I am a romantic at heart. That is not evident by my career choice (a programmer and researcher). But I am moved by impactful work that many pursue. Such professions require a lot of sacrifice, typically include long hours, being away from your family for extended periods of time, and a level of dedication that goes beyond a standard 9to5 setting. Such jobs also have one more thing in common: they are often less talked about.
So, for the past few days I have been prompting Midjourney to visualize folks who pursue such high impact work.
For my prompting I took inspiration from the last line of the poem, “Ulysses” by Tennyson:
"To strive, to seek to find, and not to yield."
Tennyson was trying to portray a hero with those words; which seemed fitting. I was careful not to use the words of the poem’s last line itself; but instead, I wanted to capture the spirit and soul of those words in my prompts …
To Strive.
“A journalist, toiling away in the middle of the night, researching a story; focused, determined, pursuing a path towards truth. 4K. Photorealism.”
To Seek.
“a scuba diver, walking on the floor of a deep dark ocean, searching for something. Water all around. Everything is dark. The diver’s flashlight guides the search on the ocean floor. 4K. Photorealism.”
To Find.
“an archeologist, at an archeological dig, studying fossilized remains of a dinosaur in a rocky desert that she discovered.”
And, not to Yield.
“a geologist working out of a base in Antarctica, in a middle of a blizzard, digging up ice samples to study the impact of atmospheric carbon on the climate.”
“To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”
Winter Rant 
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