09/05/2026
To the lady in the fine arts building at the fair today that I overheard. I appreciate that you “love the newborn photography” but I need to clear something up based off your next statement.
“But I know it’s all just AI”
These photos are not AI, or even remotely close to it. What they are is:
•a decade of experience
•parent prep and expectations to prepare for a successful session
•thousands of dollars of props and items made specifically for newborn photography that have been handcrafted by small businesses
•expensive photography equipment
•knowledge on lighting, angles, and how to use a camera without a single auto setting being used
•hours of patience to safely pose a brand new baby in a way that’s flattering (ever seen a photo of a newborn at a bad angle or when making weird faces awake? Yeah, not always flattering right?)
•a studio space that’s been curated for comfort for the whole family during their session
•years of learning how to actually edit photos, not just slap a preset on them
•hours of selecting the best images, editing each one meticulously at a time because every newborn has different skin colors and issues that all need edited differently
•compositing images together, again because of knowledge on how to edit, not with the help of AI
•and ultimately someone that truly cares about what they do each and every step of the way
THIS is why it’s important to know who you’re hiring to take your photos, especially when it’s your brand new baby that you are handing over to someone in their first few weeks. Not just someone that “can do newborn photos” but someone that DOES newborn photos! Is trained in safety and knows how to pose a newborn.
I wish I would have spoken up and told the lady those are my photos and they are absolutely not AI, but it just feels like an uphill battle at this point. It’s sad that people can’t tell the difference and that our jobs in the creative industry are being taken for granted. But I guess at the end of the day the people that care about the real thing will find us and value what we do 🤍
