AI is a Genius Intern With No Life ExperienceWhat is AI really doing?

We love the potentials of AI.  What the Large Language Models (LLMs) have basically done is to go memorize the internet. What then happens is like any logical program the data is diced up before getting put back together. The presentation is fairly good and its like the buddy sitting across the table from you at the brewery helping you think about things.  It might make you feel good but it really lacks any substance or reality. To illustrate this using the Google Gemini example above you see it gives some highly ranked tourist spots. They upsell it will flowery language like quintessential, clear, stunning, world-class.  It even gives a photo tip that sounds good but lacks all understanding of a woman. To get that lighting in the summer you will be telling her to get up at 2:30AM and then surprising her with photos.

So maybe you go tune your prompts and refine it with asking for the reality.  It gets a bit better as it then tells you for the Dream Lake example that you in reality are having an intimate moment in a stadium of hikers. It then tells about at the time they recommend you then have the Maroon Bells effect of people with tripods trying to take that photo. It even throws in some humor to say its “proven” in quotation marks.

Fundamental Problem: People

If the locations were good for a proposal – the method of finding it just ruined it.

Having personally photographed over 1000 proposals and having talked to tons of guys what most guys want is rather simple: Good view, easy access, natural to go, less people, her to look good.  We find guys get focused on the first 2 which AI will generally do well with as public opinion is rampant.  The problem then comes down to one we kinda slid in there about less people.  We find guys will vary in how much they want this but in general this is something universal.  If you think a crowd is cool please go read the She Said No – Proposal Learnings.  We have seen a girl cry for 5 minutes then be socially pressured into saying yes for the sake of the crowd.

In the spectrum of less people there is pure seclusion to people around that give you space but will shout at the end.  We clearly prefer the pure seclusion if you have been on our website much because of how much more it brings to photography.  To get that it has to be balanced with what is natural to do with getting her there while still looking good.  While you can achieve seclusion through some extreme hiking it normally means a trade off such as easy access + looking good or cost ($$$$) of some special mode of transportation.

The next time you are at a tourist location consider the people taking photos of the spot are trying to crop out the other people or not get them in the background.  The desire is to capture the memory without the strangers you do not know.  If for something as silly as a tourism moment photo you post on Instagram how much more asking for her to spend the rest of her life with you.

Echo Chamber Problem

If the take from this is just talk to someone local you are taking a step in a helpful direction.  The problem then becomes that the majority of what you find out there is what we call an echo chamber of ignorance.  What happened is people were looking for extra cash so they started to copy what they found or what Google told them was good.  That was then copied and copied till everyone started to think that these locations must be the best thing.  You then have people going to propose at these locations.  They then propose in the middle of 50 people cause you planned everything around this but it just did not work out like it said online.  Photographer that push these spots really just care about getting portfolio and some side cash so they are talking risk + benefits.

Location Evolution: Old Data

Many of the places that used to work for us no longer work for us for the above reasons. Over time to continue to deliver a relevant service we have had to reinvent ourselves.  This involves looking for new locations that check all the boxes guys are seeking.  The difference is huge when you see it through the lens of one doing it regularly.

When looking at other AI location suggestions we see the reason why we have had to reinvent.  The locations it’s starting off with for suggestions are overrun with tourists.  This has gotten less extreme as of the time of writing this but the point still remains that what you read online from AI, search engines, and people barely running a business are feeding bad info.

Hallucinations and Bad Advice

Have you ever heard that not everything you read online is true?  Well not everything AI tells you is true or good direction.  Let’s use the example below.  Lost Gulch Overlook on Flagstaff Mountain is completely overrun with tourists and only open 5AM to 9PM [Hallucination 1]  This is heavily patrolled by rangers because of it becoming a ‘recreational spot’ for illegal things. It is 100% not private [Hallucination 2]. The next 3 suggestions are all paid with permits like the Botanic Gardens or rentals.  We really like the Botanic Gardens but have never had a guy with interest in Chatfield Farms. Spruce Mountain Ranch is a wedding venue and it barely has a Pikes Peak view.  The others then are highly regulated entrance tourist locations.

How Do I Get Good Info?

You would have to work with someone with real time life experience.  For example, at the time of writing this one of the key locations mentioned in this article has some construction ongoing.  This has caused its access to be limited.  From what you read online this limitation should be full but the local reality is that it there is still partial access.  Life experience and local understanding matter.  Now please note we have a ton of information on our website.  If you come asking for free info like coordinates, pin on map stuff we are going to pass on giving that out for the sake of other guys proposing. If you think it is not a big deal we could share multiple examples how we unintentionally popularized places that are now on these AI lists.

What We Do: Planning + Photography

There are proposal planners who will do everything you want for a proposal by subcontracting cheap people while you pay them $$$$. They are functionally a booking agent under a package fee.  There are proposal photographers who will click a button and there are some who say they help you “plan”.  These people talk things up with positive jargon but the plan in the end are your ideas with a rubber stamp.

What we do is quite different as we built our business tailored to what guys wanted and needed. Our planning and our photography are interconnected but also land in the middle of it all. We help guys capture their vision in a cost effective way delivering a tangible plan for proposal execution in a photography flattering way.  Go look at the website and you will see we are primarily doing proposals these days and that they often will truly capture that ‘Good view, easy access, natural to go, less people, her to look good’ list guys have historically sought.  Even when we see proposals without a photographer people have wanted a picture or something of the moment so we built things to balance the two: planning and photography.

Here are some other helpful resources on our website: