What is an AI-Free Photographer?

"In a dark place we find ourselves, and a little more knowledge lights our way."

— Yoda

Many people say they value authenticity, real relationships, real interactions. Then they spend time, money, and energy on things that are the opposite of these values: social media, fast food, cheap product knock-offs.

AI holds out immense hope of helping us save time and money on mundane tasks. But some things should not be delegated to bots.

To be human is to be in relationship with other humans, to share in our human experience through the exchange of ideas.

Photography is a human-too-human interaction, and you don't get an authentic, interesting, real portrait of someone (or yourself) by uploading a bunch of selfies into an AI and asking it to spit back perfectly posed images. Because AI cannot feel, cannot connect. 

A portrait is a creative process, an interaction between a photographer and their subject that shows someone's unique spark, their charm, their person.

Simon Sinek posed an interesting thought experiment:

Imagine you are struggling with your partner and don't know what to do. So you enter a prompt into ChatGPT and it spits back some advice about what to say, given your sticky situation. So you use those words with your partner. But your partner senses that these words don't sound like you. And they ask, "Did you get that from ChatGPT"? How do you think the rest of the interaction would go?

Humans will always prefer that which is more real, slightly flawed, yet truthful.

Headshots created by AI are the surest way to dilute trust (from customers and prospective employers) in who you are and what you do. Authenticity matters. 

At StoryWorkz, all our images are made by real humans, on real cameras, in the real world.

It is a benefit of working with us that our clients can always say, "Yes, that is the real me. I took the time to show up, to interact, and to engage in an act of creation that I could be proud of."