I got my start as a photographer's assistant, working with every common film format from 35mm to 8×10 transparency film. Shadowing photographers, cleaning studios, running light meters, loading film, popping strobes, lighting scenes, building sets, painting backdrops, pushing, pulling, cross-processing, Polaroids, and darkroom work were all part of the disciplined, hands-on education I received decades before the digital photography revolution began.

 

In early 2023, alongside a deep dive into generative AI link , I returned to photography in a major way, self-publishing a 36-page street photography book link. My photography post-process has advanced into a hybrid approach that uses AI tools to fill, extend, refine, repair, enhance, and occasionally recontextualize photographic elements.

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My thoughts on GenAI as of January 2026:​

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Despite popular narratives, current GenAI capabilities are not a panacea. Even though it's able to generate hyperrealistic results, in situations where real-time photography is still required, GenAI is not even a viable option. Furthermore, it's remains impossible to fully control. To be clear here, I’m not referring to 100% synthetic image generation, where expectations are flexible, nor to AI tools whose value and usefulness lies in the automation. What I’m referring to is a constrained form of synthography where the artist remains integral to the creative process, and the goal is to preserve the photographic essence of a real person, place, or thing.

 

Achieving accurate, realistic results without drawing attention to the process still demands a high degree of control from the artist. And this is an allowance GenAI continues to struggle to provide. Even as these creative challenges are overcome, at the end of the day an AI-enhanced photo is still not a real photo, and I'm not convinced most professionals, while perhaps curious, are yet ready to represent themselves using an AI-generated doppelgänger.

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As I see it, until a handheld AI-assisted camera exists that can produce real-time photographs convincingly blending reality with AI-enhanced elements, AI generation and manipulation will remain a separate and somewhat enigmatic post process. And for such a camera to be truly useful, the user would need full creative control over its functionality and output, and that is precisely what today’s AI tools lack.

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So, when it comes to the increasingly common question of whether AI is threatening to make traditional image acquisition, including professional photography, obsolete, my answer is yes, but for many use cases, I believe it's still some years away.