoon form… as far away from reality as you can get. That way, it’s just the essence of a memory that’s represented. That’s all I wanted.

4 Steps to Bring the Past Back to (Cartoon) Life

So yes, I sat down at my computer and created cartoon scenes from my life to weave into a photo collage.

Here’s how:

  • Design your character prototypes. You can type in the physical characteristics or use a photo as a reference. A partial similarity is all you need to get to. Remember, it’s just a cartoon. I’m going for fun here… not accuracy.
  • Once you’ve got your character blueprints, upload them as your subjects. 
  • Then simply type in a couple sentences from your memory as your prompt.
  • If you happen to have an actual photo from the location of your memory, you can also upload that as part of the ‘scene.’ 

I found this process remarkably easy and successfully generated a variety of fun cartoon scenes from my life to stitch together into a unique photo-collage card.

I used Google Whisk for this first experiment, but there are many other generative AI platforms to use, including Adobe Firefly.

Cartoon Barrett

Let me share a few examples how this all works. First, here’s cartoon Barrett I created. 

This is the blueprint.

Then I got to work reviewing some of my recent trips and thought about a few key moments that weren’t photographed.

Lost in Alaska

I’ve shared photos from our big 2023 hike up the Harding Icefield Trail in Alaska’s Kenai Fjords National Park. But there’s another moment from this excursion.

I accompanied a group of hikers for this challenging trek, but I was a real slow poke. After a couple hours, I was pulling up the rear. Near the top, I realized I had fallen so far behind, there wasn’t a soul in sight. And the trail through the rocky surface had disappeared. Then, there were a few minutes when I was totally alone… and effectively lost. 

I’m on a mountain, next to a glacier, and it’s cold. Now what?

My heart pumped harder. I had no choice but to keep moving. Fortunately, I walked in the correct direction and soon spotted the lead from our group (who was looking for me).  

So, my ‘moment’ was really just for a moment. Still, I hold onto this vivid memory. 

Crashing a New Orleans Parade

During our 2022 vacation to New Orleans, I captured some great street photos. But there was this one amazing scene I walked through that I just couldn’t get a shot from. It all happened too fast. 

We were strolling through the French Quarter, turned a corner to cross a street and crashed into one of those glorious small parades with music and dancing down the avenue. I was literally in the middle of it all, and before I knew it, they were gone.

The lingering memory feels something like this…

The space was much tighter as everyone swarmed around me, but this cartoon does a good job capturing my feeling. 

This represents the great photo in New Orleans I never snapped.

A Wild Turkey Flew into My Car

One of the freakiest driving experiences I ever had was during a spring road trip with my family. I was driving through the countryside, and a wild turkey flew into our car. 

Thankfully, it wasn’t a direct impact. As I tried to veer away, the turkey clipped the passenger’s window and tore off the side mirror. Fortunately, we were all fine (not sure about the turkey).

This is certainly not a moment you’d expect to get a photo from. This representation does plenty justice to the absurdity of it all.

Camera Overboard?

The truth is none of these memories could really have accompanying photos. 

The fact that I can now quickly generate images (however silly) with a few clicks to reflect my experience is quite powerful.

And sometimes, it’s the story behind the story. Like the time I worried I would lose my camera overboard on our cruise while I shot a few timelapses.

This never happened. It’s simply a memory of how I felt. (Now, we’re drilling deep into my head.)

A New Way to Tell Your Story

Whether reconstructing past moments or simply visualizing old feelings, this AI-fueled image creation process is just another way AI is empowering us with new artistic and storytelling skills.

Impressive. Most impressive.

For your consideration.

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