I love playing around with new AI stuff. Some of it is great (Midjourney/ChatGPT) some of it is terrible and sometimes it’s really hit and miss. Regardless of the result it’s always fun to experiment. Recently Google added image uploads to Bard, their AI chat, and you can have it do things like describe the contents of the image.

Now knowing Bard had a tendency, even with normal chat, to invent nonsense facts I was curious to see how it would do with some of my images. To be fair, it started off promising, but then… well… it all got a bit “imaginative”. So, here’s one example:

“The image you sent me shows an aerial view of a city with tall buildings and a yacht in the middle. The city is located on a peninsula, and the water on the left side of the image is a bay. The buildings in the city are mostly tall skyscrapers, and there are a few smaller buildings as well. The yacht in the middle of the image is white, and it has a blue stripe on the side. There are a few people on the yacht, and they are standing on the deck.

The sky in the image is blue, and there are a few clouds. The sun is shining, and the light is reflecting off of the water in the bay. The overall impression of the image is one of a modern city with a beautiful skyline.

Here are some additional details about the image:

The image was taken during the day, in the afternoon.
The weather is clear and sunny.
The water in the bay is a light blue color.
The sky is a clear blue color.
The city is surrounded by mountains.
I hope this description is helpful.”

So the question is… is Bard “imagining” what is outside the image or is it picking up this being Hong Kong and therefore it’s describing aspects of that location, even though they are not in the frame… hmm…

Oh, Bard…

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2018-03-15 13:03:19
• CameraFC220
• Camera MakeDJI
• Exposure Time1/1800
• Aperture2.2
• ISO100
• Focal Length4.7 mm
• FlashNo flash function
• Exposure ProgramProgram AE
• Exposure Bias-0.344

On a previous trip to Hong Kong one of my goals was to explore as much of the government housing as possible, getting away from my usual haunts in the main city. My new friend Simon, a local Chinese guy, was the perfect person to show me around.

We started our day in the Tsing Yi district, which is home to some of the most iconic government housing estates in Hong Kong. The estates are massive, towering blocks of concrete that are home to thousands of people. They may look a bit intimidating at first, but Simon assured me that they were full of life and character. We wandered around the estates for a while, taking in the sights and sounds. We saw people of all ages, from young children to elderly grandparents, going about their daily lives. We saw people playing games, chatting with friends, and just hanging out. It was clear that these estates were more than just places to live; they were also individual communities.

After exploring the estates, we headed to the nearby Sham Shui Po district, which is known for its vibrant night market. We wandered through the market, snacking on street food and browsing the stalls. We found everything from fresh produce to electronics to souvenirs. It was a great way to experience the local culture. Here is one of the final shots of the night, as we continued to explore, just before I headed off back to the hotel with sore feet but a mind racing with memories of the day.

Rising

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2018-03-15 02:44:23
• CameraILCE-7RM3
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time8
• Aperture10
• ISO400
• Focal Length24.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramManual
• Exposure Bias

I got my quad up super high over this area of Hong Kong and planned on making sort of a panorama while looking straight down. It’s not an easy technique because all the buildings come off at different angles. Anyway, I tried to piece them together in Photoshop, but it kept going all funky. I decided to choose the funkiest one because I think it looks quite cool!

Hong Kong Confusion

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2018-03-15 17:22:54
• CameraFC220
• Camera MakeDJI
• Exposure Time1/300
• Aperture2.2
• ISO100
• Focal Length4.7 mm
• FlashNo flash function
• Exposure ProgramProgram AE
• Exposure Bias-0.344

I rode on one of these ships back and forth across the harbor about four times one night. On the final journey, about 1 AM, I decided to get a photo of the boat itself. Like a bunch of Chinese things, this is also kind of fake because the boat actually used a motor instead of the sails. They were just for show. I should not have told you that because it kind of ruins the photo, but, well, there ya go.

Chinese Junkship in Hong Kong

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2018-03-14 02:00:17
• CameraILCE-7RM3
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/80
• Aperture4
• ISO5000
• Focal Length36.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramManual
• Exposure Bias

Here’s another one of the images from my 1000 Stories from 1000 Places NFT drop. It sold out in minutes, but they are now available to trade on OpenSea and X2Y2, etc so be sure to check them out.

On our last day here, we took a ferry over to Macau. Right before the ferry, we went through customs because there’s still a whole process to go from Hong Kong to Macau, even though they are both in China. I had to get a multi-pass (Fifth Element Style) entry Visa for China because I was going in and out so much. I still find the whole customs process to be so slow, especially in light of new tech. Anyway, at least it was a pretty morning!

The Commute Across the Bay in Hong Kong on a Rare Foggy Morning…

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2018-03-16 13:25:41
• CameraILCE-7RM3
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/640
• Aperture4.5
• ISO200
• Focal Length31.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramManual
• Exposure Bias

Because of the intense density of China, most of the public and private space can be very confining. The Chinese people themselves, I notice, often stand closer to me than any other culture. After generations of being mashed together, they have a different sense of space.

Hong Kong, China
TreyRatcliff.com

Commune

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2018-03-13 17:22:10
• CameraFC220
• Camera MakeDJI
• Exposure Time1/580
• Aperture2.2
• ISO100
• Focal Length4.7 mm
• FlashNo flash function
• Exposure ProgramProgram AE
• Exposure Bias

I had a lot of fun flying around the city a few years ago, grabbing some of the less common angles and then creating some fun abstract images. Here’s one of the more normal takes.

A Chunk of Hong Kong

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2018-03-15 17:28:29
• CameraFC220
• Camera MakeDJI
• Exposure Time1/800
• Aperture2.2
• ISO100
• Focal Length4.7 mm
• FlashNo flash function
• Exposure ProgramProgram AE
• Exposure Bias-0.344

Hong Kong is one of the fifty cities featured in my “Beautiful Cities of the World” NFT drop on OpenSea. There are locations from every continent in that collection and there are a bunch of them from Asia, especially the night shots, which really stand out for me. Oh, and some of them are animated which is really fun. Check them out via OpenSea or find out more on my fine art website.

Beautiful Cities of the World

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2018-03-13 03:16:22
• CameraILCE-7RM3
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1
• Aperture4
• ISO100
• Focal Length68.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramManual
• Exposure Bias

One of my favorite shots from Series 2 of my Fine Art prints collection. It’s called Little Boxes Made of Ticky-Tacky and was taken in Kowloon. A collector in the US just took delivery of one edition of this print (1.15 x 1.50m) and I’m looking forward to seeing a pic of it installed in their home. 🙂 You can see more of the Series 2 collection over here.

Series 2

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2018-03-15 02:12:03
• CameraILCE-7RM3
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time10
• Aperture6.3
• ISO200
• Focal Length16.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramManual
• Exposure Bias