In an era when most people have at least one modern digital camera, taking a good quality photo with over 10 megapixels can be done effortlessly with just a push of a button. On the flipside, does this guarantee that photography is getting more diverse and creative from the advances in digital technology? Apparently photographer and PhD student Max Pinckers and media artist Dries Depoorter, both from Belgium, do not think so.

Trophy Camera is the brainchild of Pinckers and Depoorter. The small, yellow camera is powered by artificial intelligence and trained to identify and recognise the attributes of winning World Press Photo shots from 1955 to present. When a photo is taken using the Trophy Camera, it analyses the photo and sees how closely it matches the attributes in the database. If the photo is identified as a potential award-winning masterpiece, it will be automatically uploaded to the dedicated website www.trophy.camera; otherwise the photo will not be saved. Pinckers says that with today’s advanced technology, a lot of photos taken are redundant and lack creativity, and Trophy Camera was developed to point out how photography is getting more automated these days.

Unfortunately most photos on www.trophy.camera are blurry images that perhaps should not be kept, not least be considered award-worthy . Still, Trophy Camera is valuable in questioning contemporary photography: How does the development of technology affect creativity? And where will artificial intelligence take us in the future of the medium?