Hey Reader,
As we slowly wrap up 2025, I can’t help but look back at the year and see just how many changes have taken place in photography.
And the one that stands out to me the most is AI.
Particularly, how AI is starting to impact our creative work, what we can do to prepare, and how I’m personally attempting to embrace what feels inevitable.
Let’s dive in!
The Feeling Right Now
We’ve all seen it pop up in our feeds, an AI creator calmly explaining how we’re about to be left behind, and how we need to act now to avoid becoming obsolete.
Images that look incredible.
Video that feels like it was produced in a studio with a massive team.
It’s becoming harder to tell what’s real and what isn’t.
And look, it’s easy to fall down the rabbit hole these creators build for you, but slightly easier to avoid when you remember that, ultimately, they’re often trying to sell you a sense of safety.
A prompt package.
The perfect node system.
A framework for creating “consistent” brand imagery.
Now, I don’t doubt that these tools are genuinely useful for specific people.
I know creators using them with clients right now.
But does that mean the rest of us are falling behind?
Who knows.
Because if AI really is as smart as we’re told, at some point, won’t prompt engineering, node systems, and even human input start to feel obsolete too?
Where AI Has Already Infiltrated
One of the first brand videos I worked on was for Adobe Photoshop’s new AI image generation model.
At the time, it felt exciting because it was new.
It was something we hadn’t really seen before.
But looking back now, it already feels surprisingly simple.
It’s wild how quickly we adapt.
AI spot removal has become so normal that it now comes in base iPhones, built in to help people clean up their summer Instagram posts.
Wedding photographers are already happily using AI to cull their galleries, letting a system decide which images are worthy of editing time and which aren’t.
The line between AI assisting and AI replacing is still there, but it’s starting to blur in subtle ways.
The Real Shift is How Images Are Valued
In the past, professional images were valued largely on quality.
Lighting.
Colour.
Attention to detail.
Resolution.
For both photographers and clients, these were the markers of a high-value image.
But things feel different now.
Each of these elements can be generated, prompted, or artificially enhanced, which raises the question of where value actually sits.
Personally, I don’t think the desire for high-impact imagery disappears. I think the parameters simply change.
Instead of value being tied purely to technical execution, it may start to live in the process, the people involved, and the context around the work.
The behind-the-scenes moments.
The story of how something was made.
Almost an aura around the production rather than the final image alone.
I noticed this recently in an Adidas commercial on YouTube.
The imagery was high quality, some of it likely AI-assisted, but it was layered with behind-the-scenes footage, creators talking, people playing football, moments that clearly existed in the real world.
At least for now, those moments still feel hard to fake.
That’s where the value seemed to live.
The Part That Still Feels Human
You may have heard the term “AI slop.”
It’s used to describe high-volume AI content that technically works, but feels empty or careless.
Not because it’s bad, but because it exists without intention.
Just because something can be created doesn’t mean it should be.
Choosing what to shoot, what to create, and what to leave alone still comes back to taste.
And I have a feeling taste will become one of the most sought-after skills in photography and video moving forward.
Where I Still Feel Useful
It’s easy to get caught up in future-thinking and worst-case scenarios, but that pulls us away from the present.
So I find it more helpful to ask where I still feel useful as a photographer right now.
From a professional perspective, documenting real events, people, and moments remains largely untouched. Weddings, sports, launches, personal projects, these things happen in the real world and need to be experienced to be captured.
Making decisions under pressure. Reading light. Responding to people. These are all skills that still feel very human.
From a hobby perspective, it comes back to travel photography and documentation.
Photography, at its core, is about freezing moments that will never happen again. That feeling hasn’t gone anywhere.
Where to Focus Now
The obvious question is, can we position ourselves to stay “safe” from the wave of AI?
The honest answer is that we’re probably not.
And neither is anyone else.
This shift is happening across every industry, and very few people truly know where it leads.
Here’s how I’m choosing to approach it:
1. Adoption
Using AI tools that remove friction from my workflow without letting them make creative decisions for me.
2. Thinking beyond single images
Working in series, collections, and video, and building a wider world around my photography rather than relying on one image to do all the work.
3. Community
Continuing to prioritise people, access, and projects rooted in real life.
Final Thoughts
Maybe I’m writing this as much for myself as anyone else.
I’d love to tell you I know exactly how this all plays out, but I don’t.
What I do know is that this afternoon I can still take my camera out, look for some interesting light, and make a photograph that makes me happy.
And for now, that feels like enough.
Catch you next week,
Matty 📷 🚀