After 9 years I’ve updated this site to feel more relevant to where I am right now in life and in my career. After leaving House of Retouching and jumping head first into IT and AI, life feels fresh and challenging again.
Obviously, retouching has become even more challenging since I left, yet I suppose in a more unwanted manner. AI and automation, together with plummeting budgets, have taken a heavy toll on the industry in recent years.
As each year goes by, my concept of photo industry standards taking a nose dive, and of the whole photo industry with time becoming a relic of the past similar to painting, is becoming reality. It’s both sad to look at and reassuring at the same time. Change is the only constant, and technologies come and go together with the artisans who were their champions.
A few days ago a friend asked me to work on a charity session for a calendar. I did it with pleasure: donating your skills is so rewarding. I also felt the warmth of re-entering a field I am a master at, but there was more. I used state-of-the-art software, I am a master at this craft, and I know it is absolutely outdated and will soon be heavily disrupted.
Writing good software is still hard, but people want different tools now: seamless automation, AI-assisted editing, integrations with outside tooling, faster and smarter workflows, etc. So as I worked on, I had a lot of fun, but also felt the wind of change whispering its song to my ears.
Hello, brave new world. It was wonderful to know you, yesterday’s technology. I hope to be able to play with you again, and I keep my fingers crossed for all of those still working in the field.