The answer to that question, in a decade and a half of hindsight, is "yes, and no, depending on your perspective".
Smart phones, Instagram as a form-factor, filters, likes, and now AI — photography is still a thing. Depending on your take, it may be more alive than ever — or you might say that it is long dead, if digital innovation has ruined the purity of the art.
Just a few weeks ago, ChatGPT opened a lot of eyes. GPT-3 is not magic, and under the hood it's still pretty damn dumb, but if you've been following along, it's hard to deny that it isn't a window into the next decade of major changes.
We're living through an artificial intelligence renaissance that will change "content on the Internet" in ways which are going to be tough to predict — however, our relationship with the craft is going to evolve, and there will be no moment where we are totally left behind.
Smart phones did shrink photojournalism, even if photography exploded in absolute metrics. There will be crafts and professions which shrink, while others grow.
Writing and software development will still be valuable crafts, but some of the skills required for excellence will change. If you are an experienced practitioner, consider yourself one of the valuable few who will understand why the AI might be suggesting something the way it is. If you are new to the craft, consider your edge the opportunity to embrace AI right from the get go.
There will be bad actors, there will be greedy CEOs, there will be some really bad decisions made along the way. But there will be opportunity for growth, new perspective, and some brand new ways to have fun within the craft.
Happy coding. ❤️
Latest comments (26)
Instagram has definitely changed the way we share and consume photos, but I don’t think it will "kill" photography. It has made photography more accessible, allowing anyone with a smartphone to capture moments and share them instantly. However, for professional photographers, the art and technical skills are still very much alive. If you're looking to boost your Instagram engagement, I’d recommend checking out tools like Pathsocial's instagram engagement rate calculator to track your performance and grow your audience effectively. It’s a great way to see what works and improve your content strategy.
I always give the same answer to these kind of questions. There are two types of photography in my opinion.
1 is great for instagram and those 'quick share' services and sites.
2 takes time and far more involvement beyond clicking the button, this was the same back in the film days and remains the same today in the digital age.
Instagram has a place as a delivery service, with a quick creation platform. But it will not take the place of long term art creation as there will always be the next thing that replaces it.
And I think the same applies to app creation, yes there are going to be tools that do it all, but they won't be able to observe and discover a problem that needs solving, they can only offer a solution that might work.
And let's never forget those circles that keep coming around.
I remember the same discussion when digital cameras became accessible for the average consumer. You suddenly saw everyone and their horse walking around with a huge DSLR camera and lens. "real photography" was ruined! Any old fool can take photos now! It's the end of the art of photography! But in the end we can see that quality will always emerge over mediocrity.
I realize your article was specifically on photography but you did mention writing so I wanted to add...
Many people misunderstand what AI help is. For example, for assistance in editing my writing, I use various AI editors. ProWritingAid, HemingwayApp, Grammarly, and others. Thing is, all of them suggest changes but in the end any decisions on changes is ultimately up to the writer. Just like when a writer is working with a human editor. But many writers mistakenly think that AI's suggestions are gospel and to apply changes. Or the opposite. The writer proudly declares they refuse to use an AI editor. Which is funny to me because if they even used Microsoft's Word app, they were already using an AI editor. Plus, using an AI editor can continue to improve a writer's skill as they slowly learn what works and doesn't. And that's the way it should be.
I guess my 'squirrel' comment is meant to say that AI means many things and most likely everyone has already used an AI application without even realizing it.
Interesting perspective. People get afraid that new technology will totally erase something else. And, to be honest, sometimes that does happen because that other thing literally has no purpose any longer. But as for photography, writing, art, etc? No, the need for a human will not go away. It's like anything else in that we adapt and use the new technology to help us. For those students who are using it to write their essays? lol I understand about being an overwhelmed college student and wanting a shortcut. But in the end, professors will figure out a way around this in the sense of possibly more in-class assignments and more.
On a different note, have you tried out Character.AI yet? I've been a bit late to trying the new AI technology, waiting for it to evolve a bit. I've tried Dalle for generating art. It was fun but nothing that blew me away.
But yesterday I finally tried out Character.AI and was pleasently surprised by how good some of the bots were. Next on my list is to check out ChatGPT.
It's a changing world...
I think since Instagram Is pushing reels, one might consider using those to show photography in addition to the traditional way of posting photography.
Not sure why word Instagram were used in title.
Is Instagram still a thing anywhere? Is there any user content left? Only ads and infinite reposts. How can ads platform kill photography?
I've had this kind of discussion years ago, in my view we need two categories.
Photography and Photo Art.
Photography is the classic way of taking photos with minimal post processing. Photo Art is everything else, Instagram, Photoshop heavy edited photo's that even do photo merging.
I believe that way you can retain both arts and make relevant comparisons for awards etc.
So DID video kill the radio star? Same question, decades later. And the answer is much the same - things and people evolve.
This is why I don't like the artificially enhanced photography from "influencers" and such, and why I like simple posts with "real" photos from people whom I personally know, and who just want to share stuff within a small circle of friends or family.
And I think that's how social media was originally intended: simple stories, real photos - no filters, no hype, no trends, no stupid or harmful "challenges", no politics, no toxicity, no clickbait, no sensationalism, no thousands of followers - just stories and pictures that you want to share with friends & family.