May 19, 2026 • 24 mins
I remember the exact moment I first heard about ChatGPT. I was walking my dog, talking to my dad on the phone, and he mentioned this thing he'd heard about on NPR - some AI tool where you could just type any question and get an answer. My reaction? "Huh. Why would I need that when I have Google?"
That was not that long ago. Wild.
Just a couple of short years later, and AI is literally everywhere. But a lot of photographers I talk to are genuinely conflicted about using it - and I think that conflict is worth taking seriously! So in this episode, I'm sharing the framework I personally use to make sure the work I do with AI tools feels aligned with my values.
Here's what I'm covering:
- Why I think of AI the same way I think about switching from auto mode to manual on your camera (and why that analogy actually holds up)
- The three things you need every single time you sit down to work with AI
- Where AI genuinely moves the needle... and where it needs to stay out of the way
- The real gift AI gives you (which probably isn't what you think)
If you've ever gotten AI output that felt like beige content that could have come from anyone, this is for you.
Resources:
- New to the podcast? Go to thiscantbethathard.com/welcome to get access to 3 of Annemie's best free resources.
- Join our community! We'd love to welcome you into our supportive, business-focused private Facebook group. Go to facebook.com/groups/thiscantbethathard to request access.
- Long-time listener? Leave a review!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Annemie (00:00):
Am I the only one who kind of remembers where they
(00:04):
were and who they were talkingto and whatever the first time
that they heard about certaintechnologies?
I don't know if that's a normalthing.
I know it's normal to rememberwhere you were when big events
took place and all that, but ofcourse, these all happened and I
didn't know that they were bigevents at the time.
But in retrospect, I have thislike collection of memories.
I remember the first time that Iever heard about Netflix.
(00:26):
I was at my friend Katie'sparents' house, and her parents
had those red envelopes, and Iwas like,"What are these?
What's this company, Netflix?" Iremember my friend Florence
working, We were waiting tables.
I guess, was somewhere in theneighborhood of like 2002, she
was telling me about thiswebsite called Facebook that was
(00:48):
kind of like...
mySpace but better.
remember seeing my friendAmanda's smartphone for the
first time, it was an iPhone,and thinking,"Huh, that's
interesting.
Seems like it would be hard totype on," compared to like a
BlackBerry, I guess.
And then I have this verydistinct memory of the first
(01:09):
time I ever heard about ChatGPT,which was the first large
language model AI that I heardof.
I was out walking my dog andtalking to my dad on the phone,
and he, as he often does,brought up what he had been
listening to on NPR and, told melike,"Oh, have you heard about
(01:30):
this thing called ChatGPT?
It, you know, it can do justabout anything.
You can just type any questioninto it, and it'll give you your
answer." And I was like,"Oh,huh, that's cool.
How is it different fromGoogle?" Like my initial
response was basically like (01:46):
Who cares?
I don't need that And it isbananas to me to think that that
was just a couple of years ago,right?
I mean, at this point, you wouldliterally have to live in a cave
somewhere to not be familiarwith AI.
It's here, it's not goinganywhere, and although the
issues surrounding it can feelcomplicated and intimidating and
(02:09):
even scary, I honestly believethat ignoring them isn't a
solution, And that doing so atthis point is a big mistake for
your business.
It's very much like all thosebusiness owners in 1995-ish who
were like,"Huh, I think theinternet is a passing phase and
I'm not gonna worry aboutbuilding a website for my
(02:31):
business," right?
So today, I wanna talk about apath forward with AI that is
clear and doable and alignedwith your values.
This has been sort of how I havethought through my usage of AI
and what is and is notacceptable and what I am and am
(02:52):
not comfortable with.
And even though you may come todifferent conclusions for your
business, I think the frameworkworks.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Welcome to This Can't Be That Hard.
My name is Annemie Tonken, and Ihelp photographers run
profitable, sustainablebusinesses that they love.
Each week on the podcast, Icover simple, actionable
strategies and systems thatphotographers at every level of
experience can use to earn moremoney in a more sustainable way.
(03:20):
Running a photography businessdoesn't have to be that hard.
You can do it, and I can showyou how.
Annemie (03:30):
All right, so welcome back.
We are in week three of our fourweek technology and software
series, and today and next weekwe are going to be talking about
AI.
I wanna start with somethingthat I think is really a real
concern for a lot of us in thiscommunity.
Most artists I know have, youknow- Big feelings about even
(03:53):
just automation, much lessAI-driven automation, and I get
that, We, like every single oneof us, I think, has something
about authenticity or real orwhatever somewhere on our
website, right?
It's a big part of what we doand what we sell.
We are reflecting people'sreality back to them, and so
(04:15):
authenticity is a big piece ofthe way that we try to run our
businesses.
So, the idea of using AI to dojust about anything, Write our
content, edit our photos, answerour emails, it can feel off.
It can, you know, give you theick.
(04:36):
I get that too, so I am not, inthis episode and next, going to
try and talk you out of yourdiscomfort.
I think the discomfort is real,and what I want to do is help
understand what that discomfortis telling you and then what you
should do with that.
Because the questions that arefloating around in your mind,
(05:01):
assuming that you have them, arecoming from your conscience,
right?
That little Jiminy Cricket onyour shoulder that's trying to
help you make sure that yourchoices and your actions are
aligned with your values.
And that's a good thing becausea business that is not in
alignment with your values isvery much the opposite of
authentic.
(05:22):
I think it's worth pointing outthat if you are struggling with
any of these issues andquestions, if you feel that
friction when it comes to AI,that's a sign that you are a
good human.
Which I appreciate, so thankyou.
And because you're listening tothis podcast, I am also going to
assume that you are trying torun a profitable, sustainable
(05:46):
business, and you have heardthat AI could potentially help
you do that in some way, shape,or form.
So how do we make those twothings work together in a way
that's not just looking in theopposite direction, in a way
that really does honor yourconcerns instead of ignoring
them?
And that's where this frameworkcomes in.
(06:07):
So I imagine, you know, everysingle person listening to this
podcast can think back andimagine or remember the time
that they got their first realcamera, right?
I got my first camera when I wasexpecting my son, Oliver, who's
20, so it's been a while.
(06:28):
And, I was living in New York.
I didn't have any space in myapartment and so when people
were asking what they could giveus- As a, as a gift, you know,
for this newborn, I was verymuch like,"I don't need clothes,
I don't need toys.
What I need is some money, and Ineed money for a stroller, like
(06:48):
a fancy New York style stroller,and I need money for a camera,
'cause I know that I'm gonnawanna document this new little
person in my life." I got bothof those things.
I was very fortunate.
And the stroller was useful fora handful of years.
But man, that camera changed mylife, right?
But it didn't change my lifeinstantly.
(07:09):
When I first opened the box, Iput that camera in auto mode,
and, auto mode works, right?
You get a photo, it's exposed,it's probably in focus.
But we all know that when you'rein auto mode, the camera is
making all of the decisions, andthe camera has no idea what
you're actually trying to say.
So eventually, again, everyonelistening to this podcast, most
(07:33):
of us who pursue some sort ofsignificant career in
photography, we learn how toshoot in manual or at least how
to take the camera off of automode.
And that learning curve takestime, but once you've got it,
everything changes.
Once you know how to get yourcamera to do what you want it to
do, the camera is never incharge again.
(07:56):
And that's why we all getirritated by the whole like,"Oh
man, great photos.
What kind of camera do youhave?" Because we know that the
camera isn't the thing makingthe great photos.
We make the photos.
The camera is just the tool.
AI works the same way.
When someone is allowing AI tomake all the decisions, they're
probably going to be prettyunderwhelmed by what they get
(08:19):
back.
That is the AI slop that we'reall familiar with.
Because when AI is in control,it basically shoots for the,
writing equivalent or the outputequivalent of middle gray.
It's creating this like middlegray content and middle gray
ideas.
And although the tools thatyou're using, the AI tools that
(08:42):
you're using do matter, justlike the camera matters, the
first issue usually isn't thetool.
It's the intention, or lack ofintention behind the tool.
A camera doesn't have anyopinion about what you're trying
to create, and neither does AI.
Both of them are going tofaithfully create fine art or
(09:05):
total garbage and be totallyindifferent about it.
It all depends on what you givethem.
So the tools don't have thevision or the voice or the
intention.
You do.
That's always been your job, andit still is your job.
So this is where I sort of gotthe idea for the framework that
(09:26):
I use when I'm thinking abouthow I use AI.
I wanna make sure that I amalways operating in manual mode
with AI so that I am the onecreating the content, even if
I'm using a tool to help me doit.
And in order to do that, justlike with photography, you need
to lead with intention.
(09:49):
So the exposure triangle, if youthink about, you know, this
thing that we all know and love,the exposure triangle is made up
of three elements that controlthe look of your photos: your
aperture, your shutter speed,and your ISO.
And I have sort of come up withthis AI triangle as well that
works the same way.
(10:10):
So if you think of the triangle,with AI, the first point is
purpose.
That means that you know exactlywhat it is that you're trying to
create before you ever open yourClaude window, right?
This is like setting thedestination in your maps app.
(10:31):
You would never just open upGoogle Maps and be like,"Take me
somewhere." Before you touch thetool, you need to know, like,
what is this for?
Who is it for?
What are we trying toaccomplish?
What do you want to make someonefeel?
That is your purpose, and youshould enter into your
interactions with AI feeling atleast relatively set on what
(10:55):
you're trying to accomplish.
The second point of the triangleis judgment, and that basically
means that you are remaining inthe driver's seat throughout the
process.
Not just at the beginning whenyou set the purpose, but kind of
checking in every step of theway and steering it in the
direction that you want.
So back to our GPS, navigationcomparison, if you set a
(11:23):
destination in your maps app,and then you're following along
with what they say, and all of asudden you run into a detour or
a traffic jam that somehowdidn't make it into the maps
app, you know that you need tooverride what GPS is telling
you.
If the road cuts off like somesort of bridge in a cartoon,
you're not just gonna sail offthe end of it because GPS tells
(11:46):
you to, right?
You are going to say,"Nope,we're gonna turn around and make
a better choice for this route."You don't passively drive the
car.
You are examining the processall the way through.
You're raising objections, andstaying engaged, and you wanna
do that with AI as well.
Every time that it gives you thenext output, you want to think
(12:09):
critically about, is this-heading in the direction that I
want it to, or is this somehowtaking us off track?
The final point of that triangleis voice.
So that means fine-tuningwhatever it is that AI is
creating for you to make surethat it's just right.
Not just with content, but alsowith tone, pacing, humor,
(12:32):
whatever the case may be, And ifwe're gonna just continue the
comparison with GPS, your mapwill take you to a building,
let's say an apartment building,but you can't just walk into any
of the apartments, right?
When the map says you havearrived, you're still in the
lobby.
The destination is close, butyou have to go, you know, walk
(12:55):
up the stairs to 4B.
And that last step, reading,editing, making whatever this AI
content is yours, that is yourexpression of voice.
So purpose, judgment, and voice,and I would say that you need
all three every single time.
So let's talk about how this AItriangle shows up in your
(13:18):
photography businessspecifically.
Every business, photography andotherwise, has three basic
systems.
You've heard me talk about thison this podcast before, right?
You have your marketing system,which is connecting with
potential clients.
You've got your sales system,which is converting those
potential clients into actualclients.
(13:39):
And then you've got yourfulfillment system, which is
delivering on your clientpromise.
So it's everything from whenthat person books with you all
the way to when, you know,they're leaving you a review on
Google.
So let's walk through each ofthese three systems in your
business and talk about where AIcan actually help, where it is
(13:59):
the highest leverage, and thenwhere you actually need to kind
of keep it out of the way.
There is a long list ofmarketing tasks that AI is
genuinely great for (14:10):
blog posts, email marketing, SEO research,
captions, reel scripts,carousels, website copy.
I mean, the list goes on.
But the number one highestleverage thing that AI can do
for your marketing is to get youout from behind your computer
and back in the world of theliving, right, back in front of
(14:32):
people.
This is the thing aboutmarketing that I think gets lost
in all the content creationconversation, and that is that
the single highest convertingmarketing activity for a
relationship Driven photographerisn't your Instagram feed.
It's not your blog.
Those things are important.
They need to be the backup toyou being out in the world, but
(14:52):
you in the room with people atnetworking events or community
involvement things, speaking,showing up at the places that
your ideal clients actually are,that in-person connection has
always been the thing that getsphotographers booked faster.
And nowadays, with all thisAI-driven content, I hate using
(15:16):
this phrase, but like it's moreimportant than ever.
And most of us aren't doing it,or we aren't doing enough of it
because we are buried in deskwork, right?
So AI isn't going to replaceyour marketing.
It's going to handle that, youknow, content creation work so
(15:36):
that you can go do the marketingthat actually moves the needle,
and that's the real gift.
On the flip side, you don'twanna let content creation,
whether it's AI or otherwise, beyour whole marketing strategy
for exactly the reason that Ijust said.
More AI equals more need tocreate genuine connection.
(15:58):
And again, I want you to stayvigilant about creating good
content.
This is where that trianglereally comes into play because
the proliferation ofAI-generated content means that
the bar for generic is gettinglower, not higher.
There is more forge-forgettablecontent out there right now than
(16:18):
there has ever been at any pointin the history of the internet,
and it is flooding in, right?
So more is not the point.
Consistent and high quality isabsolutely the goal.
Your sales system is reallywhere you need to be using AI
the least, least when it comesto our line of work.
(16:42):
Photography is a relationshipbusiness.
Your clients are not buying aproduct.
They are not buying somethingoff the shelf.
They are deciding whether totrust you with their kids in
their homes, seeing theirbodies, seeing their grief,
their joy, you know, being therefor them on their most important
(17:03):
days.
And that kind of buying decisionhappens in relationship.
It happens in conversation, andit happens because of you
specifically, your warmth, yourconfidence, your ability to make
someone feel seen and safe.
AI can't do that, and weobviously don't want it to,
(17:23):
right?
The way that I think about AI inthe sales part of your system is
that it can help you build theinfrastructure so that by the
time that a real human is infront of you- That groundwork is
already laid.
Your pricing guide is clear.
Your FAQs answer the questionsthat people are thinking, you
(17:45):
know, even before they have achance to ask them.
AI does a great job helping youwrite a follow-up email that
doesn't sound like a formletter.
It can help you do the prep workfor a call, but you need to do
the selling.
When it comes to the actualsales consultation, the pricing
conversation, those things needto remain human.
And again, more than ever, Irecommend trying to make it as
(18:09):
personal as possible,face-to-face, on the phone, or
at minimum, over some sort ofvideo with your face on it,
because this is where you candifferentiate yourself by
listening, hearing people'squestions and objections, and
responding to the specific humanin front of you.
So if something in your salesprocess starts to feel automated
(18:32):
or impersonal, that feeling isbeing felt by your clients as
well, right?
And the relationship is thesale, so you need to protect it.
Fulfillment is the system that,you know, tends to get the least
attention in education orpodcasts or whatever.
(18:53):
But I always argue that itreally is the most important,
because a great clientexperience is what turns a
one-time client into a repeatclient and a referral machine.
So AI can help a lot here.
Client education emails,culling, what to wear guides,
questionnaires, editing, clientonboarding, location guides.
(19:17):
And the nice thing is that mostfulfillment systems benefit from
streamlining, because the fewerday-to-day chores that you have
to manage, the freer you are toadd those special little touches
and put out the little firesthat inevitably are going to
come up somewhere.
But far and away, the singlebiggest way that AI can improve
(19:37):
your fulfillment system reallyis editing.
Editing used to cost you eithera lot of time or a lot of money.
AI-assisted editing changes thatequation significantly.
The tools that exist now arenearly magical in their ability
to learn your editing style andapply it consistently and
quickly to hundreds or eventhousands of photos.
(20:00):
So your work still looks likeyours, but it gets there a whole
lot faster.
But fulfillment isn't justlogistics, right?
It's also the experience ofworking with you and the way
that you make somebody feelbefore, during, and after their
session.
AI doesn't do that.
It handles the repetitive stuffso that you have more capacity
(20:24):
for those irreplaceable thingslike the text you send when you
know a client is feeling nervousor the way that you notice that
somebody's youngest child ismelting down, and you kinda
pivot the session withoutmissing a beat.
That's the stuff that only youcan do, and you obviously are
not going to try to outsourcethat.
(20:46):
So let me kinda pull all of thistogether because I do think
there's a simple way to do that.
In marketing, relationshipsmatter more than computer time.
In sales, relationships mattermore than polished PDFs.
And in fulfillment,relationships matter more than
the repetitive chores.
Basically, I want you toprioritize your relationships in
(21:09):
each of your systems, andwherever AI can help free up
your time to do that, I thinkthat's amazing.
The AI triangle is just a toolthat I created, sort of a
framework that can help you makesure that you're remaining in
control.
You want to use purpose to makesure that you know what you're
(21:30):
building, judgment to keep youin the driver's seat, and then
finishing everything with yourvoice so that what comes out is
a reflection of you and yourbrand.
Next week, we're going to go alittle bit deeper on this
because this is kind of a nice,framework, but I know a lot of
us are, thinking about biggerimpact issues when it comes to
(21:54):
AI, right?
The environment, the, ethicalconcerns around AI, your level
of authenticity when you'reusing AI.
Those are all real questions,and I don't wanna brush past
them.
In fact, I think they're bigenough to grapple with through
an entire session untothemselves.
(22:15):
So next week, we're gonna takethose really seriously one by
one, and I'm gonna come back tothis AI triangle because it
really can help guide youthrough the bigger issues as
well.
In the meantime, what I want youto do this week is pick one
marketing task that you've beenmaybe avoiding or handling
(22:38):
manually and inconsistently.
Maybe it's your email or yourInstagram, you know, whatever it
is, I want you to run it throughthat AI triangle as you sit down
to work with whatever AI toolsyou're working with.
You start with purpose.
So before you open anything, Iwant you to think about or write
down a couple of sentences aboutlike, what am I actually trying
(23:01):
to accomplish here?
Who's gonna read it?
What are we trying to make themfeel?
What's our specific point ofview?
Then bring that context intoyour tool.
One thing that I think is apretty popular misconception is
that you want to be as short aspossible with AI so that you're
not using more energy than isnecessary.
(23:21):
But I keep hearing and readingthat's actually a bigger problem
than giving it a ton of kind ofbrain dumped information,
because then it requires a lotof back and forth.
The more context you give upfront, the less back and forth
you end up doing, which actuallyends up using less energy.
So brain dump absolutelyeverything.
(23:43):
I always like to use my voice,like voice texting.
And then as you go through theprocess, use your judgment, and
then finally put your voice onwhatever comes out at the end.
So that's your task onerun-through of the triangle.
And I would love to hear howthat goes for you or whether
that sort of gave you anydifferent, approach as you sat
(24:07):
down to use AI.
I will see you back here nextweek, and I hope you have a good
one.
Well, that's it for this week'sepisode of This Can't Be That
Hard.
I'll be back same time, sameplace next week.
In the meantime, you can findmore information about this
episode, along with all therelevant links, notes, and
downloads, atthiscantbethathard.com/learn.
(24:29):
If you like the podcast, be sureto hit the subscribe button.
Even better, share the love byleaving a review in iTunes.
And as always, thanks so muchfor joining me.
I hope you have a fantasticweek.
Am I the only one who kind of remembers where they
(00:04):
were and who they were talkingto and whatever the first time
that they heard about certaintechnologies?
I don't know if that's a normalthing.
I know it's normal to rememberwhere you were when big events
took place and all that, but ofcourse, these all happened and I
didn't know that they were bigevents at the time.
But in retrospect, I have thislike collection of memories.
I remember the first time that Iever heard about Netflix.
(00:26):
I was at my friend Katie'sparents' house, and her parents
had those red envelopes, and Iwas like,"What are these?
What's this company, Netflix?" Iremember my friend Florence
working, We were waiting tables.
I guess, was somewhere in theneighborhood of like 2002, she
was telling me about thiswebsite called Facebook that was
(00:48):
kind of like...
mySpace but better.
remember seeing my friendAmanda's smartphone for the
first time, it was an iPhone,and thinking,"Huh, that's
interesting.
Seems like it would be hard totype on," compared to like a
BlackBerry, I guess.
And then I have this verydistinct memory of the first
(01:09):
time I ever heard about ChatGPT,which was the first large
language model AI that I heardof.
I was out walking my dog andtalking to my dad on the phone,
and he, as he often does,brought up what he had been
listening to on NPR and, told melike,"Oh, have you heard about
(01:30):
this thing called ChatGPT?
It, you know, it can do justabout anything.
You can just type any questioninto it, and it'll give you your
answer." And I was like,"Oh,huh, that's cool.
How is it different fromGoogle?" Like my initial
response was basically like (01:46):
Who cares?
I don't need that And it isbananas to me to think that that
was just a couple of years ago,right?
I mean, at this point, you wouldliterally have to live in a cave
somewhere to not be familiarwith AI.
It's here, it's not goinganywhere, and although the
issues surrounding it can feelcomplicated and intimidating and
(02:09):
even scary, I honestly believethat ignoring them isn't a
solution, And that doing so atthis point is a big mistake for
your business.
It's very much like all thosebusiness owners in 1995-ish who
were like,"Huh, I think theinternet is a passing phase and
I'm not gonna worry aboutbuilding a website for my
(02:31):
business," right?
So today, I wanna talk about apath forward with AI that is
clear and doable and alignedwith your values.
This has been sort of how I havethought through my usage of AI
and what is and is notacceptable and what I am and am
(02:52):
not comfortable with.
And even though you may come todifferent conclusions for your
business, I think the frameworkworks.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Welcome to This Can't Be That Hard.
My name is Annemie Tonken, and Ihelp photographers run
profitable, sustainablebusinesses that they love.
Each week on the podcast, Icover simple, actionable
strategies and systems thatphotographers at every level of
experience can use to earn moremoney in a more sustainable way.
(03:20):
Running a photography businessdoesn't have to be that hard.
You can do it, and I can showyou how.
Annemie (03:30):
All right, so welcome back.
We are in week three of our fourweek technology and software
series, and today and next weekwe are going to be talking about
AI.
I wanna start with somethingthat I think is really a real
concern for a lot of us in thiscommunity.
Most artists I know have, youknow- Big feelings about even
(03:53):
just automation, much lessAI-driven automation, and I get
that, We, like every single oneof us, I think, has something
about authenticity or real orwhatever somewhere on our
website, right?
It's a big part of what we doand what we sell.
We are reflecting people'sreality back to them, and so
(04:15):
authenticity is a big piece ofthe way that we try to run our
businesses.
So, the idea of using AI to dojust about anything, Write our
content, edit our photos, answerour emails, it can feel off.
It can, you know, give you theick.
(04:36):
I get that too, so I am not, inthis episode and next, going to
try and talk you out of yourdiscomfort.
I think the discomfort is real,and what I want to do is help
understand what that discomfortis telling you and then what you
should do with that.
Because the questions that arefloating around in your mind,
(05:01):
assuming that you have them, arecoming from your conscience,
right?
That little Jiminy Cricket onyour shoulder that's trying to
help you make sure that yourchoices and your actions are
aligned with your values.
And that's a good thing becausea business that is not in
alignment with your values isvery much the opposite of
authentic.
(05:22):
I think it's worth pointing outthat if you are struggling with
any of these issues andquestions, if you feel that
friction when it comes to AI,that's a sign that you are a
good human.
Which I appreciate, so thankyou.
And because you're listening tothis podcast, I am also going to
assume that you are trying torun a profitable, sustainable
(05:46):
business, and you have heardthat AI could potentially help
you do that in some way, shape,or form.
So how do we make those twothings work together in a way
that's not just looking in theopposite direction, in a way
that really does honor yourconcerns instead of ignoring
them?
And that's where this frameworkcomes in.
(06:07):
So I imagine, you know, everysingle person listening to this
podcast can think back andimagine or remember the time
that they got their first realcamera, right?
I got my first camera when I wasexpecting my son, Oliver, who's
20, so it's been a while.
(06:28):
And, I was living in New York.
I didn't have any space in myapartment and so when people
were asking what they could giveus- As a, as a gift, you know,
for this newborn, I was verymuch like,"I don't need clothes,
I don't need toys.
What I need is some money, and Ineed money for a stroller, like
(06:48):
a fancy New York style stroller,and I need money for a camera,
'cause I know that I'm gonnawanna document this new little
person in my life." I got bothof those things.
I was very fortunate.
And the stroller was useful fora handful of years.
But man, that camera changed mylife, right?
But it didn't change my lifeinstantly.
(07:09):
When I first opened the box, Iput that camera in auto mode,
and, auto mode works, right?
You get a photo, it's exposed,it's probably in focus.
But we all know that when you'rein auto mode, the camera is
making all of the decisions, andthe camera has no idea what
you're actually trying to say.
So eventually, again, everyonelistening to this podcast, most
(07:33):
of us who pursue some sort ofsignificant career in
photography, we learn how toshoot in manual or at least how
to take the camera off of automode.
And that learning curve takestime, but once you've got it,
everything changes.
Once you know how to get yourcamera to do what you want it to
do, the camera is never incharge again.
(07:56):
And that's why we all getirritated by the whole like,"Oh
man, great photos.
What kind of camera do youhave?" Because we know that the
camera isn't the thing makingthe great photos.
We make the photos.
The camera is just the tool.
AI works the same way.
When someone is allowing AI tomake all the decisions, they're
probably going to be prettyunderwhelmed by what they get
(08:19):
back.
That is the AI slop that we'reall familiar with.
Because when AI is in control,it basically shoots for the,
writing equivalent or the outputequivalent of middle gray.
It's creating this like middlegray content and middle gray
ideas.
And although the tools thatyou're using, the AI tools that
(08:42):
you're using do matter, justlike the camera matters, the
first issue usually isn't thetool.
It's the intention, or lack ofintention behind the tool.
A camera doesn't have anyopinion about what you're trying
to create, and neither does AI.
Both of them are going tofaithfully create fine art or
(09:05):
total garbage and be totallyindifferent about it.
It all depends on what you givethem.
So the tools don't have thevision or the voice or the
intention.
You do.
That's always been your job, andit still is your job.
So this is where I sort of gotthe idea for the framework that
(09:26):
I use when I'm thinking abouthow I use AI.
I wanna make sure that I amalways operating in manual mode
with AI so that I am the onecreating the content, even if
I'm using a tool to help me doit.
And in order to do that, justlike with photography, you need
to lead with intention.
(09:49):
So the exposure triangle, if youthink about, you know, this
thing that we all know and love,the exposure triangle is made up
of three elements that controlthe look of your photos: your
aperture, your shutter speed,and your ISO.
And I have sort of come up withthis AI triangle as well that
works the same way.
(10:10):
So if you think of the triangle,with AI, the first point is
purpose.
That means that you know exactlywhat it is that you're trying to
create before you ever open yourClaude window, right?
This is like setting thedestination in your maps app.
(10:31):
You would never just open upGoogle Maps and be like,"Take me
somewhere." Before you touch thetool, you need to know, like,
what is this for?
Who is it for?
What are we trying toaccomplish?
What do you want to make someonefeel?
That is your purpose, and youshould enter into your
interactions with AI feeling atleast relatively set on what
(10:55):
you're trying to accomplish.
The second point of the triangleis judgment, and that basically
means that you are remaining inthe driver's seat throughout the
process.
Not just at the beginning whenyou set the purpose, but kind of
checking in every step of theway and steering it in the
direction that you want.
So back to our GPS, navigationcomparison, if you set a
(11:23):
destination in your maps app,and then you're following along
with what they say, and all of asudden you run into a detour or
a traffic jam that somehowdidn't make it into the maps
app, you know that you need tooverride what GPS is telling
you.
If the road cuts off like somesort of bridge in a cartoon,
you're not just gonna sail offthe end of it because GPS tells
(11:46):
you to, right?
You are going to say,"Nope,we're gonna turn around and make
a better choice for this route."You don't passively drive the
car.
You are examining the processall the way through.
You're raising objections, andstaying engaged, and you wanna
do that with AI as well.
Every time that it gives you thenext output, you want to think
(12:09):
critically about, is this-heading in the direction that I
want it to, or is this somehowtaking us off track?
The final point of that triangleis voice.
So that means fine-tuningwhatever it is that AI is
creating for you to make surethat it's just right.
Not just with content, but alsowith tone, pacing, humor,
(12:32):
whatever the case may be, And ifwe're gonna just continue the
comparison with GPS, your mapwill take you to a building,
let's say an apartment building,but you can't just walk into any
of the apartments, right?
When the map says you havearrived, you're still in the
lobby.
The destination is close, butyou have to go, you know, walk
(12:55):
up the stairs to 4B.
And that last step, reading,editing, making whatever this AI
content is yours, that is yourexpression of voice.
So purpose, judgment, and voice,and I would say that you need
all three every single time.
So let's talk about how this AItriangle shows up in your
(13:18):
photography businessspecifically.
Every business, photography andotherwise, has three basic
systems.
You've heard me talk about thison this podcast before, right?
You have your marketing system,which is connecting with
potential clients.
You've got your sales system,which is converting those
potential clients into actualclients.
(13:39):
And then you've got yourfulfillment system, which is
delivering on your clientpromise.
So it's everything from whenthat person books with you all
the way to when, you know,they're leaving you a review on
Google.
So let's walk through each ofthese three systems in your
business and talk about where AIcan actually help, where it is
(13:59):
the highest leverage, and thenwhere you actually need to kind
of keep it out of the way.
There is a long list ofmarketing tasks that AI is
genuinely great for (14:10):
blog posts, email marketing, SEO research,
captions, reel scripts,carousels, website copy.
I mean, the list goes on.
But the number one highestleverage thing that AI can do
for your marketing is to get youout from behind your computer
and back in the world of theliving, right, back in front of
(14:32):
people.
This is the thing aboutmarketing that I think gets lost
in all the content creationconversation, and that is that
the single highest convertingmarketing activity for a
relationship Driven photographerisn't your Instagram feed.
It's not your blog.
Those things are important.
They need to be the backup toyou being out in the world, but
(14:52):
you in the room with people atnetworking events or community
involvement things, speaking,showing up at the places that
your ideal clients actually are,that in-person connection has
always been the thing that getsphotographers booked faster.
And nowadays, with all thisAI-driven content, I hate using
(15:16):
this phrase, but like it's moreimportant than ever.
And most of us aren't doing it,or we aren't doing enough of it
because we are buried in deskwork, right?
So AI isn't going to replaceyour marketing.
It's going to handle that, youknow, content creation work so
(15:36):
that you can go do the marketingthat actually moves the needle,
and that's the real gift.
On the flip side, you don'twanna let content creation,
whether it's AI or otherwise, beyour whole marketing strategy
for exactly the reason that Ijust said.
More AI equals more need tocreate genuine connection.
(15:58):
And again, I want you to stayvigilant about creating good
content.
This is where that trianglereally comes into play because
the proliferation ofAI-generated content means that
the bar for generic is gettinglower, not higher.
There is more forge-forgettablecontent out there right now than
(16:18):
there has ever been at any pointin the history of the internet,
and it is flooding in, right?
So more is not the point.
Consistent and high quality isabsolutely the goal.
Your sales system is reallywhere you need to be using AI
the least, least when it comesto our line of work.
(16:42):
Photography is a relationshipbusiness.
Your clients are not buying aproduct.
They are not buying somethingoff the shelf.
They are deciding whether totrust you with their kids in
their homes, seeing theirbodies, seeing their grief,
their joy, you know, being therefor them on their most important
(17:03):
days.
And that kind of buying decisionhappens in relationship.
It happens in conversation, andit happens because of you
specifically, your warmth, yourconfidence, your ability to make
someone feel seen and safe.
AI can't do that, and weobviously don't want it to,
(17:23):
right?
The way that I think about AI inthe sales part of your system is
that it can help you build theinfrastructure so that by the
time that a real human is infront of you- That groundwork is
already laid.
Your pricing guide is clear.
Your FAQs answer the questionsthat people are thinking, you
(17:45):
know, even before they have achance to ask them.
AI does a great job helping youwrite a follow-up email that
doesn't sound like a formletter.
It can help you do the prep workfor a call, but you need to do
the selling.
When it comes to the actualsales consultation, the pricing
conversation, those things needto remain human.
And again, more than ever, Irecommend trying to make it as
(18:09):
personal as possible,face-to-face, on the phone, or
at minimum, over some sort ofvideo with your face on it,
because this is where you candifferentiate yourself by
listening, hearing people'squestions and objections, and
responding to the specific humanin front of you.
So if something in your salesprocess starts to feel automated
(18:32):
or impersonal, that feeling isbeing felt by your clients as
well, right?
And the relationship is thesale, so you need to protect it.
Fulfillment is the system that,you know, tends to get the least
attention in education orpodcasts or whatever.
(18:53):
But I always argue that itreally is the most important,
because a great clientexperience is what turns a
one-time client into a repeatclient and a referral machine.
So AI can help a lot here.
Client education emails,culling, what to wear guides,
questionnaires, editing, clientonboarding, location guides.
(19:17):
And the nice thing is that mostfulfillment systems benefit from
streamlining, because the fewerday-to-day chores that you have
to manage, the freer you are toadd those special little touches
and put out the little firesthat inevitably are going to
come up somewhere.
But far and away, the singlebiggest way that AI can improve
(19:37):
your fulfillment system reallyis editing.
Editing used to cost you eithera lot of time or a lot of money.
AI-assisted editing changes thatequation significantly.
The tools that exist now arenearly magical in their ability
to learn your editing style andapply it consistently and
quickly to hundreds or eventhousands of photos.
(20:00):
So your work still looks likeyours, but it gets there a whole
lot faster.
But fulfillment isn't justlogistics, right?
It's also the experience ofworking with you and the way
that you make somebody feelbefore, during, and after their
session.
AI doesn't do that.
It handles the repetitive stuffso that you have more capacity
(20:24):
for those irreplaceable thingslike the text you send when you
know a client is feeling nervousor the way that you notice that
somebody's youngest child ismelting down, and you kinda
pivot the session withoutmissing a beat.
That's the stuff that only youcan do, and you obviously are
not going to try to outsourcethat.
(20:46):
So let me kinda pull all of thistogether because I do think
there's a simple way to do that.
In marketing, relationshipsmatter more than computer time.
In sales, relationships mattermore than polished PDFs.
And in fulfillment,relationships matter more than
the repetitive chores.
Basically, I want you toprioritize your relationships in
(21:09):
each of your systems, andwherever AI can help free up
your time to do that, I thinkthat's amazing.
The AI triangle is just a toolthat I created, sort of a
framework that can help you makesure that you're remaining in
control.
You want to use purpose to makesure that you know what you're
(21:30):
building, judgment to keep youin the driver's seat, and then
finishing everything with yourvoice so that what comes out is
a reflection of you and yourbrand.
Next week, we're going to go alittle bit deeper on this
because this is kind of a nice,framework, but I know a lot of
us are, thinking about biggerimpact issues when it comes to
(21:54):
AI, right?
The environment, the, ethicalconcerns around AI, your level
of authenticity when you'reusing AI.
Those are all real questions,and I don't wanna brush past
them.
In fact, I think they're bigenough to grapple with through
an entire session untothemselves.
(22:15):
So next week, we're gonna takethose really seriously one by
one, and I'm gonna come back tothis AI triangle because it
really can help guide youthrough the bigger issues as
well.
In the meantime, what I want youto do this week is pick one
marketing task that you've beenmaybe avoiding or handling
(22:38):
manually and inconsistently.
Maybe it's your email or yourInstagram, you know, whatever it
is, I want you to run it throughthat AI triangle as you sit down
to work with whatever AI toolsyou're working with.
You start with purpose.
So before you open anything, Iwant you to think about or write
down a couple of sentences aboutlike, what am I actually trying
(23:01):
to accomplish here?
Who's gonna read it?
What are we trying to make themfeel?
What's our specific point ofview?
Then bring that context intoyour tool.
One thing that I think is apretty popular misconception is
that you want to be as short aspossible with AI so that you're
not using more energy than isnecessary.
(23:21):
But I keep hearing and readingthat's actually a bigger problem
than giving it a ton of kind ofbrain dumped information,
because then it requires a lotof back and forth.
The more context you give upfront, the less back and forth
you end up doing, which actuallyends up using less energy.
So brain dump absolutelyeverything.
(23:43):
I always like to use my voice,like voice texting.
And then as you go through theprocess, use your judgment, and
then finally put your voice onwhatever comes out at the end.
So that's your task onerun-through of the triangle.
And I would love to hear howthat goes for you or whether
that sort of gave you anydifferent, approach as you sat
(24:07):
down to use AI.
I will see you back here nextweek, and I hope you have a good
one.
Well, that's it for this week'sepisode of This Can't Be That
Hard.
I'll be back same time, sameplace next week.
In the meantime, you can findmore information about this
episode, along with all therelevant links, notes, and
downloads, atthiscantbethathard.com/learn.
(24:29):
If you like the podcast, be sureto hit the subscribe button.
Even better, share the love byleaving a review in iTunes.
And as always, thanks so muchfor joining me.
I hope you have a fantasticweek.
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