Here are 10 cool iPhone photos I snapped during my flight on the way back from Las Vegas (much better than an in-flight movie experience).
When I boarded my plane from Las Vegas back to New York City after attending the NAB convention, I found a little surprise. As I sat down in my window seat, I noticed that the traditional LED entertainment screen built into the seat in front of me… was missing.
Sure, I understand that shorter flights may no longer offer this traditional amenity, but this was five-hour trip. Huh.
Instead, I read instructions on how I could stream free content from my phone using the plane’s Wi-Fi.
This is progress?
The Show Begins
So after liftoff, I turned my attention out the plane window and discovered the real show was just beginning.
It was a clear morning with just a few wispy clouds. From 30,000 feet up, I could see… the entire United States. (Well, not exactly, as we’d probably have to be in orbit for that kind of view. But it felt like I could see everything. Just not all at once.)
For the next few hours, I took in the beautiful shifting view, and it was way better than any movie I might stream on Netflix.
It’s not like people never look out their window during flights, but you really need perfect weather to maximize the opportunity. If you haven’t done this lately, I highly recommend you look out for the this experience the next time nature makes it available.
Put Your Phone’s Camera to Work
And it’s shockingly easy to snap some great photos with your phone. You just need to hold it close enough to the window to avoid in-cabin reflections.
Here of some of the photos I snapped with my iPhone 15 Pro Max along my journey home. The order is from west to east, beginning in Nevada and ending somewhere in the eastern half of the U.S. after it finally clouded over.
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.
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.
This sunrise over Delray Beach is AI generated by Google Veo, but it’s inspired by my own experience on that beach. I also prompted Veo to follow the creative direction from the photos I took. So, is this AI video clip moment real or not?
Technology has chipped away at the definition of reality. Digital photography and photo editing software provide almost endless adjustment opportunities for creative expression. But now, with AI-powered tools, you can literally reconstruct an entire photo. You can remove distractions and even people. So, what’s real anymore?
For the past few years, I’ve been fighting a certain sense of guilt as I’ve learned to ‘improve’ my photography using AI-fueled enhancements. Sure, my resulting photos are better, but I sometimes worry that they’re no longer the pictures I captured. But I’ve been careful, and I’ve worked hard to keep it real.
Today, I happily use all the AI-powered photo editing tools in Adobe Lightroom, because I make sure my modified pictures are still faithful to the core images. This is essence of my rule book, and I follow it without angst.
Next comes video.
AI Can Turn Your Photo into a Video Text-to-video prompting and photo-to-video magic is today’s big creative disruptor. And I know I must face this revolution head on, as it changes everything about the work I’ve been doing for decades.
I’m particularly interested in the generative AI power to to turn a real photo into a video that looks shockingly similar. AI can replicate and then extend the creative elements in your photos into full motion video. Remarkable. (The results are not always perfect, but they’re improving.)
So, I embarked on a little creative exercise. I chose a few silhouette photos I snapped during a sunrise over Delray Beach on our recent Florida vacation and ran them through Google Veo. This process generated 8-second video clips that almost exactly followed the visual elements from my photos. The only exception was Veo created alternate, though similar, people on the beach. (And that’s fine.)
Then I edited the AI video clips together to create this sequence representing my own sunrise experience on that beach.
AI Video Generated from My Photos
As Real as Art Can Be So, what exactly is this? What have I created here? Well, it’s simultaneously real and not real.
My photos provided enough creative direction for Veo to effectively clone each photo and then extend each moment.
So sure, then it’s easy to call this sequence ‘fake’ as Veo has invented 8 seconds from each frame I gave it.
But these individual scenes faithfully reflect the reality I saw. They do express the essence of my experience.
So perhaps this entire AI-enabled creative process should fall under the category of art. Yes, maybe that’s what I’m doing here.
No Professional Video Crew Required I also found it wildly fun that I’m able to generate video clips that would otherwise require me to hire a professional video crew for the day.
In my AI video, the opening shot of the two people walking on the beach… yes, I might be able to capture that with my DJI Osmo 3 gimbal.
But that closing tracking shot of the paddleboard man surfing? That’s a clear step beyond Barrett’s personal filmmaking chops (for now).
The Limits When Recording Real B-Roll Of course, I don’t need AI to create video for me. Here’s some actual b-roll I recorded on Delray Beach that same morning with my Osmo.
Real Barrett B-Roll
But while I also like this ‘real’ b-roll, these are necessarily wider shots, limited by the realities I encountered in those moments on the beach. (Shooting b-roll can be an intrusive process. And I didn’t want to mess with people’s sunrise Zen.)
Snapping a photo is quick and usually less invasive. As a result, I think my original silhouette shots had additional visual impact.
Real Barrett Photos
But now, I can also use my new AI tools to express my creative interpretation of these same images into longer scenes. I can build on these moments, magically extending my stills into the video realm. That’s so cool!
But what does this all mean moving forward? Well, I’m not exactly sure.
A Digital Painting in Motion I don’t truly understand my little Frankenstein video. Yes, I made it, but what is it?
It’s alive… and yet not
Fabricated, but very close to reality
Hard to exactly define, other than an artist’s interpretation
Perhaps I’ll simply call it my digital painting in motion.
Of course, there are any number of unanswered questions regarding the broader topic of AI-generated video for our society. But I’ll leave that for another day.
For now, I’m pleased that I was able to simply share with you the flow and true ‘spirit’ of my beautiful sunrise experience with a little artistic help from AI.
And I hope you liked the paintbrush I chose to use.
At Home with Tech 