TH attends a Midjourney meetup and discovers the people - and surprising use cases - behind the prompts
- Denis Krylov
- 1 hour ago
- 5 min read
A few days ago Transparent House team was invited to speak at a spontaneous Midjourney meetup in San Francisco. The location wasn't announced until the last minute, which somehow felt very fitting for a community built around creative experimentation, and a little bit of mystery.
We arrived to great food, drinks, cool merch giveaways and a crowd of about 50 platform enthusiasts. Some were veteran users - the kind of people still creating directly in Discord, which in Midjourney circles is almost a badge of honor. Others were simply curious about AI and exploring where these new tools might fit into their lives and work. You couldn't not notice the age gap between the attendants, let's just say it was very broad - from teenagers to a couple of seniors and to everyone in between. The crowd felt like we were at a Pink Floyd concert - there was definitely something here for everyone.
There were around 15 speakers, each given 7–10 minutes. What stood out immediately was how different every story was. No two presentations felt alike. Some speakers approached Midjourney as artists, others as entrepreneurs, educators, writers, or simply people looking for a new creative outlet.
How Transparent House uses Midjourney in production
Our own presentation was somewhat unusual because we were one of the handful of speakers discussing a commercial use case. At Transparent House, Midjourney is part of a larger production pipeline. We use it these days pretty mich on every project for concept development, visual exploration, and character creation. Once concepts are approved, however, we typically move into other platforms like Nano Banana to produce final assets with the level of precision our clients require. We also presented very specific cases on how and where we turn to Midjourney - creation of robotic concepts, ai people casting, creation of photorealistic animals and also a most recent project for TH where we turn to Midjourney for a VFX post production on an indy film shot by a Native American director.
Personal stories from the Midjourney community
Most of the other speakers were using Midjourney in much more personal ways.
One of the most memorable presenters was from a woman, probably in her late sixties who runs one of the largest Midjourney communities on Facebook, called The Prompter. She told us she had effectively come out of retirement to focus on Midjourney full-time.
Another speaker was a mystery novelist who discovered that Midjourney allowed her to become a visual storyteller as well. She now creates imagery and animations based on her stories and publishes them on YouTube.
A game developer shared how Midjourney helps him generate unusual character concepts and visual directions that would have taken much longer to explore through traditional concept development.
An Unreal engine artist presented a real-time interior space environment, where all props were created using Midjourney.
One nonprofit founder described working with seniors affected by Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. He teaches them how to use Midjourney to create images of themselves at younger ages, living out dreams they never had the opportunity to pursue—jumping from airplanes, going back to their countries of birth, even landing on the moon. It was one of the more moving presentations of the evening.
An architect presented a real-world development project in the mountains. He used Midjourney to quickly explore resort concepts before transitioning into traditional architectural design workflows to develop the project further.
Another speaker, a software engineer, explained how he lives alone with his cat and uses Midjourney almost as a form of self-therapy. Every day he creates images of himself and his cat in different scenarios and adventures. It was honest, and surprisingly relatable. And what we noticed, which makes total sense now, a few days after Midjourney launched their medical device, his presentation resonated a lot with Midjourney team that was there.
One job seeker described an experiment where she takes online job posts, converts them into prompts, and generates images of the "ideal candidate" to see whether she can identify qualities that might help her better position herself professionally.
There was also a comic artist who showcased an entire Marvel-inspired universe of superheroes developed through Midjourney.
What became clear throughout the evening was that while many people are using the same tool, they are often solving completely different problems. For some, it's a production tool. For others, it's a creative expression. For some, it's exploration, education, or even therapy.
Where AI fits in studio workflows
After our presentation, we spent time talking with attendees and met an art director from a major film studio in the city. He shared some of the challenges of introducing AI-assisted workflows inside a large studio environment. Like many organizations, there is still resistance to change. At the same time, he felt it was inevitable that GenAi tools would become increasingly integrated into production processes as studios continue looking for greater efficiency and faster concept development.
Meeting David Holz, Midjourney's founder
As the evening was winding down, we noticed a small crowd gathering around a short, slightly nerdy-looking guy wearing a beanie, glasses, and oversized headphones.
It turned out to be David Holz, the founder of Midjourney.
David has developed a reputation for being unusually approachable, and the interaction confirmed it. What struck us was how different Midjourney feels from many Silicon Valley companies. The product has a certain weirdness to it—in the best possible way. It doesn't feel optimized by the committee, it also doesn't feel overly commercial. It's rather experimental, creative, and deeply connected to the community that helps building it.
In many ways, Midjourney feels very San Francisco.
We left inspired—not just by the technology, but also by the people using it.
Frequently asked questions
How does Transparent House use Midjourney in its production pipeline?
Transparent House uses Midjourney primarily in the early stages of production — for concept development, visual exploration, and character creation. Once a concept is approved, the team typically moves to other platforms, such as Nano Banana, to produce final assets with the precision required for client work.
What is the difference between Midjourney and Nano Banana in a VFX workflow?
In Transparent House's pipeline, Midjourney is used for fast, exploratory concept generation — testing ideas, styles, and directions early on. Nano Banana is used later in the process to produce final, production-ready assets that meet the technical precision clients expect.
Can Midjourney be used for photorealistic AI casting?
Yes. Transparent House has used Midjourney for AI-based casting and to generate photorealistic animals and robotic concepts as part of commercial production projects, including VFX post-production work on an independent film.
Who is David Holz?
David Holz is the founder of Midjourney. Known for being approachable and community-oriented, he attended the San Francisco meetup where Transparent House presented its production use case.
Is Midjourney used by professional studios, or mostly individual creators?
Both. While many users in the Midjourney community use the platform for personal or artistic projects, studios like Transparent House also integrate it into commercial production pipelines for concept work and visual development.
