When a photographer’s competence changes from making a picture to making a choice.
We often see artificial intelligence as just another step in image creation, but its impact goes far beyond simple filters or production tricks. It changes our basic approach.
Today, algorithms can recognize composition, identify good lighting, read emotions, and even predict which image will resonate. We say that AI has begun to “see,” but that’s not quite right. To look means, and to notice means to choose a moment. When a roll of film contained thirty-six frames and the results took a week to produce, the selection process was central to photography. A split-second decision separates observation from chance.
Now that the decision process is less necessary, the camera can record everything. Memory is infinite, and the selection process can be deferred. Seeing this, which once happened before the shutter was pressed, now happens after. Choice has replaced expectation. Instead of deciding which image to make, we decide which one to keep.
This change causes the moment of judgment to disappear, as well as the fundamental choice of photography. Earlier, the photographer’s skill depended on the rhythm of awareness, on sensing…