Spoiler alert: I’m not referring to the horrific yet also hilarious rendering of too many fingers on human hands.
There’s no denying AI is here to stay. Despite being a trending topic these days, Artificial Intelligence has been here for a while, having established presence in the form of medical assistance, chess mastery, and multiple daily responses to “Alexa!” or “Hey, Siri!”
It was arguably with the viral popularity of software like ChatGPT and Midjourney within the last couple of years, and their closer-to-believable-than-ever capabilities, that the act of typing or voicing a prompt has allowed the general public access to not just researching information in a faster, more intuitive way, but to also having results presented in visual, audio and scripted forms, as good or in some cases better than if we worked long hours compiling them ourselves.
Time reveals much, it seems, and enough exploration and exploitation of this shiny new toy has happened, at least in the world of content creation, to remind us that although prompts can inspire ideas, the act of simply copying and pasting generated information (now referred to as slog) without fact-checking, citing sources, or adding semblance of personality is noticeable and unappreciated. We have been warned.
Still, as exciting of a magic helper AI can be, the internet blew up with speculations, data reports, and everything in between about the effects AI would have on replacing human labor. The tidal wave of getting on board with the trend before the trend wipes you out had companies, large and small, making significant changes and disrupting labor markets across the globe. Over 136,000 jobs in technology have been cut this year so far due to AI, data entry, processing, and retail tasks gave way to automation, and the automotive industry predicts that the dream of self-driving cars will come true in ten short years.
I’d love to respond that it would be a cold day in Hades when I’d relax enough to allow a computer to navigate road safety for me—Chicagoans frantically trying to revive a GPS on Lower Wacker Drive know what I mean—but I can’t. Until any one of the “unplugged” dystopian fantasies we love to binge-watch or read comes true, technology will continue to advance and transform our human experience. I remember saying out loud that DSLR cameras would never reach the quality and beauty of film. Twenty years later, I gave digital photography the reins to my life’s work. Woof. Talk about eating your words.
Did AI innovations creep again into the portrait-making world? Of course, it did. For a solid couple of weeks, my Insta-feed flooded with ads from hyper-confident individuals, promising to create an entire personal brand package for me if I uploaded a few selfies. Which brings us to the questions I’m eager to answer: Would I recommend this practice? Will AI make my job of portrait photography obsolete?
My hyper-confident answer is… no. Absolutely not.
I just mentioned how digital photography transformed the film industry, so I want to be clear how that shift happened in regards to medium, rather than concept or experience. Don’t believe the hype that AI is so good that we can’t tell the difference between real and generated. AI forgets that skin pores are a thing. As a top of the industry professional retoucher, I fought against smooth-as-a-mannequin skin for over two decades.
Humans also possess a realistic twinkle in our eyes that goes inexplicably deeper than the surface of a photo—giving the impression that we are alive. With energy. With breath. You’ve heard that the eyes are the windows to the soul? There is truth in that statement. Twinkle is not something that can be replicated or reduced to a computerized catch-light.
Even if you adamantly argue that an AI photo of yourself is acceptable as digital art, I would remind you that the reason we’re drawn to museums and social media feeds and will stand or scroll for hours staring at brush strokes and canvases is because artists insert their own energy and life experience into their work. There is no connection to life experience for AI to impart.
If that’s not enough rationale, the major reason AI-spawned photos of yourself will forever fall short is this:
Most people don't like being photographed. It hurts. I know this to be true, and it’s why I started my business—to remind us that pain points can be healed with patience, support, guidance, and immediate proof of success. Sparkly ads that prompt us to upload quick pics as a means to an artificial end completely destroys any opportunity to experience a renewal. An awakening. A truth. Relying on AI misses the part where the story you tell yourself about not being photogenic or how you’ve never had fun in front of a camera gets changed forever. You miss out on the magic that happens when a mechanical button is clicked and the frame that materializes of you breathes with your energy of the moment, your delight, surprise, connection, voice… sincerity.
You cannot generate authenticity—they are literal opposites. AI is notorious for stealing existing artwork across the internet and is under fire for unregulated sampling and manipulation. Does it sit well with you to know that AI is essentially pulling aspects of other random people together to spit out what it thinks you should look like? As a business owner, how are you asking your clients to trust you when it’s not even you showing up?
There is a phenomenon that happens sometimes when we look at art or work that someone else creates—our brains are tricked into believing that it’s better than anything we’ve created ourselves simply because it’s different, regardless of whether it’s actually good or not. I’ve seen this phenomenon play out countless times throughout my design career and now again with certain commentary on digital portraits. We are keen to accept and think that this computerized conglomeration is better, because part of our brains knows it’s not really us… that we are removed… that something else made it, and therefore it must be better than we can provide—or have historically offered—on our own.
Working with a professional changes this perception. I change this perception every day. Opting to fill your website with pore-less, life-less versions of yourself will not rob me of using my talents, but it will rob you of the opportunity to learn that fear of the camera is an imprint that can be lifted. You owe it to yourself to rewrite that script.
If you leave this space with nothing else, know that an AI portrait of you is not you. And all of us portrait photographers will be here when you’re tired of not seeing yourself, beautifully nuanced and complete, represented.
★ written without AI
“Spider” Meka Hemmons is an internationally recognized portrait photographer, speaker, storyteller and visual consultant based in Chicago. She helps women heal trauma around being photographed and disrupts the beauty industry with her perspective on vanity and deep-rooted messaging. Check out her podcast and subscribe to her newsletter: Streams of Silk.
Photo generated by AI.
I love this message, Spider— especially the "beautifully nuanced and complete" part of it.