Photography × AI — Case Study

I've spent so many years thinking about what makes a photograph work. Light, composition, the relationship between a subject and a camera. What happens when you remove the camera entirely.

This series lives at that edge. Images built from my background in portraiture — the same instincts I bring to a real shoot, applied to a completely different set of tools. The result is something that couldn't exist in a traditional studio. Not because the studio isn't good enough, but because this isn't where studios go.

I made these for my Substack, where I write about AI and creativity and what it means to do innovative work without losing yourself in the process. I needed images that could hold those ideas — visuals that felt like they were asking a question rather than answering one. Photography crossed with digital abstraction crossed with something that doesn't have a name yet.

AI was the sketchbook. Fast, flexible, no budget, no crew, no three-week production timeline. Just the idea and the willingness to follow it somewhere unexpected.

I don't think AI replaces photography. I think it's a new room in the same house. This series is me figuring out what's in it.