Yes, you heard me right. Because I care, I do not ever use Ai.
I care about the planet, I care about my brain, I care about my creativity, and I care about my clients.
In photography, we have numerous sources of Ai right at our fingertips, and using virtually any of them is, in my opinion, a breech of goodwill between a photographer and our customers. When you look at our work, when you read our philosophy, when you pay for our services, you are not just agreeing to support our business but you (in some way) want to see yourself through our eyes. When we use Ai, that all goes up in smoke.
You are trusting my vision and if I were to plug all of my images into some Ai software, you are no longer working with me, you're working with my programmed algorithm. I was the person who was next to your parents as you walked down the aisle, I was the one who adjusted your veil during sunset, I was the person who you invited into your most special moments. Therefore, I should be the person who handles your images from start to finish with only you in mind.
You can't call yourself a creative and then use Ai, and if you do, it's my opinion you should be charging less for your services.
As photographers, the amount of time we spend photographing our clients pales in comparison to the amount of time we spend bent over our computers editing your images. If you are using Ai to cull, edit, retouch, and upload all of your images (and using Ai to write Instagram captions and make reels) then you shouldn't be charging an arm and a leg anymore! Your charges should only cover your eight hour workday. But that's never the way it goes, is it? Because once you dehumanize your process, you dehumanize your customers.
Your clients are no longer hardworking people who see your photos as art, they become a paycheck and your gallery is the product.
Just the other day, I saw an Instagram post where a photographer opened up about no longer relying on Ai for moral reasons, and since it would quadruple his time editing he needed to increase his prices. Straight to jail!!!!!!!!
For all of my non-photographers, this is how so many do it - they download software (Aftershoot or Imagen AI are two examples) and they upload thousands of their previously edited images in order to train the system on their style. (The people in those photos have now had their likenesses entered into circulation and may find that their faces can be used as output for anyone using Ai elsewhere, but that's a whole different conversation).
Once the program is trained on the photographer's "style" of editing, they will upload new photos and set parameters for which photos to cull. Things like "remove all images with closed eyes" and "remove all blurry images" and "remove suspected duplicates" are some of the most common settings, though they can get as detailed as removing specific expressions like frowning.
Once the system has culled for them, with the press of a single button their editing "style" will be applied to each remaining image. Here, the system can be set to adjust for different lighting situations such as indoor or outdoor, or flash on or flash off.
This entire process can take thousands of raw photos down to a few hundred fully edited ones in minutes. At this point, the photographer might choose to begin fine-tuning each image, maybe making a few black and white or adding on a Dutch slant for artistic value, but many don't.
Ai software even has the capability to fully change outfits, backgrounds, expressions and hair colors which means a photographer that you might trust is actually using one or two wedding days to produce ten or fifteen different "shoots" for their social media. This makes them appear busier, more in demand, and maybe more proficient with their gear than they may be in reality.
I could go on and on about this topic because I feel so strongly about it. I believe that in the same way photographers broadcast if they use film vs. digital, if they are LGBTQ+ friendly, if they are open to travel, they should be making it known if they incorporate Ai in their work flow. But all I can control is me, and I am painfully aware that this might all be a hot take, so I will just close out in the same way I opened - with a promise to care, and a promise to not use Ai.
