Losing Jobs to AI

[Fashion Photographer]

I am seeing increasing job postings for desperate startups trying to find someone who can take their clothing photos
and put it on a model using AI, and I mean desperate as in if they shoot the same collection with a fashion photographer they will go bankrupt

One client is a large social media dating app agency in the US and he was telling me that after our 2 year run of shooting 600 models they have turned
to AI for creating dating ads which are working and he agreed that the clothes and lighting look plastic, but he was adamant to not look back to every shooting!
and when asked about the video ads, he started scratching his head

Photography is here to stay, nobody will ever us AI for their wedding photos etc etc, however I predict that this AI for fashion business trend
has a 50% change of survival at best, just like the 3D TV trend of 10 years ago fell flat on its face once everyone started getting headaches wearing the goggles

look, this year I shot 600 gowns on 30 models in 7 different locations and delivered 14000 color graded
photos to the client to pick through in a week, and this would take a century to type up on AI chat box and wait for the results "IT" gives you!
notice its never the case where you design the shot, you just get to pick one of 4 that the computer throws back at you from mixing up
millions of google images that have been fed into its blender....

your thoughts

 

[lookatme]

Truthfully I am intrigued by AI.

From my casual viewing, some of the AI fashion images I’ve seen browsing on Instagram are more beautiful than anything coming from the thousands of current working photographers, stylists, models, editors, “movement coaches,” creative directors, advertising executives…

How wasteful is that? Think of the millions upon millions of dollars spent to pay these people who come up with absolute garbage when someone from their living room laptop and a $20/month subscription can create something breathtaking and provoking.

I also am very curious to see where AI generated full-length feature movies can go. Even after all these years CGI is still not convincing and these bloated big budget movies continue to fail…could AI come in and give us something truly inspiring and cutting edge? I like the idea that AI provides a limitless tool for imagination.

Additionally, from my own experience, there are so many people out there being paid exorbitant amounts of money for doing very little. I know many corporate people who send a few emails a day and somehow collect near 6-figures. AI can do that for free. Let’s cut the fat.

I’d like to see the “threat” of AI force our society to reevaluate our careers and ask ourselves if WE are actually contributing value or are we just collecting a paycheck?

There are things AI cannot, and I believe never will, replicate…I do believe in the human spirit…but we need to get our ****s in gear.