About the content creator Frank Kahts
A photon of light travelling all the way from the sun, reacting with a chemical compound on an acetate substrate, always fascinated me. My journey using a device that created the magic started with my first real camera. A Canon A1 and a Sigma 120 – 300 zoom lens. Film of choice for me was Ektachrome, Kodachrome or Agfa. Mostly Kodachrome 64 pushed to 90 ASA. About ten days wait before you could see fruits of your labour. Some far, far away processing lab developing your precious transparencies.
On a Namibia vacation a friend let me use his Nikon System. It fitted my hands perfectly and I liked the look of the viewfinder. My first Nikon was a F75 with kit lenses. I discovered Velvia colour slide film. Soon there was a F80 and some Nikkor lenses. Digital arrived, I decided not to be an Early Adopter. Then came the whirring of a scanner and the rite of passage into the electronic darkroom. The smell of darkroom chemicals replaced by “Layers” and digital sliders. I had stepped into the world where a picture was changed into ones and zeroes, but my F100 body, to this day, lives with its D series brothers in the safe.
With a Nikon D700, I made the switch to Histogram Photography. No need existed to buy expensive new glass. People were buying my images from the internet photo stock library I had joined as a contributor. Most of my work shows South Africa’s tourism industry, Africa’s outdoor activities and our local history.
I relocated to Durban, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) from Johannesburg, where in the corporate world I practised as a Food Technologist, early in my working life. Getting a marketing qualification facilitated a career adjustment. The art of Business became more alluring than biochemistry and test tubes. As a Marketing Manager, a pot of money was put under my control, which I could spend on Graphic Designers, Advertising Agencies and, yes, Photographers. The thrill of directing the work of “Creatives” to make a product look sexy. For my bean counting colleagues I put it to them as Target Market Communication via artistic interpretation. Discrimination political ideology in South Africa (a.k.a. DEI) ended employment in corporate.
In Durban I qualified as a Licenced Tourism Practitioner, glamourous terminology for a tour guide. Working with tourists has allowed me to travel extensively to points of interest and historical sites on the Eastern Seaboard of South Africa (Read: I am available for Location Scouting).
By showcasing my country to foreign visitors I have realised that KwaZulu-Natal is the Cinderella of international tourist destinations in Southern Africa. This has motivated me, especially over the past eight years, to shoot stock photos of landmarks and places where significant historical events have taken place. It is emotionally moving to photograph the battlefield where Churchill and Gandhi were on the same day or the place where Nelson Mandela was arrested. There is also the satisfaction of capturing amazing landscape images that the world is waiting to discover. Planning the logistics of a shoot, previsualising the scene that could be a defining photo and giving thought to what would be perfect timing, fills me with enthusiasm.
At this juncture I have contributed over five thousand (5000) images to the stock photo library Alamy. As I continue touring to places and documenting scenes, content is added to my body of work at Alamy. My Art Photography portfolio at present is a “watch this space” project. Am I going to stop contributing stock pictures because the Creative Industry is in hysteria about AI? No. Why do I say that?
Like many things that humankind has experienced over the past two hundred years, in my view, the AI technology lifecycle is going to mature. Once people truly understand where this instrument fits into the order of life, Homo sapiens will move onto the next greatest thing since the sliced bread idea. Think moving pictures, VHS/Beta (1990s, remember those), DVD, now streaming!
No matter how you slice it or dice it, AI images are still from a Language-to-Image model. The essence of my photography is a Creative Service to all sectors of the Visual Communication industry, that require authentic content produced by a human. My objective is to deliver images by visual storytelling of a country in transformation. I am not a social media picture shooter, my photos are taken for the Creative Community. The purpose is to provide work that aligns with the message your project wants to convey. A robot living in a Data Centre can create on your instruction, but it does not understand your audience.