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Photographer Miles Astray entered a real flamingo photograph in the 1839 Awards’ 2024 AI category. It initially received the category’s Bronze and People’s Vote awards, but after Astray disclosed that it was a real photograph, the organizers disqualified it because it did not meet the category’s requirements. It was an initially awarded entry, not the final eligible winner.
What happened to the flamingo photograph?
The image, titled “F L A M I N G O N E,” was entered in the AI-generated image category of the 1839 Awards’ 2024 Color Photography Contest. In a statement published June 13, 2024, the organizers said Astray told them after the winners were announced that the image was real rather than AI-generated. Before that disclosure, it had received Bronze and the People’s Vote awards in the category. The organizers then disqualified it. 1839 Awards’ statement
The photograph can look uncanny: TechTimes reported that the flamingo appears headless because of the camera angle. The outlet reported that Astray took it on a beach in Aruba in 2022 with a Nikon D750 and a 50mm prime lens. Those location and equipment details come from secondary reporting, not the organizers’ statement. TechTimes’ report
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Why was a real photograph disqualified?
The category was for work made with AI, not simply images that looked imaginative or artificial. The organizers said they created a standalone AI category so artists working in that medium would not compete against photographers who travel to capture real animals and landscapes. They stated, “Miles knew his submission did not meet the requirements for the AI-generated image category.” Astray did not contest the disqualification, according to the statement. 1839 Awards’ statement
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This separates two judgments that can be easy to conflate: whether a picture is visually compelling and whether it qualifies for a particular category. Judges and voters initially recognized the image within the contest; its actual method of creation made it ineligible once disclosed.
What was Astray trying to show?
In the organizers’ account, Astray said he wanted to demonstrate “that Mother Nature and its human interpreters can still beat the machine and that creativity and emotion are more than just a string of digits.” The organizers said they appreciated the message and hoped the episode would offer awareness and hope to photographers concerned about AI. 1839 Awards’ statement
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VnExpress International reported that Astray described his aim as showing that human-made content remained relevant. It also reported that he acknowledged ethical concerns about misleading the jury while saying he expected and supported being disqualified. These are accounts of his stated intentions and reaction, rather than independently verifiable motives. VnExpress International’s report
What the incident does—and does not—show about AI detection
The episode shows how a category can reward an image’s appearance before its creation process is known, and how eligibility rules can change the outcome after disclosure. It does not establish how accurately AI images can generally be detected: the cited accounts provide no detection study or error rate. In this case, the decisive information was Astray’s disclosure that his photograph was real, followed by the organizers’ eligibility decision.
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Sources and reporting
- 1839 Awards, “A Note On Our 2024 Color Photography Awards,” June 13, 2024 — organizer account of the disclosure, awards, category rationale, and disqualification.
- TechTimes, “Photographer Joins AI Photo Contest, Wins Top Prize with Real Image,” June 12, 2024 — secondary reporting on the image, location, and equipment.
- VnExpress International, “Photographer wins AI contest with real picture,” June 15, 2024 — secondary reporting on Astray’s stated aim and reaction.
- CBS News, “How a real picture of a flamingo won top honors in AI photo contest,” June 24, 2024 — interview-segment listing and corroborating coverage of the event.
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