You’ve seen it, I’ve seen it — “AI is taking over photography.” Scroll your feed for five minutes and you’ll probably see an AI-generated “photo” that makes you stop and think, wow… no camera involved? And yeah, I get it — that can feel a little unsettling.

In this episode of Photography Matters, we’re getting real about AI and photography — what it means for our industry, where it’s actually replacing certain kinds of work, and why I think that’s not the whole story.

We’ll talk about the reality first: there are certain commercial spaces where AI is already taking a bite. Stock photos? Some product shots? Even a few fashion campaigns? Yep, AI is doing that now. And that’s important for us to understand — not to panic, but to see where the changes are happening so we can adjust our game.

But here’s the other side of the coin — AI can also be a huge asset for photographers. I’m talking about marketing your work, brainstorming creative ideas, pre-visualizing concepts for clients, even cutting down on all the boring admin work. The kind of stuff that keeps you from doing what you actually love: making images. Used right, AI can help you get your photography out into the world faster, more often, and with more impact.

And then… we get to the part I’m most excited about. The stuff that AI will never replace. Your vision. Your eye. Your ability to connect with people, to be in the moment, to tell stories that you’ve lived and experienced. The feel of being on a shoot, the trust you build with a subject, the way your personality and taste show up in every frame — there’s no code for that.

So yeah, AI and photography is a conversation we need to have. Not from a place of fear, but from a place of clarity. This isn’t about trying to out-robot the robots. It’s about doubling down on the parts of your work that are purely human.

Grab your coffee, pull up a chair, and let’s talk about what’s changing, what’s not, and how to keep making the kind of photography that really matters.

By Ted Vieira in Film Photography Projects

84 pages, published 3/3/2020

The post AI and Photography: What Photographers Need to Hear appeared first on Photography Matters.