Closing My Picfair Store

If you read my post on The Fun of Film, you know my thoughts on generative AI. I will not support a business that uses it.

Sunset Line - 3 Shot Panorama on CineStill 400D

When I began taking photos as a hobby in 2020, I set up a store on Picfair so I could occasionally make some money and produce physical prints of my work. There is something intrinsically enjoyable about seeing a photograph you took presented on canvas or in a frame. I wanted my friends and family to be able to enjoy my art that way, too.

Picfair let me set a base price rate (I chose about $15), which guaranteed me that income per sale. The price the customer paid was that plus Picfair’s production and profit margin. Prints still ended up being pricey, well by my standards, but at least they remained within reach of the people I wanted to buy my art.

This, I thought, was a fair arrangement.

My bestselling images tended to be of the night sky.

Then came Picfair’s advertisements. At first, I thought it was funny. Why advertise to me? I already use their service. Maybe it was the fault of those cookies and trackers following us all around the internet these days. I paid no mind.

But over time, the ads changed. Not only did I see more of them, but they shifted from being still images to video. Kinda odd for a photography store, if you ask me. Maybe it was a sign of the times; a shift into video engagement like all the rest of the internet.

Clouds Above and Below - Kodak Ektachrome E100

 The videos were weird, though. The audio did not quite synchronize with the mouth shapes. The actors seemed… shall we say, inexperienced? Things in the shot would occasionally pop into or out of existence, something real objects are not known to often do.

The videos were generated.

Here is the example that convinced me entirely - a video of a guide narrating an aspiring photographer. Note the dead eyes and the Muppet-like mouth movements. But what really sold me was reality bending from one pose to the next. Look again and watch the safari guide’s pants morph and ‘solidify’ behind the desk chair. Watch the face of the “photographer” hit key poses, stiffly blending from one identifiable expression to the next.

It was bullshit. And since it came from a company that billed itself as photographer-forward, I thought it stank.

This revelation of my store’s descent into destructive slop made it an easy decision: I cancelled my storefront. I do not want to support a business that engages in this behavior, nor do I want to appear to support it by association.

The Joust represents my de-facto mental state regarding AI "art."

I have begun looking for alternative services, but I wanted to let you all know that for now, you will be unable to order canvas or framed prints. You can still order custom matted prints from me directly, which I mount, sign, and ship by hand. And you can still join my Postcard Club which exclusively features film photos.

I’m not going anywhere and neither are my values. And since you are reading this, I know you understand why. Thanks for being here with me, and I can’t wait to bring you more views of Colorado and New Mexico soon!

My next post will be about a years-long effort to get a shot of the Milky Way, so stay tuned!

Fly safe!

Zaak