08/12/2026
When Colby Magazine asked me to photograph faculty and researchers for a piece on ethical AI, the brief was straightforward, but the subject matter wasn’t. How do you make portraits that feel human in a story about machines? My approach was to show warm skin tones against cool, dark backgrounds. The technology piece is implied, though unseen, and the people are fully present, though isolated.
The point of the piece — something I hope comes across in the portraits — is that human judgment is still at the center of all of the college’s pioneering AI efforts.
Photography: Brian Fitzgerald for Colby Magazine / Davis Institute for Artificial Intelligence
Story by Bob Keyes
Colby College