Tell A Story

Background 

On October 9, 2024, the city of Lakeland was hit hard by Hurricane Milton while still recovering from the destruction left behind by Hurricane Helene just one week prior.

One of the first areas cleaned up by the city was Lake Mirror. I took an afternoon trip out to the lake to catch some photos for an assignment.

While strolling around the lake, I was able to snap a few photos of a group of ducks, probably in search of food.

I borrowed a Nikon Z30 mirrorless camera with a DX 16-50mm f/3.5-6.3 VR lens, set the priority to shutter speed, and started shooting. 

The given assignment was to submit a picture to tell a story. I used ChatGPT to write an actual story to go with the photo using the following prompt:

"You are a creative writing student. Create a brief story about 5 ducks swimming on a lake, looking for food, on a sunny afternoon."

The Story

Five ducks floated lazily on the lake, their silhouettes dark against the fading afternoon sky. The water was cool beneath their bellies, a welcome relief from the long, hot day. They drifted without hurry, five specks in the vastness of the lake, each one following its own rhythm yet somehow moving in sync.

The leader was an older drake, his feathers worn but his eyes sharp. He kept his gaze ahead, always searching. A younger duck trailed close behind, mimicking the elder’s every move, as if trying to learn the secrets of the lake. Behind them, a pair of siblings splashed playfully, diving down to chase fish they never caught, their quacks echoing in the quiet air. The last duck, a shy one, swam further out, her head dipping cautiously into the water now and then, pulling up bits of plants in quiet contentment.

As they reached the center of the lake, the ducks spread out, each turning in a different direction, yet never too far from one another. The sun dipped lower, casting their reflections across the water, and for a brief moment, it seemed as if there were ten ducks, not five, floating together in peaceful harmony. Then the light shifted, and they swam on, always together, even in their solitude.

The Graphic

Yes, a picture is worth a thousand words. But I was curious about the graphics that could be created from that very vivid write-up created using artificial intelligence. So I prompted ChatGPT to create an image along with the write-up to compare what AI could generate versus what this flawed human-generated in real life with a camera she is still learning to use.