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Tanja Schalling’s unique gaze extends beyond the models; it also embraces the raw, unpolished facets of cityscapes, creating a striking contrast with the delicate human forms she portrays.
WN: Can you tell us a bit about your creative background?
Tanja: I am originally a film and tv director and editing director turning a photographer about 15 years ago. All my life I couldn’t quite decide for a single creative output, be it film, photography, painting, writing songs, pottery.. I’ve done everything. For a long time I felt bad about not being able to decide for one thing, but now i am at the point where I just tell myself “so what?” I don’t want to give up on one thing for the sake of another, just to call myself something like photographer, poet, painter etc.. I am just who I am, doing what I enjoy and using different methods to express myself.
WN: For what I see you started as a photographer, Can you describe your journey into AI art? What inspired you to explore this medium?
Tanja: I see AI yet as another tool to create art. I always find it funny when people dare to have an opinion on what is art and what is not, and which tools you are allowed to use. As if there were rules to art. Actually, the discussion about it makes it even more art, because it’s part of the art piece. I have to grin every time someone judges if you’re “allowed“ to use AI to create art pieces, I am sure da Vinci had the same naysayers when he invented his “tools“ to help him get the job done.
WN: In what ways do you think AI tools are changing the landscape of photography?
Tanja: I think of it positively. For example, for my video which took scene in Paris, I would have had to buy plane tickets, pay for a hotel, for models, for catering and spend 3 days shooting to get to the same end result that I got to with AI in half a day. I wouldn’t even have been able to put my vision of this piece to live because I wouldn’t have had the budget for it. And now, more than 3 million people have seen it and I have gotten uncountable messages thanking me for creating it. I am grateful that many young artists with a vision now have the opportunity to create and to enrich the world with their ideas.
WN: What new skills did you have to learn to work effectively with generative AI technologies?
Tanja: My background of photography helps a lot with giving AI the exact camera settings to get the results I want. What I had to learn was its “language“ I find it interesting that every AI has its own language. Where for example with Midjourney you speak more like the DP, more technical, with runway you have to communicate more like a director.. scenery, moods, etc.
WN: Do you think AI is going to hurt the careers of traditional creatives?
Tanja: It will hurt people who are stuck in their frames and their ways. I think “creative“ people will find a “creative“ way to work with it.
To see more of Tanja’s work please follow her Instagram Account, you won’t regret it: @vallemarieart
