In a surprising reversal, a photographer who had submitted his work to a recent competition was disqualified after his real photograph took the prize in the AI image category. In other words, his award was ripped from his hands because he didn’t use AI, flipping the usual narrative of artists being accused of using AI on its head. As PetaPixel reports, photographer Miles Astray submitted a stunning photo of a flamingo tucking its head into its own body into the AI category at the 1839 Color Photography Awards. Miles Astray | f l a m i n g o n e | Inkjet giclée pigment #print on Hahnemühle Photorag fine #art paper, 308 gsm, ISO 9706 #museum quality | 2022 | 122×81 cm (w/h) | €2.400,- | #flamingo #MilesAstray #FineArt #GicleePrint #Hahnemühle #ArtForSale #ContemporaryArt #InkjetPrint… pic.twitter.com/DIRAHQIxZ7 — Vincent OG (@onlinegallery8) March 1, 2024 The work took third place and even won the People’s Vote Award. But it turns out Astray wanted to send a message by submitting a real photograph. “I wanted to show that nature can still beat the machine and that there is still merit in real work from real creatives,” he told PetaPixel. “After seeing recent instances of AI-generated imagery beating actual photos in competitions, I started thinking about turning the story and its implications around by submitting a real photo into an AI competition.” The AI category is the only one in the competition that isn’t camera-based. While organizers told PetaPixel that they appreciated Astray’s “powerful…In Surprising Reversal, Real Photograph Gets Disqualified From Competition for NOT Being AI