‘What can I substitute for turmeric?’
’Give me some prompts for how to request a raise.’
’How much sun does a hydrangea need?’
’What’s the best natural repellant for voles?’
’I have xyz in the fridge, what’s a good recipe using those ingredients?’
There are sooo many ways that AI ⬆️ is making life a little easier + knowledge a little more accessible; therefore - as is human nature - people are quick to ponder ‘what else can it do for me?’…
fair, but at what cost to our humanity + history.
Let me first lead with a bit of background that I think - hope - will provide additional context to what I have to say further down (if you’ve been here a while, feel free to scroll down to the bolded portion, just below the portraits of JB).
In 2010/11 I was happily working in general portraiture (families, maternity, newborns…) when I was contacted by a woman, JB, who was going to be participating in a fitness model competition.
It was my first time working 1:1 with a woman and the entire experience was amazing! We were BOTH 100% committed to the process (and the fun) of being there together, creating, and memorializing. We laughed, we collaborated, we made art and that session was THE catalyst that enabled me to recognize + nourish the seed that had been planted years earlier when we lost Mom: that every woman deserves to have the proverbial mirror held up so that she can see the inherent beauty that those who love her see… she deserves an empowering experience that results in portraits she loves.
(JB + I went on to shoot a number of times and had a blast creating together over many years)
©2012 Lori Maloney
Assisted by Jill McDavid
©2011 Lori Maloney
©2015 Lori Maloney
JB for 53 Birthdays.
Over the last 14+ yrs of working with women, the feedback has been consistent:
a professional portrait session is about so much more than the final image.
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“…Before you know it, you are dancing, laughing and letting your inner beauty come out!” ~CB
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“… my friends and family tell me she has captured my essence inside and out completely. Thank you Lori for all you do to make women feel beautiful in the skin they are in, at whatever age and stage in life.” ~HO
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“Lori worked so diligently to ensure that I had a wonderful few hours to celebrate my pregnancy while still being safe {during the shutdown}. The photos I have now are stunning and I’m so grateful that I get to look at them and remember how beautiful and powerful I felt during those nine months carrying my son…the results are everything I hoped for…” ~HR
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“She captures your essence!” ~TL
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“I walked away from our session with my head held a little higher, my heart happy with joy and my ears ringing with laughter. And of course, a portrait that I love!” ~EL
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”Fun, talented, empathetic, vibrant, kind, hilarious and one of the most talented photographers I have ever met… I did not know I was going to make a new friend.” ~NM
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©2020 Lori Maloney
This self-portrait was created in-studio in Spring 2020. I shaved my head as an exercise in empathy - knowing that I’d always empathized with women who’d lost their hair through disease or treatment, BUT also recognizing that I likely had little understanding of what it ACTUALLY felt like.
The experience was profound…
and wholly unattainable via AI.
This all brings me to AI and its impact on us, both broadly and also in terms of the business I’ve built over the last 16 years… this past year I’ve both lost clients (who decided they’d rather spend $50 on an AI generated headshot) AND also gained clients (who’d gone that route and then realized: this isn’t even ‘ME’).
The generative tools are getting better by the day (probably hour) BUT: to what end?
Yesterday I decided to run a little experiment and uploaded an iPhone selfie of me in the studio to AI with only one prompt: ‘portrait photographer’. I think most would say that AI did a decent job… the pic on the left is what it spit out and, if seen on its own, I think most would likely say: ‘that’s a picture of Lori. BUT: what is lost?
AI generated pic created Aug 18, 2026
iPhone selfie in studio just before a client arrived in 2023.
The tech-generated image feels not only void of the soul that makes me, ME, but it also has (very) little tie to reality. Imagine, say 100 years from now, when descendants are curious about us and instead of finding pictures that tell the real tale of our lives, they instead find photos that look like us but aren’t actually ‘us’… we were never ‘there’, our smile isn’t quite right, all our quirks missing... 👉 doesn’t the idea of that hurt your heart?
Mom didn’t like having her photo taken, but I’m so glad we have some… I love seeing the glint in her eye when she smiled (the same glint you see in pics of our Pop💫), and where we lived when I was born, and being able to show our kids the similarities in expression they get from the grandma they never got to meet. I’m so glad we can hold the truth of HER vs. some robot-made look-alike version, and I want that for you and your families too.
As we hover on the precipice of this truly new world, appreciating the gifts of AI while being mindful of the many downsides, it’s incumbent on us to not let tech get in the way of our human experience; we have the opportunity - in this brief window - to push back, to avoid the pitfall, to say: ‘you can provide recipes and historical data and help with ideas for my children’s book BUT,
in all ways possible, I will intentionally choose to fully engage in this fleeting experience of being human, and with an authentic record of my time here - flaws and all. 💫
I’d encourage each of us to remember that AI will never be able to provide authenticity... why would you want loved ones or clients or future generations to be robbed of the chance to see the real you?
Further, because it bears repeating, succumbing to AI (because of ease, or money, or time), for something as personal as photographs of you, robs you of any chance to be changed, uplifted, and empowered by the experience.
Experience + authenticity will forever trump saving a buck.
My two cents 😉,
XOXO
Lori