Peter Buczkowski

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Prosthetic Photographer

The Prosthetic Photographer enables anybody to unwillingly take beautiful pictures.

It forces its user with electrical impulses to take a picture if the current scene in front of it is beautiful enough.
Beginning photographers oftentimes get the advice that the key in getting better is to go outside and take pictures of anything that gets in front of the lens. Through this process, they should learn to better decide what pictures are worth taking and new methods how to get them.
What if afterwards there are only beautiful pictures on the camera?

This project is a modular system that can be attached to any mirrorless or DSLR camera. The computer inside of it is trained with a neural network to distinguish between high and low quality photos. It constantly analyzes the image in front of it. When satisfied with the current scene, a electric shock lets the user unwillingly press a button. The button eventually activates the release of the connected camera and takes the picture.
The two electrodes on the handle transport the electrical impulse into the users hand. They need at any time to be in contact with the skin. One can adjust the strength of the impulse by using the knobs on the back. It has to be strong enough so the impulse lets the finger in front of the handle activate the release.
When satisfied with the image in front of it, the system forces the user to take a picture of the current scene. 

With advancements in machine learning and especially with neural networks computers can learn and decide about information of any kind more precisely than humans ever could. This system is part of a new aesthetic, based on computer-generated decisions that were taught by previous human skill.
The conscious skill of photography becomes obsolete this way.
The Prosthetic Photographer is a prosthetic skill extension making everyone using it an as good photographer as the data it was trained on.