AI and digital photography reshape work for Styrian photographers

Artificial intelligence and digital photography are transforming the profession, ORF reports, while the number of professional photographers in Styria has risen by 80 year on year to 1,524.

Nearly six billion photographs are now taken worldwide each day. Thomas Fischer, head of the Styrian professional photographers’ guild, said he began his career working with film and developing photographs in a darkroom. “That is all in the past now,” he said.

Training has also changed. While the profession once involved an apprenticeship and a master craftsman’s examination, people can now take a course to become a commercial professional photographer through the Chamber of Commerce. The rise in numbers may reflect how difficult it is to earn a living from photography: according to Statistics Austria, 92 percent of professional photographers cannot live on the work and treat it as a second or third job.

Fischer said photographers still have an advantage over AI when a personal connection matters, such as at weddings or when families visit a studio. He said family studio photography becomes more common before Christmas.

AI-generated images also raise questions about copyright. The article says the person who generates an image does not automatically own its rights. ChatGPT told ORF that a text prompt alone does not necessarily establish authorship, and that the rights depend on whether the person’s creative contribution is sufficient.