The Synthetic Eye

[Ritchin’s] attention has recently turned to the vast implications of artificial intelligence on the photographer’s role as credible witness–the subject of his new book, The Synthetic Eye.– “Aperture” (1/17/2025 12:00:00 AM)Ritchin’s goal with The Synthetic Eye leans toward exploration of the new possibilities AI presents for photography rather than bemoaning what it closes off. The book includes substantial portfolios of the results of his queries to DALL-E, DreamStudio, and other AI tools, and some of them are delightful and provocative, art in themselves… He points to his own concept of Four Corners, where an image online provides information about an image’s backstory, authorship, links, and related imagery.– “Mark Athitakis, On the Seawall”

Fred Ritchin is a writer, educator and critic. Currently the Dean Emeritus of the International Center of Photography (ICP) School, he was previously professor of photography and imaging at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. He has worked as the picture editor of The New York Times Magazine (1978-1982) and created the first multimedia version of the New York Times newspaper (1994-95). He was nominated by the Times for a Pulitzer Prize in public service in 1997 for Bosnia: Uncertain Paths to Peace, a non-linear online photo essay that he conceived and edited. Ritchin’s previous books include In Our Own Image: The Coming Revolution in Photography (1990), After Photography (2009) and Bending The Frame: Photojournalism, Documentary and the Citizen (2013). He continues to teach and lecture widely.