SB Weekly Episode 60 – GAME OVER. RIP Photography

GAME OVER. RIP Photography
Host: Stephan Bollinger

Sounds a bit dramatic, I know. Like a tired photographer walking into the sunset while AI quietly steals all the jobs. The truth is a little more complicated. There is no doubt that artificial intelligence is changing the game at a speed that would have sounded like science fiction only a few years ago. Product photography, catalogue work, e commerce imagery, even certain advertising campaigns are now being generated with prompts instead of trucks, assistants, studios and catering budgets. Need a fashion shoot on top of a glacier at sunrise? Twenty years ago that involved flights, permits, freezing models and a producer developing a nervous twitch. Today, somebody can type a few sentences into a computer and arrive there before you’ve even packed your jacket.

But if we’re being honest, AI may not be the real assassin. The first shot was fired years ago by another form of machine learning hiding in plain sight inside our pockets. The smartphone quietly became the most successful camera ever invented. Real estate agents discovered they could photograph listings themselves. Small businesses stopped calling photographers. Restaurants became their own content creators. The sensors are tiny, the lenses would make most professionals raise an eyebrow, yet the computational wizardry behind them works overtime to produce surprisingly beautiful results. Millions of jobs were not lost because people suddenly became photographers. They were lost because technology became good enough for most people, most of the time.

For me, it’s not AI or the phone camera, yet retirement is still on the cards. Mostly because my lower back has finally submitted a formal complaint after more than forty years of carrying cameras, lenses, tripods, lighting gear, film equipment and enough audio equipment to start a pretty decently sized radio station. It has earned the right to negotiate better working conditions. Photography itself is not going anywhere. In fact, the one thing technology still cannot replicate is the most important part of the photograph: you. Your perspective. Your humour. Your life experiences. AI can create images, but it will never show others the world through your eyes. I will keep taking photographs forever. Just without deadlines, invoices, client revisions and somebody asking if I can “make it pop a little more.”