I am starting to change my opinion on A.I. When I wrote my post “I Don’t Need A.I.” in July of 2025, I had never used A.I. I thought using A.I. was cheating, and I wanted to go as long as possible before ever using it.
Over the last few months, however, I’ve begun using it, as some questions seem almost impossible to answer without A.I. Therefore, I am shifting my stance on A.I. My post was mostly about not wanting to use A.I. to enhance my writing, and I still agree with that sentiment. But there are many questions and projects that are much easier to undertake with the assistance of A.I.
Take, for example, photographing tulips. I went to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum near my hometown this morning to photograph their thousands of tulips on display, and I wanted more successful photos, so I turned to Google Gemini. The chatbot provided the detailed, succinct advice I’ve come to expect from it over the past few months. I will continue to turn to Gemini for photography advice, in addition to the myriad questions I ask it on an almost daily basis now.
Next year, I will make sure to visit the Arboretum earlier in the spring to get photos of the tulips when they’re at their peak. I had been waiting for certain weather conditions (mild overcast and light wind) and just never found the ideal conditions. By the time I finally visited the Arboretum today, the tulips were past their peak, and there were about a dozen workers removing the unappealing ones. Last year, I never even made it to the Arboretum to photograph the tulips, despite having just bought a macro lens for that purpose, because I didn’t find the weather conditions perfect. I’m learning photography is less about finding perfect weather conditions and more about capturing the moment whenever it arises, regardless of the weather conditions.
When I photographed the tulips this morning, the sky cover was at 2 percent and the wind speed was at 8 mph. The wind was less of a detriment to the photos than the bright sun. I think the photos still turned out OK—they are the best tulip photos I’ve ever taken—but I’m not about to get them printed and framed.
I took these four photos from 9:32 to 9:52 a.m. in Chaska, Minnesota.
Scribner.org 