The death of photography
💡Much is said today about the end of photography, journalism, and art. Professionals and amateurs around the world are amazed as they tear their hair out at the results achieved by the increasing novelties in text and image creation brought about by the dreaded artificial intelligence. Many have rushed to say, without hesitation: it’s the end, it’s over.
Some photographers who persistently follow this profession, as oversaturated as any other of creative making, wonder whether they should stay on the trajectory with a nebulous future: is there room for photography on the planet of machine intelligence?
Despite the tragic title, I will already tell you that the intention of this text is not to bring a fatalistic message, nor to lament about the ethical problems caused by the advance of these tools. But to provoke a brief reflection on this subject.
Going back a bit in history, I want to bring you a refreshment of memory: with the birth of photography, in 1826, painters were astonished: their function would be in decline, and it was impossible to compete technically with an apparatus capable of recording what one sees.
With the advent of movie theaters, in 1895, the theater had its fateful end decreed. And, as could not be missed on this list, the creation of the famous television, in 1926, came to put a silver bullet in the heart of radio and cinema.
The story doesn’t stop there: more contemporary, but no less tragicomic, CDs have decreed the end of vinyl, podcasts have marked (for the second time) the end of radios, e-books have been fatal to paper books, digital cameras have destroyed analog photography, and cell phone cameras have ‘finished’ the ‘photographer’ profession.
It doesn’t take much to understand where I am getting with so many mistaken ‘endings’. We know that painters developed much more authoriality and personality in their works when they were freed from the need for technical registers of reality. We also know that theaters are still full, enchanting audiences with immersive and irreplaceable experiences. We spend rivers of money on vinyl collections, not only for nostalgia but for the very special sound quality. We love analog photography, not only for the magic that happens in the darkroom but also for the texture of the grain, the experimentation, and the surprise.
✨I think here, it’s worth a highlight: never before have so many people come to me in search of beautiful portraits since all they have are hundreds of empty selfies taken with their pocket cameras.
The novelty is, of course, scary. But rethinking our professional role and the way we relate to creation can also be a natural process of maturity in the search for a poetics and authorality that neither the GPT chat, nor Midjourney, can develop on their own. In fact, the ethics with which we manage these tools depends on the human head behind the computers. This is why this discussion is extremely pertinent.
I believe that these are tools that can serve as bridges to new ways of creation, layouts, and being base for inspiration. Analog photography did not die with the birth of digital cameras, the photography profession did not die with the birth of camera phones, and photography will not die with the use of artificial intelligence. May we be ethical and attentive, always in search of what makes us different — and also human.
These images may be very ‘photography alike’, But I don’t consider them photography at all. I feel a good comparison is like the work of a realist painter: it may look like a photo, but it’s still a painting. With Midjourney, it may look like a photo, but it’s AI-powered digital art.
Did you enjoy what found here? Forward it to a friend, recommend it! Every comment and feedback is appreciated. I am a German-Brazilian photographer, teacher, and artist, based in Lisbon. English isn’t my native language, so please, don’t mind the mistakes.
If you’d like to learn photography with me, feel free to drop me an email at raquelpellicano@gmail.com, also, you can follow my instagram here.
See you next time,
Raquel Pellicano
