Understanding Aesthetics with Deep Learning

To me, photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event. As a child I waited anxiously for the arrival of each new issue of National Geographic Magazine. The magazine had amazing stories from around the world, but the stunningly beautiful photographs were more important to me. The colors, shadows and composition intrigued and wowed me, and there was a cohesion of visual arrangement and storytelling. This childhood fascination with photographs aroused in me a curiosity to understand the behavior, nuances and semantics embedded inside them.