GEC Digital Imagery

03/08/2026

And so things continue evolving. AI has gone from an experimental tool to now part of my compositing workflow. Say what you will about AI in general, but from a creative perspective, it's hard to ignore its impact and capabilities. While I am proud of the work I have done over the last 7 years, I'm still in awe of what I've been able to now do in the last 6 months (here's just a few examples). For me, at the end of the day, it's about removing the grunt work and opening up creativity and the art of what's possible. I'm still heavily using Photoshop, Lightroom and other tools as part of my workflow, but now AI has also become an indispensable part of that workflow. And just like any other tool, there's hours of training and work behind it to get the best results. Whether for artistic, scientific or business purposes, prompt engineering is the key technical skill to focus on, which goes way beyond a silly ask of ChatGPT to generate caricatures of me and my hobbies/interests....😉

01/04/2026

Well that was quick!! Not just this past year, but also all the advancements in AI! It’s truly amazing what I was able to do both with various AI models directly and models embedded within Photoshop in January 2025 compared to just 12 months later. As many have said, it’s a game changer. But it’s not a replacement. You still need to understand the basics of art and design and also how best to use these AI tools to get the results you want (try wrestling with Google Gemini prompts to get exactly what you have in your mind onto the screen and you’ll see what I mean). Once you get the hang of it though, the savings in time and improvement in the end results are nothing short of incredible. Will be interesting to see what 2026 has in store! For now here are just a couple of recent examples of how I used AI to build an amazing composite from an original photograph, and then to bring old faded photos back to life (can you guess who these two little tykes are?).

09/01/2025

So little by little, continuing this little experimentation with AI. This time building on my previous exercise, and looking to eventually perfect the approach of using an original photograph and enhancing it thru AI (via detailed prompts), striving to maintain the original likeness of the subject, but taking it to another level beyond simple compositing. Have to admit, this before and after pic of me in my Palpatine is a helluva glow up! Good thing my spare time is limited right now, otherwise you might never pull me away from the computer….

07/13/2025

Diving into AI a little more, but on the creative side, so I don’t wind up accidentally programming it to take over the world 😉. So impressed with all of the tools out there now and just the sheer quality of the output capable. This was just simple ChatGPT where I gave it the sample picture of Daphne and asked it to generate a black and white portrait. Amazed at how it captured and built her likeness from what I considered a less than perfect source at a completely different angle. Now the question is - can I brand this with my watermark and consider it my creation? I mean the source photo is mine and I developed the prompt; ChatGPT just took that and produced an output. It’s a tool just like Photoshop or any other, right???

05/24/2025

Last week it was behind the camera and this week it was in front of it. Despite the early morning sun and heat, had a blast with my 501st Legion brothers and sisters doing a little photoshoot with our resident lens master James Martinez at ! A couple of BTS shots and then a sneak peek at the amazing images captured this morning.

05/17/2025

Time to take some photos for a great cause and this time I brought a helper!

03/04/2025

Well looks like 2025 got off to a busy enough start that this is my first official post for the year! At least it’s a fun one and this time a subject I haven’t worked with in a while - the good old sports car! After a few weeks of working with him on some customizations, Alex’s Dodge Challenger was ready for the spotlight. Really happy with how these came out, but I want to see about trying things out at night as well. The only drawback is that means another hours long waxing and detailing session 😂

12/31/2024

It’s nice to be on the other side of the camera lens and computer screen once in a while. Had a great time capturing some new and dramatic images of my Emperor Palpatine this weekend with my brother James at / . These are some of my favorites, but there are so many that I am going to need some more wall space!!

12/15/2024

Another fun collaboration with my brother James . This time with a picture he captured of me just loitering after a troop earlier this year.

Keep an eye out for more fun posts and edits as we round out 2024!

12/10/2024

Absolutely in love with these shots of me in my Emperor Palpatine from this past weekend and huge thanks to my brother James Martinez at Force Photographs for taking the pictures. As we walked into the venue for the troop we were participating in, I saw the small garden with an old Roman column and made a mental note to come back at some point to grab some pictures and so glad we did! Fun fact - that was all flash that lit up my colored contact lenses to really add to the creepiness factor!

10/20/2024

Went out of my comfort zone again to get a little practice behind the lens, this time photographing a live event outdoors on a cloudy day. As if it wasn't stressful enough, it was a dedication ceremony for my Dad and all of his hard work with the American Legion and local community! It was tough trying to capture candid moments while at the same time being present to what was going on, but I think I did OK. Definitely need to practice more, but happy with the results for now!

10/12/2024

Always fun to see one of the costume approval edits I do for my squad mates get a little worldwide exposure 😉.

When one seeks knowledge, he may find a holocron...

SL-51119 of The Florida Garrison

The Flagship Eclipse