The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) has left no industry untouched, and the creative world is no exception. As a photographer and videographer, I’ve felt the ripple effects of AI in both exhilarating and daunting ways. It’s like standing in front of a double-edged sword—on one side, AI unlocks opportunities and sparks creativity; on the other, it challenges the very essence of what we do.

I’ll share my perspective on how AI is transforming my workfield, specifically photography and videography, diving into the pros and cons. Most of them are widely known and discussed, but combining them gives you a better view and understanding towards AI.

Spoiler: It’s not all doom and gloom, but it does require adaptation, an open mind, and a willingness to evolve.

The Blessings: How AI boosts creativity and efficiency

1. AI reduces mundane tasks

One of the biggest perks of AI is its ability to handle repetitive, time-consuming tasks. I often state: “I’m not lazy but I don’t like to do the same thing twice!” Enter AI! Photo and video editing, which used to take hours (sometimes days), can now be streamlined with AI-powered tools. Think of programs like Adobe Photoshop’s Content-Aware Fill or AI-enhanced color grading software. They allow us to automate parts of the process that once drained our time and energy.

For instance, as a photographer, I’ve often spent late nights meticulously retouching skin imperfections or removing unwanted objects from the background. With AI, these tasks are reduced to a few clicks, most of the time. Videographers can also benefit from AI’s capabilities, like auto-tracking subjects or generating subtitles with surprising accuracy.

This frees up mental space to focus on what truly matters: the process and creation itself. When you’re not bogged down by the technical grind, you can channel your energy into storytelling and creative direction. It still takes a lot of hours to edit a movie, or to finetune a photo up to the clients perspective. But at least you're doing constructive creative work, not repetitive mindnumbing work. I’m, for example, a photographer that refuses to learn extended photoshop skills. For the simple reason that my skill and work fun is while shooting in the field, not being behind my computer all day. But thanks to AI, I’m now able to do simple stuff in photoshop myself, which either brings more benefit to me, reduces process time or is cheaper for the client. I used to outsource those tasks to skilled retouchers, but that took time and came with a price. So this also impacts their business directly: the ripple effect goes all the way down the chain. On the other hand, I still relay and coöperate a lot with them since it quickly surpasses my simple AI photoshop skills! So there are limits as well. In the end it’s about experience and specialisation. Because my retouchers use the same software as I, so the benefit as well in the same way as I benefit.

2. Enhanced pre-production

AI has also made pre-production tasks more efficient. Mood boarding, scripting, and storyboarding can be much more productive with tools like MidJourney or ChatGPT. I’ve used AI to brainstorm ideas for video scripts and to create mood boards that capture the tone of a shoot.

It’s not just about saving time—it’s about elevating the process. For example I used to find making moodboards for shoots more stressing than an actual shoot itself. I found it very hard to find the correct images representing what and how I saw the shoot. I would never succeed in finding what I wanted. That really stressed me out. Now I use Midjourney and Chat GPT to create exactly what I had in mind. That makes me feel way more confident to convince a client of my vision and creative approach.

3. AI has many faces, widen your view and opinion

We tend to forget that it’s not all creative threats or bread theft. We also forget how AI has already entered our lives maybe a little bit earlier than we tend to believe. Look at face recognition in our cameras for auto focus and subject tracking. Look at DJI Lidar auto focus systems for manual lenses, … these things are also (yet a simpler form) AI. I heard no-one complaining about that, or the noise cancelling in our headphones, adaptive noise cancellation more specific. And when Adobe integrated automatic subtitles in Premiere pro I only heard cheers and hurrays … It still takes a while to get all the errors out, especially in Flemish but still you gained hours of work. And don’t forget that the smartphone you hold so dearly in your hand is full of all kinds of AI, from simple to super advanced tools you love to use: let’s start by optimising your look every time you take a picture, no problem with vanity AI, aren’t we?

And the list is long:

• AI Colorization: Restoring old black-and-white photos and videos into color.

• Retinal Scans: Detecting signs of diabetes, hypertension, or Alzheimer’s through retinal imaging.

• AI Beekeeping: Monitoring hive conditions and bee health to improve colony survival rates.

• Smart Irrigation: Using AI to analyze weather, soil, and crop data to optimize water usage.

• Wildlife Protection: AI-driven camera traps to identify and track poachers in protected areas.

• Crack Detection: AI systems inspect bridges, buildings, or roads for micro-cracks and structural weaknesses.

• AI Traffic Flow Management: Smart systems that optimize traffic light timing to reduce congestion

• Notebook LM: I wrote an article (on my personal blog) on how, for example, I use Notebook LM for my Arabic language studies. (You can translate it to english with the language flag)

• …

The challenges: when AI feels like a threat

1. The fear of job replacement

Let’s address the elephant in the room: AI’s ability to replicate certain aspects of photography and videography is unsettling. Programs like DALL·E can generate realistic images from text prompts, while AI video tools can animate sequences without a camera.

2. Over-reliance on AI risks losing the human touch

AI, for all its brilliance, lacks the emotional intuition of a human artist. It can analyze trends and suggest ideas, but it can't feel. The danger lies in over-reliance. If we allow AI to dictate every aspect of our work, we risk losing the soul of our art.

3. Don’t get mistaken: the goal is imperfection

And there is one thing which defines us humans the best and that is

4. The learning curve

Adapting to AI isn’t always straightforward. New tools often come with steep learning curves, and keeping up with the latest innovations can feel overwhelming. As someone who loves the tactile nature of photography—adjusting the aperture, manual focussing, framing the shot, capturing fleeting moments—spending hours learning software updates isn’t always appealing.

Adaptation: the key to thriving in an AI-driven world

In a fast-moving world, adaptation is not optional—it’s essential. AI is here to stay, and resisting it won’t make it go away. Instead, we need to find ways to embed AI into our services without compromising our creative identity. Here’s how I’m personally approaching it:

Embrace the duality of AI

AI is both a blessing and a challenge for photographers and videographers. It takes away certain tasks but adds opportunities in productivity, creativity, and innovation. The key is to strike a balance—leveraging AI’s strengths while staying true to our artistic identity.

Yes, AI is changing the game, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s an invitation to evolve, to rethink how we approach our craft, and to push the boundaries of what’s possible.

So, to my fellow visual artists: don’t fear AI. Embrace it, experiment with it, and find your unique way to thrive in this new era. After all, creativity has always been about adaptation. AI is just the latest challenge—and opportunity—in a long line of innovations that have shaped our art.

To sum it up with a famous evolutionist’s quote:

"It is not the strongest species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most adaptable to change.”

C.Darwin.