The Role of the Photographer in the Future
On Friday, Apple purchased a company called Spectral Edge, which is a Cambridge-based photography technology start-up spun out of a University in East Anglia research lab in 2014. Essentially, what Spectral Edge specializes in are software that “fuses together multiple versions of the same image to improve photo quality, including versions taken on the invisible infrared spectrum,” according to Archie Hall for the Financial Times, on December 13th, 2019.
For those who have stitched multiple photos together, they know that pixelation and distortion will invariably become an issue, as a result of combining photos taken at different angles and distances of capture. However, Spectral Edge “uses machine learning technology to eliminate these issues, producing stable photos.” Moreover, the method, according to Spectral Edge, “substantially improves white balance accuracy - with the warmth or coolness of colors - and lowlight performance.”
So what does this all mean? Simply put, Apple wants to make their future iPhones take better pictures for its customers than what normal folks can typically do. To do that, they will probably evolve Siri to take the photo for us by enabling it to take multiple frame per second at different focal lengths, shutter speed, aperture opening, and light sensitivity, and then stitching them together to produce a single perfect photo, based on what we like, as demonstrated to Siri through our interaction.
Ilford Delta 400 @ 24mm Focal Length
Ilford Delta 400 @ 24mm Focal Length
Ilford Delta 400 @ 24mm Focal Length
Ilford Delta 400 @ 24mm Focal Length
Ilford Delta 400 @ 24mm Focal Length
Ilford Delta 400 @ 24mm Focal Length
And it is not just Siri who will be tasked to make picture perfect memories for us. Google Assistant and Alexa will also want a piece of the action in this racket. I mean, why should this shakedown in traditional photography be limited to just the folks from Cupertino? So with the full weight of big tech behind this shift, no one will ever need to depend on a photographer to take good photos for them. Instead, all our expectations for picture perfect photos will be placed on artificial intelligence.
Of course, there is that pesky issue of where this shift in technology will leave the photographer? I mean, what is the point of a photographer if your smart phone, aided by Siri, Google Assistant, or Alexa, can manufacture for you a perfect photo, in which all imperfection and photobombing can be corrected on the final image? Given the choice, I suspect everyone would pick the cold precision of artificial intelligence over any living and breathing photographer prone to human error.
You see, the machines will rise up to replace the photographer in the years to come. I can see it now. There will be companion drones that will hover within a couple of feet from us (to avoid the scrutiny from federal regulatory bodies like the FAA), connected by Bluetooth to our smart devices, manufacturing photos on command for us. And since they will be linked to Siri, Google Assistant, or Alexa, using them will essentially feel like having your own professional photographer.
Ilford Delta 400 @ 24mm Focal Length
Ilford Delta 400 @ 24mm Focal Length
Ilford Delta 400 @ 24mm Focal Length
Ilford Delta 400 @ 24mm Focal Length
Ilford Delta 400 @ 24mm Focal Length
Ilford Delta 400 @ 24mm Focal Length
If you have connected the dots to this point, then you will undoubtedly realize that all your picture perfect moments to come will be manufactured by Siri, Google Assistant, or Alexa. Oh, how very dreadful that will be. On top of that, you should also realize that the integrity of your photos will be flushed down the colloquial drain, given that Siri, Google Assistant, and Alexa will be stitching together the most perfect version of each photo opportunity in manufacturing the photo you want.
In such a world, what does that make each resulting image? With Siri, Google Assistant, and Alexa being the only photographers in the world to come, it means that the value of a photograph will be commoditized. How could it not? If every photo opportunity is taken by a thinking quantum computer connected via 5G to a smart device, then what difference will there be between any photo? Fact is, the absence of authorship of a photo makes any photo just a photo.
That is correct! A computer cannot have authorship over a photograph. And at the same time, the user of that smart device cannot have authorship either. How could any user have authorship by merely pointing a smart device at a photo opportunity, if the photo taking process is executed by Siri, Google Assistant, or Alexa? And at the same time, how could Siri, Google Assistant, or Alexa have authorship over a photograph, given that the documentation is not initiated by them?
Ilford Delta 400 @ 24mm Focal Length
Ilford Delta 400 @ 24mm Focal Length
Ilford Delta 400 @ 24mm Focal Length
Ilford Delta 400 @ 24mm Focal Length
Ilford Delta 400 @ 24mm Focal Length
Ilford Delta 400 @ 24mm Focal Length
The talent that we traditionally value in photographers in taking proper photographs is lost once we cede the execution of the documentation process to artificial intelligence. The distinctness of individuality that is demonstrated through the photographer’s eye and expression cannot be reproduced by a machine that is indifferent to the photo opportunity. And besides, what value could any photo possibly have if it was taken with the use of a learning machine common to the masses?
I mean, do you think that anyone would value a photo taken by Siri, Google Assistant, or Alexa, at a Sotheby’s auction? Logically, I cannot imagine that to be possible. At the very least, I cannot image it becoming an asset class, given that everyone will have access to these smart devices, and given that the photos taken by these devices will have no authorship. Fact is, the future will be filled with nothing but computer generated picture perfect photos - all create without any soul.
The future is unavoidable. Technology has essentially killed photography by taking over the documentation process in making photos perfect. So in reading the tea leaves, I knew that the only way to preserve the time honored practice of traditional photography is by shooting film. Only in shooting film will a photographer be able to differentiate one’s self from the ubiquity of Siri, Google Assistant, or Alexa - given that none of them will ever be designed to shoot film.
Ilford Delta 3200 @ 24mm Focal Length
Ilford Delta 3200 @ 24mm Focal Length
Ilford Delta 3200 @ 24mm Focal Length
Ilford Delta 3200 @ 24mm Focal Length
Ilford Delta 3200 @ 24mm Focal Length
Ilford Delta 3200 @ 24mm Focal Length
I was not kidding when I said the future of photography was film. Only in shooting film can a photographer prove to the world that one’s effort is unassisted and from the heart. Moreover, only in shooting film can a photographer prove that a captured image is not manufactured from a series of amalgamated photos. But most importantly, only in shooting film can a photograph become an asset class, given that any auctioned photo can be sold with its unique frame of film.
Admittedly for digital photographers, the thought that film photography being the only way to prove one’s legitimacy as a photographer, is a difficult pill to swallow. But since the origin of digital capture will invariably come into question, given the uncertain nature of its authorship and authenticity when Siri, Google Assistant, and Alexa takes over the heavy lifting, there will always be doubt. Given that, the only way to insure certainty in authorship and authenticity is by shooting film.
I have accepted this to be gospel for well over a year, which is why I have been shooting film ever since. And if you consider yourself a serious photographer, I suggest you ponder my example. Fact is, we can never possibly compete with Siri, Google Assistant, or Alexa, in manufacturing picture perfect photos for us. However, what we can do is emphasize our individuality - warts and all - in keeping it real, as the expression goes. In the years to come, that will be priceless.
Ilford Delta 3200 @ 24mm Focal Length
Ilford Delta 3200 @ 24mm Focal Length
Ilford Delta 3200 @ 24mm Focal Length
Ilford Delta 3200 @ 24mm Focal Length
Ilford Delta 3200 @ 24mm Focal Length
Ilford Delta 3200 @ 24mm Focal Length
All images have been digitized on a Pakon F135, automatically cropped from full negative during the scanning process, and fine tuned very slightly in Adobe Lightroom.
