July 30, 2025 • 41 mins
Get SENIOR SUNDAY Custom GPT for only $44
Curious about what’s really going on with all these recent AI advances?
In this episode of Tried & True with a Dash of Woo, I’m breaking down the latest developments in AI and what they actually mean for photographers and creative entrepreneurs.
We’ll dive into what’s coming with GPT-5, how agent mode is changing the game, and why tools like Senior Sunday could save you hours every week.
Plus, I’ll walk you through the real conversations creatives are having around AI—and what you need to know to stay ahead without burning out. It’s not hype. It’s a wake-up call. Let’s ride this wave together.
SOURCES Doc (with the prompt mentioned in the episode, as well as the agent mode prompt I used to get weekly trends)
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Tried and True with the Dash of Woo, where
we blend rock-solid tips with alittle bit of magic.
I'm Renee Bowen, your host,life and business coach and
professional photographer atyour service.
We are all about gettingcreative, diving into your
business and playing withmanifestation over here.
So are you ready to getinspired and have some fun?
Let's dive in.
Hey friends, welcome back toTried and True with the Dash of
(00:27):
Woo.
I'm Renee, your podcast host,also photographer, certified
life and business coach mom andproud creative.
I'm coming to you today with areally fun episode, but before
we get into the nuts and boltsof AI, I want to let you in on a
little behind the scenes secret.
This episode was co-createdwith the help of ChachiPT's new
(00:52):
agent mode, so I asked the agentto scour the web for the latest
AI news.
That's the deal.
It needed to be very currentStatistics and also tools, and
then I sifted through thefindings and wove them into a
story that feels human.
So I want you to think aboutagent mode as my research
(01:13):
assistant who did the heavylifting while I did the heart
work.
And we can talk about AI allday, every day.
As you know, I love talkingabout it.
But as we talk about AI today,know that I'm learning right
alongside you guys.
Okay, I don't profess to be anexpert, but I love helping
(01:37):
translate this data intoinsights that resonate with our
lives and with our businesses,and I'm going to go into what
agent mode is, don't worry, andI'm going to cover some other
stuff in a way that, hopefully,will help you understand AI in a
different way.
Right, I'm going to try andtake the tech and the statistics
(02:00):
and the data and humanize itfor you, because I know a lot of
you guys are pretty intimidatedby it, but we're diving head
first into one of the biggestwaves washing over the entire
world really artificialintelligence.
Over the last six months, ai hasexploded into our daily
workflows.
(02:20):
A June 2025 survey found that61% of American adults had used
an AI tool in the past sixmonths, so that's roughly 1.8
billion people worldwide dippingtheir toes into AI, with halfa
billion using it every day.
And yet many creativeentrepreneurs and photographers
(02:42):
still are not sure where tostart or feel really overwhelmed
by everything.
So if you're feeling curiousand a little cautious, you're
not alone.
The thing is is that AI isn'tjust a tech trend.
It's changing how we work.
Studies show that 80% of staffwho use AI and automation tools
(03:02):
report higher productivity, andworkers' throughput on everyday
tasks can jump by 66%.
But other research warns thatimprovements may be modest
unless we deploy AIstrategically.
So throughout this episode,we're going to unpack those
numbers, share some stories fromfellow creatives and explore
(03:23):
practical ways to use AI withoutlosing your authenticity.
And, by the way, as a side note, but on the topic of AI, I just
launched Senior Sunday.
It's a custom GPT assistant forsenior photographers
specifically.
It's been a labor of lovedesigning this to make your
workflow easier and moreprofitable.
(03:46):
You can find the link for thatbelow in the show notes.
It's just reneebowencom slashsenior sunday.
It is going to help you withall your content, make you so
much more efficient and, ofcourse, I have it programmed
with a little bit of mindsetcoaching as well.
So throughout this episode,you're going to hear real
examples of how specialized AIlike this can transform your
(04:06):
business, and at a price that Ifeel makes a lot of sense.
Okay, so let's talk about thisAI explosion, the statistics and
the trends and what they meanfor creatives.
Let's start with this bigpicture.
Ai has gone mainstream.
More than half a billion peopleare using these tools daily and
(04:26):
two-fifths of companiesworldwide are using AI in at
least one function.
Businesses adopt AI primarilyto reduce manual or repetitive
tasks.
65% cite that this is theirreason, and that sounds like a
tag headline, but what does itfeel like on the ground for us?
So when I talk to coachingstudents, they tell me they're
(04:49):
overwhelmed by the volume oftasks required to run their
creative business.
But AI can really lighten thatload, and studies find that
customer service agents handle13% more inquiries per hour,
business professionals produce59% more work-related documents
and programmers code 126% moreprojects per week when they're
(05:14):
using AI tools.
So that's the equivalent of 47years of productivity gains, but
only if we apply the technologythoughtfully.
So here's the nuance.
A February 2025 study by the StLouis Fed found that generative
AI users saved 5.4% of theirwork hours about 2.2 hours in a
(05:36):
40-hour week.
When you factor in all workers,including non-users, the
savings translate into about1.1% boost in overall
productivity.
That's still meaningful, butit's not a magic wand.
It means we can reclaim acouple of hours each week, hours
we can invest in high-impacttasks or self-care, living our
(06:00):
lives or doing things that we'drather be doing and, from a
coaching perspective, thosereclaimed hours are invaluable.
They're the difference betweenediting all night long or having
dinner with your family,between hustling to finish a
gallery and taking time tobrainstorm your next creative
project.
Ai's promise isn't just aboutspeed.
(06:22):
It's about freedom.
So let's talk about ChatGPTspecifically for a minute and
take a look ahead.
Chatgpt 5 has not been releasedyet, but credible sources
report that OpenAI plans tolaunch it as early as August
2025.
So ChatGPT 5 is expected toblend OpenAI's GPT series with
(06:44):
this reasoning, heavy O-seriesmodels.
So, in practical terms, it willknow when to quote unquote
think for a long time and whento answer quickly, without you
having to pick different modes.
So that's really cool, becauseright now that's what you need
to do you need to check whichmode you want to use, decide
(07:04):
which one, because the differentmodes do different things.
For instance, the agent modethat just came out that I'm
using to create this podcastwith is absolutely fantastic to
go out and do things on its ownfor you.
I gave it a pretty long promptin order to help me create this
podcast.
(07:24):
I'm going to put the prompt inthe show notes if I have enough
room.
If I don't.
I'm going to find a differentway.
Maybe I'll make a doc and I'llput it down there, but I want
you guys to see what I'm doing.
Okay, Like so I'm going to showyou the prompt.
And it went off and it workedon its own for about 10 minutes
and did it.
It searched the internet, itcame with all the sources, it
(07:45):
gave me everything I needed, butit was a little too robotic.
So then I just asked it torevise it and it did it
perfectly.
So 10, 15 minutes that amountof data that Agent Mo did for me
would have taken me well over aweek.
It would have taken anassistant well over a week to
compile everything in one placelike this.
(08:08):
So the different modes inChaiGBT do different things, and
ChaiGBT 5 is expected tobasically blend all that so that
it's going to know what itneeds to do.
I don't know.
It's going to be interesting.
It hasn't been released yet, soI'm kind of excited about it.
Also, there's going to be chainof thought reasoning.
So, unlike ChaiGPT-4, whichoften answers questions in one
(08:33):
pass, chaigpt-5 will be able toreason through complex problems
step-by-step.
So if you've ever tried toprompt an AI and gotten like a
superficial response.
This upgrade should feel likeworking with a thoughtful
colleague instead of a textgenerator, so that's going to be
pretty exciting.
There's also something calledmultimodal interaction.
(08:54):
Chatgpt will handle text, voiceand images seamlessly, so
imagine using a mood board anddiscussing it with your AI
assistant by voice.
It's like having a creativepartner who understands visuals.
You guys are really excitedabout this.
If you can't tell, there's alsogoing to be an integrated
(09:15):
search and browser.
So OpenAI has alreadyintroduced a browsing agent that
can navigate websites, fill outforms and perform research.
That's agent mode, butChatDBBT5 is expected to build
those capabilities, in whichmeans the assistant you talk to
can fetch current informationand cite its sources.
And, by the way, I am alsogoing to attach a Google Doc for
(09:39):
you guys in the show notes withall my sources, just so if you
want to go do your own research,you can.
And then, another thing thatChat2PT5 is supposed to be
implementing is personalizationand safety, so the model will
remember context better and canbe personalized to your needs.
At the same time, openai isfocusing on safety, ensuring
(10:03):
that the system aligns with uservalues.
We don't really know exactlywhat that means yet, but we will
see.
So, as a coach, I see theseadvances as tools, really
powerful ones, but still tools.
The goal is not to replace yourcreative vision or your client
relationships.
It's to free up mental space soyou can focus on the magic.
Only you can make All right.
(10:24):
So let's talk really quicklyabout some of the AI tools that
I think every photographerspecifically should know about.
You don't have to use all this,but I want you to know what's
out there.
I've seen a lot of comments insome of the Facebook groups and
things like that.
You know, asking about thislike what are you guys using for
AI?
It just seems so overwhelming,you know, so I just kind of want
(10:45):
to give you a little bit of anoverview of what is out there.
This is not an entire list, butsome of the most popular ones.
So most of you guys have heardof Aftershoot for calling and
editing.
Aftershoot started as a callingtool that sorts through
thousands of images in minutes,taking composition, blur, closed
eyes and duplicates intoaccount, but now it includes an
(11:07):
AI editor that can copy yourstyle with, they say, 90%
accuracy and turn out a thousandedits in under a minute.
I don't use Aftershoot, but Ihave a lot of coaching students
who do, and they do like it.
So the best part of this isthat it does work offline and
they do like it.
So the best part of this isthat it does work offline.
(11:28):
That's really interesting to me, and I don't do a lot of
weddings anymore or events, butI do have a couple scheduled for
later this year and I'mdefinitely going to try this out
.
The other thing that a lot ofpeople like is Topaz Labs.
They have a suite of pluginslike is Topaz Labs.
(11:50):
They have a suite of pluginsDenoise AI, sharpen AI,
gigapixel AI so it can do all ofthese different things for you
Eliminate noise, recover detail,upscale images up to 600%,
which is a really cool thing,and so when you're working with
low light, high ISO things likethat, this could be a really
good tool.
Obviously, most of us know aboutthe generative fill in
Photoshop, which gives somereally hilarious results.
Sometimes it's powered byAdobe's Firefly model, and this
(12:14):
tool lets you highlight an areatype in what you want, like add
a blooming tree, add a flowerfield, and it should be able to
make it appear, and a lot oftimes it does, but sometimes
it's a little sketchy.
I don't know about you guys,but I haven't had great luck
with this and I don't really useit.
But that's also because I hateopening Photoshop.
(12:35):
It's just I'm not a Photoshopgirl.
I use Lightroom for most of myediting and, on that note,
lightroom has given us a reallygreat generative fill tool,
which I absolutely love, and Ido know that they are coming out
with even more AI tools builtinto Lightroom itself.
Now I don't know if we're goingto have to pay extra for those,
(12:55):
which probably, but it could bereally, really cool.
The other AI tool that I reallyuse and love is Evoto AI, and
I've talked about this at length.
I did a whole podcast on it aweek or two ago and I think it's
as of now.
I think it's our best tool thatwe have for editing.
(13:16):
It is lightning fast.
Yes, it can be pretty heavyhanded, meaning you can make
people look pretty fake, so youhave to be careful, but I
absolutely love Evoto AI andtheir sale ended.
They had a summer sale going on.
It ended, but I still have acode.
If you use Renee07 at the linkbelow in the show notes, you can
still get a discount.
(13:36):
So if you want to try it out,you can.
Another app a lot of people likeis called Photo Prism.
It's an open source app and itorganizes your photos by
location, date and content, itidentifies objects and people,
tags them automatically and itmakes your archives searchable.
So that's kind of cool.
There's another platform calledIEM.
(13:56):
It's like E-Y-E-E-M, and thisauto tags and categorizes your
photos, making it easy tolicense your work, so it
connects you with a community ofphotographers and buyers.
So it's like having a passiveincome stream with like built-in
marketing.
Canva has really upped theirgame as well with AI.
(14:19):
So Canva's AI features removebackgrounds, resize graphics.
You can create images and evenvideo inside of Canva Pro.
So if you already have a CanvaPro account, start playing
around with their AI features.
I mean, across the board, theyhave gotten pretty awesome.
(14:40):
I saw somebody post a videothat they made with just a
prompt and it was prettyfantastic.
Now, it was just a clip and itdidn't have sound, but it was
pretty awesome.
There's a really coolnote-taking app called Mem M-E-M
.
It's a self-organizing app andso basically it connects your
email calendar and contacts andit keeps ideas from slipping
(15:02):
through the cracks.
It also integrates with Zapieror Zapier, however you like to
pronounce it so that everythingstays in sync.
I also use Notion, and Notionhas its own AI, just like Google
has AI, like everything isgoing to be going in that
direction.
And I personally really justlove ChatGPT.
I know a lot of people likeClaude for writing, but I've
(15:26):
been using ChatGPT since the dayI came out, so I'm pretty deep
into my ChatGPT and I use itquite often, so I prefer that.
But there are other.
There's lots of other AIwriting tools for sure.
Now, obviously, there'splatforms like MidJourney, adobe
, firefly, runway, ml, helpingdesigners and videographers
(15:48):
explore concepts really quickly.
Vio Google Vio just came out.
It's kind of crazy how fastthings are moving right now.
You know you can take a promptand create something completely
out of thin air.
Really, my husband has beenworking with VO and I think it's
(16:09):
VO3, on creating video clipsfor a project that he's doing,
and it's pretty incredible tosee what you can do.
Truly it's wild.
So I think that, just ingeneral, that whole area is
going to start moving very, veryquickly, and I mean, I've
(16:32):
coached enough creatives to knowthat when something moves this
fast, our first response isusually fear or overwhelm.
You know, will it replace me?
Will clients care that I usedAI.
Am I already behind because Ihaven't used it yet?
But what I want you to rememberis that AI is a tool.
It doesn't replace your voice.
(16:53):
It doesn't replace your vibefor sure, because it's not human
and only humans can emit thatsort of thing like your
frequency.
It helps you get to your visionfaster and with fewer late
nights.
Editing or rewriting things Okay, but I want you to think of it
as like a powerful studioassistant.
You still direct the shoot, youstill have the final say on the
(17:17):
edit, but wouldn't it be prettyawesome if somebody else could
do the other stuff that youdidn't like to do, maybe writing
your emails or automating somethings, or even giving you a
whole content plan for the nextsix months?
So that's really kind of what Ilike to focus on here, and I
know that again, I'm not a techgenius and that's not my area of
(17:41):
expertise in general, but Ilove it.
I love learning about it.
I love tech in general.
I think it's very fascinating,and I'm really more about
looking into ways to make mylife and my work more
streamlined and more efficient,because I hate wasting time.
I hate wasting time and I thinkChai GPT Plus is a really good
(18:05):
deal for 20 bucks a month, trulyand some of the ways that most
photographers and creatives Isee using AI in general right
now, aside from the ones I justmentioned, is caption writing
right.
So, using ChaiGPT to generatecaptions, your SEO, helping
ittune your SEO or even createit or audit it Fantastic use of
(18:29):
AI, in my opinion.
Email marketing, for sure,writing templates for proposals
and investment guides and prepguides, and you can even connect
your Canva to your ChatGPT andyou can have it now in agent
mode.
Go in and do it for you InagentT and you can have it now
in agent mode.
Go in and do it for you Inagent mode.
You can give it a task, you cangive it a prompt and tell it.
(18:50):
I want to create a new styleguide and give it the parameters
that you want, and then it willask you to log in to your Canva
, so you do need to log in Inagent mode.
It asks you take over and whenyou click that and take over and
you log into whether it's Canvaor any other platform like
Google it does not see yourpassword.
(19:13):
It does not look at that.
So there is that safety builtin, there's still going to be
issues, probably, don't get mewrong.
Like nothing is foolproof, soyou use it, you know, on your
own terms.
Like I'm not telling you thatyou have to, but you will be
logging in like to have agentmode go and do all of these
(19:34):
things for you.
You do need to give it accessto it.
So, like you could tell it youwant it to create this style
guide.
You could give it theparameters and you can tell it
to write the copy.
And then you can tell it to gosearch the internet for all the
(19:54):
latest teen trends for the lastsix months with good examples.
You could even give it moreparameters than that.
You can say keep it to the fivemid tier stores, let's say you
know, so that you could keep itpretty accessible monetarily
speaking, for everybody.
Give it the parameters you want, have it, pull all of that data
(20:14):
and then create an actual styleguide with images from these
stores and links to where peoplecan buy them and make it inside
of your Canva and have it justliterally do it for you, like it
can do all of that.
The cool thing about agent modeas well is that, once you set it
on its task.
You can close your computer andcome back to it.
(20:36):
It'll be done.
So like not everyone has accessto agent mode yet you do have
to have chat to PT plus.
You have to be paying for it,it's just.
The $20 a month is fine, butyou are limited to I believe
it's 40 inquiries with agentmode a month, even with the paid
version.
If you pay the $200 a monthversion, which I don't, then you
(20:58):
get like something like 400,but they are rolling agent mode
out to everybody now who has theat least the plus version, and
I just got it last week.
So if you don't have it yet,just keep checking, you will.
I had it create a spreadsheet inmy Google Docs.
So my Google Sheets.
I had it go and source all thelatest trends for teenagers with
(21:21):
fashion, music and makeup andskincare for the last six months
, compile that into aspreadsheet for me and then also
create multiple pieces ofcontent, captions, blog and
SEO-rich posts based on thatcontent that it found.
So the spreadsheet had all ofthese columns so that I could
(21:44):
just copy and paste it into thecontent.
I could have hooked up my Canvato it as well and said, just
from here, go ahead and make thecontent in Canva, but I wanted
to sort of check and see that ithad done it right first and
maybe see if I needed to reviseanything, and it was pretty spot
(22:04):
on.
So the time-saving capabilitieshere are pretty amazing.
It's kind of crazy.
I'm working with a one-on-oneclient right now.
She's a photographer and justsick of making content, hates
making content like most of usdo.
And also it's about to be fall,and that's when feast or famine
(22:24):
happens, because you get superbusy and you're shooting and
you're editing and you're doingyour thing and you forget to
market.
And then, okay, it's like theholidays are early in January
and you ain't got no clients andyou're stressed.
This is literally like theblueprint for what happens every
year.
I don't want that to happen toyou guys.
So I want you to be preemptiveand I'm always talking about the
(22:45):
fact that you got to still finda way to market when you're
shooting.
And this is a fantastic use ofAI.
If you don't have an assistant,if you can't pay somebody you
know 500 or more a month to dosome of this for you, you need
to be paying ChaiGPT plus 20bucks a month and learn how to
automate stuff, and it's reallynot hard.
Like I walked a client throughthis.
(23:06):
We created all the messagingand made it very, very clear so
that it resonated distinctlywith her target clients, and now
we're creating custom GPTsbased on that so that all she
has to do is literally go in andsay, okay, give me this month's
content, and it just spits itout.
So it's kind of amazing whatyou can do truly, and just as a
(23:29):
side note, if you're not usingAI for your marketing ideas,
your scheduling, your reminders,your brand messaging, video
scripts, whatever it is contentcalendars.
You really do need to be doingthat, because that is like I see
that as like an entry level useof AI.
Like that's kind of like whereeverybody starts and then you'll
(23:53):
start to get more used to itand get better at it, and then
you're going to you're going tostart to see all of this amazing
capability and again, like it'schanging so quickly.
Things are going to change.
So now's the time to at leastget your feet wet and start
using it for simple things likecontent.
So what do creators reallythink about AI?
(24:15):
This is something I reallywanted to know and kind of talk
about here in this podcast.
In April of 2025, the contentagency Bread and Circuses
surveyed 51 creativeprofessionals and 70% said that
they see real benefits in AI.
Yet 75% use AI for less than25% of their creative process.
(24:38):
Their top uses were research,planning and ideation, with
refinement and editing at adistant second 45%.
So why the hesitation here?
I think that creators aredrawing boundaries.
They really want to keep thatconcept development editing.
They want to keep conceptdevelopment, editing, decisions
(25:02):
and final review human, sothey're willing to delegate
these admin tasks, but not thatsoul of their work.
And only 24% are willing to paymore than 50 bucks a month for
AI tools.
And I totally understand that,because the last thing we need
is another damn subscription,right?
(25:22):
Like, especially, photographers, we have to have so many things
and it would be great if wecould just have everything in
one.
But yeah, 20 bucks a month, Ithink, is 100% doable.
Anything more than $30 a month,it better be doing a whole lot
more for me.
So as a coach, I hear that sametension all the time, right,
excitement mixed with anxiety.
(25:42):
It's okay to feel both.
The key is to treat AI as anassistant and not an identity.
We've seen these stories.
It can create psychosis inpeople and I really do think
that you have to already sort ofbe walking that thread of
mental illness to begin with.
But I mean, it can be dangerous, right, but it's okay to be
(26:04):
excited about it and alsoanxious about it.
The key is to treat AI likeyour assistant and so use it to
get unstuck, to handlerepetitive tasks, for sure, but
at the end of the day, trustyour intuition when it comes to
creative decisions and whatfeels aligned to you.
Okay, ai is amazing atgenerating options, but it's
(26:26):
terrible at knowing which onewill make your heart sing.
And we can take this a stepfurther.
I think I've mentioned itbefore that I have created a GPT
for myself that is based on myhuman design chart, my astrology
chart and every personalitytest I've ever taken.
I've uploaded it to that GPTand it helps me make decisions
(26:50):
based on that, because humandesign, especially, is really
all about alignment.
And, of course, you have tocontinue to be a critical
thinker and you have to ask yourchat GPT or whatever AI you're
using to challenge you, becauseit is a mirror.
So if you are just like lettingit hype you up constantly and
be like yes, renee, that is anamazing idea.
(27:11):
And it's just yes, yes, yes,yes, yes all the time.
That's not great, okay, youcan't learn and grow in a vacuum
.
You do need to be challenged.
So all these people saying thatthey're using it as their life
coach or even as their therapist, I would be really careful with
that, really careful with that.
We're not there yet.
At the end of the day, it isyou, it is a mirror of you and
(27:34):
it's feeding you what you wantto hear, which is why some of
these people are going onpsychosis.
So you have to train your chat,gpt or whatever AI you use to
challenge you, to ask youquestions, not to just be a yes
man all day, every day, truly.
So if you haven't done that yet, at least dive into that.
(27:56):
So, looking ahead again, inaddition to the things that I
had mentioned earlier, we knowthat AI agents and browsers, you
know, are going to become moreof a thing as these agents
mature.
They could handleadministrative tasks like
booking sessions for you,sending invoices, ordering
prints, emailing clients, makingsure your website is structured
(28:18):
for AI navigation all that kindof stuff.
I mean agent mode already cando like it can log into your
email.
It can email clients for you,it can book you dinner
reservations, all kinds of stuff.
So we know that that is justgoing to get more robust.
But something else that'scoming for ChaiGPT is shopping
like.
Right inside of ChaiGPT they'retesting an in-app Shopify
(28:41):
integration and this could turnChaiGPT into a standalone sales
channel.
So imagine a client askingChaiGPBT for senior portraits in
Los Angeles and completing thebooking without visiting a
website, right?
So we kind of do need to bethinking about preparing our
product data, our links and ourofferings and our pricing to be
(29:07):
AI readable and considerpartnerships with platforms that
integrate with ChatGPT.
Now, I'm not saying you need togo out and get a Shopify account
and make a Shopify store, but Imean a lot of you guys who
listen to this podcast createyour own courses.
You have digital products.
This is going to be a thingOkay.
So for photographers,especially high-end
(29:29):
photographers, this is notnecessarily, I think, as
important, at least right now,because we don't even have, like
, our full pricing necessarilylisted on our websites.
You know, that's not the kindof photographer I am.
I'm not a turn and burnphotographer, so I'm not going
to just have a lot of thesethings where you can book a
high-end senior portrait sessionwith me without having a
conversation with me at somepoint about it, so that I don't
(29:51):
see that happening.
But for my headshot sessions,absolutely, I do 30-minute
headshot sessions at the studioand I've got that system already
fairly automated.
So, yeah, if Chad GPT can helpget me booked, yes, that would
(30:12):
be amazing Because I alreadyhave those things already lined
up, so that's going to be veryinteresting.
They're also doing somethingcalled record mode and Canvas.
So ChatGPT's record mode allowsthe app to record meetings and
transcribe them and generatesummaries, and Canvas is an
interactive workspace forbrainstorming and document
editing.
So these tools can really helpphotographers and creatives.
Just capture clientconsultations, zoom consults,
(30:37):
outline project plans, shoot dayplans, produce final
deliverables more efficiently,just in general.
Chatgpt isn't the only one.
Like I said before, claude 3.5by Anthropic is faster and
processed as longer documents,according to some articles, and
that makes it useful forcontracts long briefs.
(30:58):
Google Gemini is embedded intoGmail Docs and Sheets, offering
context-aware suggestions acrossyour email and editing workflow
, and Meta's AI is integratedinto WhatsApp and Instagram,
handling translations andcontent generation and customer
inquiries.
Even so, as a photographer, youcould use Meta's AI to answer
some common client questions onInstagram DMs or generate your
(31:22):
captions without having to popin and out of ChatGPT.
As always, though, please domake sure it sounds like you,
because I don't know about youguys, but maybe it's because I
use AI so much I can you know.
You can tell when something'swritten completely by AI.
You can just tell like thereare certain signs, speaking in
(31:46):
your own voice and tone, becauseI think that the more people
are using it and the moregeneric stuff is going to sound,
the more it's going to be aturnoff for clients.
Truly.
So, while you can use and youshould use AI, I think, to free
up your time, be intentionalabout it too.
(32:06):
Right, consciously reinvestthat time in high quality client
care, personal projects, restor even marketing efforts that
you don't have time for.
Okay, speed should be a meansto more meaningful work, not an
end in itself.
In coaching conversations, Iencourage clients to focus on
(32:28):
what we can control our mindset,our craft and our community,
and AI can be a very powerfulally, but our human ability to
empathize and to tell storiesand to connect will always be
our differentiator.
Embrace lifelong learningInstead of fearing displacement.
Ask how you can partner withtechnology to create deeper
(32:52):
value for your clients.
And don't forget to rest Eventhe most advanced AI can't
recharge you for you.
I know it's scary, especiallyas a photographer, because we
see a lot of these.
You know, ai generatedheadshots or whatever, and,
honestly, like some of theprograms out now, are incredible
at creating an AI twin ofyourself.
(33:14):
I've played around with it, so Ithink that that technology is
going to get better and moreaccessible to people, but
there's a lot of money to bemade with this too, you guys, as
a side note, so you know, ifyou are a photographer and you
are looking for a side gig orjust a creative in general and
(33:35):
you're thinking about, like,well, how can I use AI to create
a side business?
Basically, some really quickideas, because I do want to wrap
up.
I don't want this to be super,super long, but some quick ideas
for you guys.
If you're looking for some sidegig, money and you're into tech
and AI, you should look at someof these.
Okay, you can build an AI twin,become the face of your own
(33:56):
content empire without evershowing your actual face.
You can build an AI twin thatliterally acts and speaks like
you and is the face of yourbrand.
I'm not saying that you shoulddo this.
I think it's interesting forcertain things, for certain
businesses.
I mean, I wouldn't do it for myphotography business, but it's
an interesting thought.
(34:17):
You can use AI to offerghostwriting services like blogs
and emails and captions.
You can offer content days,where you use AI to script and
plan a month of posts for abusiness in town that you know
about once a day.
Maybe you want to start workinglocally with other people.
This is great for anyone reallywho needs fast content, not
(34:39):
fluff.
You can partner with serviceproviders.
You do the AI side, strategysystems automation and then they
do the delivery.
You can create and sell AIvideo scripts for TikToks and
Reels and YouTube Shorts onspecific industries.
You can build an affiliateincome stream by reviewing and
teaching how to use AI tools,creating tutorials, comparisons,
(35:01):
use case videos and links thatyou would recommend.
You can start a monthlysubscription where you deliver
AI generated content ideas tocreators and businesses or
influencers in one specificniche.
You can offer one-on-oneAI-enhanced strategy sessions.
This is something that I dobecause I love AI.
I use it anyway, and most of mycoaching students.
(35:23):
We do this kind of work anyway.
So I have that option as well.
If you want to like literallyjust have a power hour with me,
you can do that and we canactually build a custom bot in
less than that time.
You can build and sell manydigital products.
You can use ChatGPT to create,like checklists and guides and
swipe files and templates thatyou can easily sell on your site
(35:46):
or Etsy or any of the othersites, right?
I mean, I'm doing that with mycustom GPT Senior Sunday.
I have other products, ofcourse, like I create digital
products and courses forphotographers and creatives, and
Chai GPT helps me with a lot ofthe legwork.
So there's a lot ofpossibilities here and it is
(36:07):
moving very quickly.
So I understand that it can bereally scary to think about, but
just take a step, just likedive your toe into it and see if
it's something that's eveninteresting to you.
I encourage you to at leastunderstand you know pieces of it
, understand why people areusing it, because the fact of
(36:28):
the matter is that it isn'tgoing anywhere and you know,
even if we don't like it, evenif it's intimidating, it's not
going anywhere, and so that'skind of why I like to do these
episodes from time to time.
Again, this podcast is notgoing to become just a straight
up AI podcast.
I just I like to bring it toyou in this context so you can
(36:51):
see what's coming, and that'sreally kind of what I wanted to
focus on, for this episode islike there's some stuff coming
up very soon that is going toreally help you a lot.
So I just kind of want you tounderstand what's here, how to
use it and to know what's coming.
And one of the reasons why Icreated Senior Sunday is because
(37:12):
I saw a need in my industry.
As a photographer who alsocoaches creatives and other
photographers, I saw how muchtime you guys are spending on
repetitive planning tasks,brainstorming session themes,
writing emails, craftingmarketing posts and really just
like not enjoying it right.
So Senior Sunday is a customGPT that I built specifically
(37:35):
for high-end seniorphotographers.
It understands the language ofour niche, from session flow to
pricing strategies, and it canhelp you draft client emails,
brainstorm unique location ideas, find out the latest trends,
outline blog posts and evensuggest upsell opportunities.
Because it's a specializedassistant, it gives you better
(37:58):
answers than generic AI modelsand it saves you the countless
hours it would take to buildyour own and it's just 44 bucks.
And ChaiGPT helped me build it.
Yeah, I built it on ChaiGPPTand it's programmed with all of
my marketing knowledge and ideasand a lot of my coaching.
So I've really curated theprompts and ensured the outputs
(38:20):
align with this boutique seniorphotography experience you want
to deliver.
If you're a senior photographer, it's kind of like having me in
your back pocket, cheering youon and making this whole process
so much easier, because Ireally want you to have a life
outside of your business and somany of you guys don't,
especially in the busy season.
If you have any questions aboutSenior Sunday or anything like
(38:42):
that, just hit me up over onInstagram at Renee Bowen.
I'm happy to chat.
I will have the link for thatfor you below, as well as all
the other links that I promisedyou.
So we've covered a lot of groundon this episode.
I think how widespread AIadoption has become, the
exciting upgrades coming withChatGPT5, the tools that can
make your photography workflowsmoother, and the nuanced ways
(39:04):
creators are embracingtechnology.
We've also seen that AI'spromise is twofold it can
dramatically improve individualproductivity, but its aggregate
impact is modest unless weintegrate it thoughtfully.
So here's some action steps.
Experiment intentionally.
Pick one AI tool that feelsexciting and try it for a
specific task and notice how itmakes you feel and whether it
(39:27):
truly adds ease or not.
Protect your creative core.
So delegate the research,editing and admin tasks to AI,
but keep concept development,final edits and client
relationships personal.
Your vision is your brand.
Invest in specialized solutions.
Generic models are powerful,but niche assistants like Senior
Sunday or any kind of customGPT they're going to deliver
(39:50):
better results faster becausethey speak your language.
Prepare for what's next, so staycurious about upcoming releases
like ChatGPT 5 and competitorslike Claude and Gemini.
Join communities, read up onethics and be ready to adapt.
And finally, if you'reoverwhelmed, work with a coach.
Find somebody, even if it's notme, who can help you navigate
(40:11):
the mindset shifts that comewith scaling your creative
business in an AI-infused world.
This is something I absolutelylove doing, so thank you guys
for listening today.
I always love chatting with youabout this and I welcome your
questions and your concerns.
Hit me up over on Instagram atRenee Bowen, or just shoot me an
email and let's discuss Reneeat Renee Bowencom, and those of
(40:34):
you guys who do have seniorSunday who did grab it, while
the price is this low.
Let me know how it's workingfor you.
I've heard some really goodfeedback so far, but I am always
interested to hear all thefeedback, because I do want this
to be a really amazing tool foryou.
Thank you, guys.
Have a great rest of your week.
Love you, bye.
Welcome to Tried and True with the Dash of Woo, where
we blend rock-solid tips with alittle bit of magic.
I'm Renee Bowen, your host,life and business coach and
professional photographer atyour service.
We are all about gettingcreative, diving into your
business and playing withmanifestation over here.
So are you ready to getinspired and have some fun?
Let's dive in.
Hey friends, welcome back toTried and True with the Dash of
(00:27):
Woo.
I'm Renee, your podcast host,also photographer, certified
life and business coach mom andproud creative.
I'm coming to you today with areally fun episode, but before
we get into the nuts and boltsof AI, I want to let you in on a
little behind the scenes secret.
This episode was co-createdwith the help of ChachiPT's new
(00:52):
agent mode, so I asked the agentto scour the web for the latest
AI news.
That's the deal.
It needed to be very currentStatistics and also tools, and
then I sifted through thefindings and wove them into a
story that feels human.
So I want you to think aboutagent mode as my research
(01:13):
assistant who did the heavylifting while I did the heart
work.
And we can talk about AI allday, every day.
As you know, I love talkingabout it.
But as we talk about AI today,know that I'm learning right
alongside you guys.
Okay, I don't profess to be anexpert, but I love helping
(01:37):
translate this data intoinsights that resonate with our
lives and with our businesses,and I'm going to go into what
agent mode is, don't worry, andI'm going to cover some other
stuff in a way that, hopefully,will help you understand AI in a
different way.
Right, I'm going to try andtake the tech and the statistics
(02:00):
and the data and humanize itfor you, because I know a lot of
you guys are pretty intimidatedby it, but we're diving head
first into one of the biggestwaves washing over the entire
world really artificialintelligence.
Over the last six months, ai hasexploded into our daily
workflows.
(02:20):
A June 2025 survey found that61% of American adults had used
an AI tool in the past sixmonths, so that's roughly 1.8
billion people worldwide dippingtheir toes into AI, with halfa
billion using it every day.
And yet many creativeentrepreneurs and photographers
(02:42):
still are not sure where tostart or feel really overwhelmed
by everything.
So if you're feeling curiousand a little cautious, you're
not alone.
The thing is is that AI isn'tjust a tech trend.
It's changing how we work.
Studies show that 80% of staffwho use AI and automation tools
(03:02):
report higher productivity, andworkers' throughput on everyday
tasks can jump by 66%.
But other research warns thatimprovements may be modest
unless we deploy AIstrategically.
So throughout this episode,we're going to unpack those
numbers, share some stories fromfellow creatives and explore
(03:23):
practical ways to use AI withoutlosing your authenticity.
And, by the way, as a side note, but on the topic of AI, I just
launched Senior Sunday.
It's a custom GPT assistant forsenior photographers
specifically.
It's been a labor of lovedesigning this to make your
workflow easier and moreprofitable.
(03:46):
You can find the link for thatbelow in the show notes.
It's just reneebowencom slashsenior sunday.
It is going to help you withall your content, make you so
much more efficient and, ofcourse, I have it programmed
with a little bit of mindsetcoaching as well.
So throughout this episode,you're going to hear real
examples of how specialized AIlike this can transform your
(04:06):
business, and at a price that Ifeel makes a lot of sense.
Okay, so let's talk about thisAI explosion, the statistics and
the trends and what they meanfor creatives.
Let's start with this bigpicture.
Ai has gone mainstream.
More than half a billion peopleare using these tools daily and
(04:26):
two-fifths of companiesworldwide are using AI in at
least one function.
Businesses adopt AI primarilyto reduce manual or repetitive
tasks.
65% cite that this is theirreason, and that sounds like a
tag headline, but what does itfeel like on the ground for us?
So when I talk to coachingstudents, they tell me they're
(04:49):
overwhelmed by the volume oftasks required to run their
creative business.
But AI can really lighten thatload, and studies find that
customer service agents handle13% more inquiries per hour,
business professionals produce59% more work-related documents
and programmers code 126% moreprojects per week when they're
(05:14):
using AI tools.
So that's the equivalent of 47years of productivity gains, but
only if we apply the technologythoughtfully.
So here's the nuance.
A February 2025 study by the StLouis Fed found that generative
AI users saved 5.4% of theirwork hours about 2.2 hours in a
(05:36):
40-hour week.
When you factor in all workers,including non-users, the
savings translate into about1.1% boost in overall
productivity.
That's still meaningful, butit's not a magic wand.
It means we can reclaim acouple of hours each week, hours
we can invest in high-impacttasks or self-care, living our
(06:00):
lives or doing things that we'drather be doing and, from a
coaching perspective, thosereclaimed hours are invaluable.
They're the difference betweenediting all night long or having
dinner with your family,between hustling to finish a
gallery and taking time tobrainstorm your next creative
project.
Ai's promise isn't just aboutspeed.
(06:22):
It's about freedom.
So let's talk about ChatGPTspecifically for a minute and
take a look ahead.
Chatgpt 5 has not been releasedyet, but credible sources
report that OpenAI plans tolaunch it as early as August
2025.
So ChatGPT 5 is expected toblend OpenAI's GPT series with
(06:44):
this reasoning, heavy O-seriesmodels.
So, in practical terms, it willknow when to quote unquote
think for a long time and whento answer quickly, without you
having to pick different modes.
So that's really cool, becauseright now that's what you need
to do you need to check whichmode you want to use, decide
(07:04):
which one, because the differentmodes do different things.
For instance, the agent modethat just came out that I'm
using to create this podcastwith is absolutely fantastic to
go out and do things on its ownfor you.
I gave it a pretty long promptin order to help me create this
podcast.
(07:24):
I'm going to put the prompt inthe show notes if I have enough
room.
If I don't.
I'm going to find a differentway.
Maybe I'll make a doc and I'llput it down there, but I want
you guys to see what I'm doing.
Okay, Like so I'm going to showyou the prompt.
And it went off and it workedon its own for about 10 minutes
and did it.
It searched the internet, itcame with all the sources, it
(07:45):
gave me everything I needed, butit was a little too robotic.
So then I just asked it torevise it and it did it
perfectly.
So 10, 15 minutes that amountof data that Agent Mo did for me
would have taken me well over aweek.
It would have taken anassistant well over a week to
compile everything in one placelike this.
(08:08):
So the different modes inChaiGBT do different things, and
ChaiGBT 5 is expected tobasically blend all that so that
it's going to know what itneeds to do.
I don't know.
It's going to be interesting.
It hasn't been released yet, soI'm kind of excited about it.
Also, there's going to be chainof thought reasoning.
So, unlike ChaiGPT-4, whichoften answers questions in one
(08:33):
pass, chaigpt-5 will be able toreason through complex problems
step-by-step.
So if you've ever tried toprompt an AI and gotten like a
superficial response.
This upgrade should feel likeworking with a thoughtful
colleague instead of a textgenerator, so that's going to be
pretty exciting.
There's also something calledmultimodal interaction.
(08:54):
Chatgpt will handle text, voiceand images seamlessly, so
imagine using a mood board anddiscussing it with your AI
assistant by voice.
It's like having a creativepartner who understands visuals.
You guys are really excitedabout this.
If you can't tell, there's alsogoing to be an integrated
(09:15):
search and browser.
So OpenAI has alreadyintroduced a browsing agent that
can navigate websites, fill outforms and perform research.
That's agent mode, butChatDBBT5 is expected to build
those capabilities, in whichmeans the assistant you talk to
can fetch current informationand cite its sources.
And, by the way, I am alsogoing to attach a Google Doc for
(09:39):
you guys in the show notes withall my sources, just so if you
want to go do your own research,you can.
And then, another thing thatChat2PT5 is supposed to be
implementing is personalizationand safety, so the model will
remember context better and canbe personalized to your needs.
At the same time, openai isfocusing on safety, ensuring
(10:03):
that the system aligns with uservalues.
We don't really know exactlywhat that means yet, but we will
see.
So, as a coach, I see theseadvances as tools, really
powerful ones, but still tools.
The goal is not to replace yourcreative vision or your client
relationships.
It's to free up mental space soyou can focus on the magic.
Only you can make All right.
(10:24):
So let's talk really quicklyabout some of the AI tools that
I think every photographerspecifically should know about.
You don't have to use all this,but I want you to know what's
out there.
I've seen a lot of comments insome of the Facebook groups and
things like that.
You know, asking about thislike what are you guys using for
AI?
It just seems so overwhelming,you know, so I just kind of want
(10:45):
to give you a little bit of anoverview of what is out there.
This is not an entire list, butsome of the most popular ones.
So most of you guys have heardof Aftershoot for calling and
editing.
Aftershoot started as a callingtool that sorts through
thousands of images in minutes,taking composition, blur, closed
eyes and duplicates intoaccount, but now it includes an
(11:07):
AI editor that can copy yourstyle with, they say, 90%
accuracy and turn out a thousandedits in under a minute.
I don't use Aftershoot, but Ihave a lot of coaching students
who do, and they do like it.
So the best part of this isthat it does work offline and
they do like it.
So the best part of this isthat it does work offline.
(11:28):
That's really interesting to me, and I don't do a lot of
weddings anymore or events, butI do have a couple scheduled for
later this year and I'mdefinitely going to try this out
.
The other thing that a lot ofpeople like is Topaz Labs.
They have a suite of pluginslike is Topaz Labs.
(11:50):
They have a suite of pluginsDenoise AI, sharpen AI,
gigapixel AI so it can do all ofthese different things for you
Eliminate noise, recover detail,upscale images up to 600%,
which is a really cool thing,and so when you're working with
low light, high ISO things likethat, this could be a really
good tool.
Obviously, most of us know aboutthe generative fill in
Photoshop, which gives somereally hilarious results.
Sometimes it's powered byAdobe's Firefly model, and this
(12:14):
tool lets you highlight an areatype in what you want, like add
a blooming tree, add a flowerfield, and it should be able to
make it appear, and a lot oftimes it does, but sometimes
it's a little sketchy.
I don't know about you guys,but I haven't had great luck
with this and I don't really useit.
But that's also because I hateopening Photoshop.
(12:35):
It's just I'm not a Photoshopgirl.
I use Lightroom for most of myediting and, on that note,
lightroom has given us a reallygreat generative fill tool,
which I absolutely love, and Ido know that they are coming out
with even more AI tools builtinto Lightroom itself.
Now I don't know if we're goingto have to pay extra for those,
(12:55):
which probably, but it could bereally, really cool.
The other AI tool that I reallyuse and love is Evoto AI, and
I've talked about this at length.
I did a whole podcast on it aweek or two ago and I think it's
as of now.
I think it's our best tool thatwe have for editing.
(13:16):
It is lightning fast.
Yes, it can be pretty heavyhanded, meaning you can make
people look pretty fake, so youhave to be careful, but I
absolutely love Evoto AI andtheir sale ended.
They had a summer sale going on.
It ended, but I still have acode.
If you use Renee07 at the linkbelow in the show notes, you can
still get a discount.
(13:36):
So if you want to try it out,you can.
Another app a lot of people likeis called Photo Prism.
It's an open source app and itorganizes your photos by
location, date and content, itidentifies objects and people,
tags them automatically and itmakes your archives searchable.
So that's kind of cool.
There's another platform calledIEM.
(13:56):
It's like E-Y-E-E-M, and thisauto tags and categorizes your
photos, making it easy tolicense your work, so it
connects you with a community ofphotographers and buyers.
So it's like having a passiveincome stream with like built-in
marketing.
Canva has really upped theirgame as well with AI.
(14:19):
So Canva's AI features removebackgrounds, resize graphics.
You can create images and evenvideo inside of Canva Pro.
So if you already have a CanvaPro account, start playing
around with their AI features.
I mean, across the board, theyhave gotten pretty awesome.
(14:40):
I saw somebody post a videothat they made with just a
prompt and it was prettyfantastic.
Now, it was just a clip and itdidn't have sound, but it was
pretty awesome.
There's a really coolnote-taking app called Mem M-E-M
.
It's a self-organizing app andso basically it connects your
email calendar and contacts andit keeps ideas from slipping
(15:02):
through the cracks.
It also integrates with Zapieror Zapier, however you like to
pronounce it so that everythingstays in sync.
I also use Notion, and Notionhas its own AI, just like Google
has AI, like everything isgoing to be going in that
direction.
And I personally really justlove ChatGPT.
I know a lot of people likeClaude for writing, but I've
(15:26):
been using ChatGPT since the dayI came out, so I'm pretty deep
into my ChatGPT and I use itquite often, so I prefer that.
But there are other.
There's lots of other AIwriting tools for sure.
Now, obviously, there'splatforms like MidJourney, adobe
, firefly, runway, ml, helpingdesigners and videographers
(15:48):
explore concepts really quickly.
Vio Google Vio just came out.
It's kind of crazy how fastthings are moving right now.
You know you can take a promptand create something completely
out of thin air.
Really, my husband has beenworking with VO and I think it's
(16:09):
VO3, on creating video clipsfor a project that he's doing,
and it's pretty incredible tosee what you can do.
Truly it's wild.
So I think that, just ingeneral, that whole area is
going to start moving very, veryquickly, and I mean, I've
(16:32):
coached enough creatives to knowthat when something moves this
fast, our first response isusually fear or overwhelm.
You know, will it replace me?
Will clients care that I usedAI.
Am I already behind because Ihaven't used it yet?
But what I want you to rememberis that AI is a tool.
It doesn't replace your voice.
(16:53):
It doesn't replace your vibefor sure, because it's not human
and only humans can emit thatsort of thing like your
frequency.
It helps you get to your visionfaster and with fewer late
nights.
Editing or rewriting things Okay, but I want you to think of it
as like a powerful studioassistant.
You still direct the shoot, youstill have the final say on the
(17:17):
edit, but wouldn't it be prettyawesome if somebody else could
do the other stuff that youdidn't like to do, maybe writing
your emails or automating somethings, or even giving you a
whole content plan for the nextsix months?
So that's really kind of what Ilike to focus on here, and I
know that again, I'm not a techgenius and that's not my area of
(17:41):
expertise in general, but Ilove it.
I love learning about it.
I love tech in general.
I think it's very fascinating,and I'm really more about
looking into ways to make mylife and my work more
streamlined and more efficient,because I hate wasting time.
I hate wasting time and I thinkChai GPT Plus is a really good
(18:05):
deal for 20 bucks a month, trulyand some of the ways that most
photographers and creatives Isee using AI in general right
now, aside from the ones I justmentioned, is caption writing
right.
So, using ChaiGPT to generatecaptions, your SEO, helping
ittune your SEO or even createit or audit it Fantastic use of
(18:29):
AI, in my opinion.
Email marketing, for sure,writing templates for proposals
and investment guides and prepguides, and you can even connect
your Canva to your ChatGPT andyou can have it now in agent
mode.
Go in and do it for you InagentT and you can have it now
in agent mode.
Go in and do it for you Inagent mode.
You can give it a task, you cangive it a prompt and tell it.
(18:50):
I want to create a new styleguide and give it the parameters
that you want, and then it willask you to log in to your Canva
, so you do need to log in Inagent mode.
It asks you take over and whenyou click that and take over and
you log into whether it's Canvaor any other platform like
Google it does not see yourpassword.
(19:13):
It does not look at that.
So there is that safety builtin, there's still going to be
issues, probably, don't get mewrong.
Like nothing is foolproof, soyou use it, you know, on your
own terms.
Like I'm not telling you thatyou have to, but you will be
logging in like to have agentmode go and do all of these
(19:34):
things for you.
You do need to give it accessto it.
So, like you could tell it youwant it to create this style
guide.
You could give it theparameters and you can tell it
to write the copy.
And then you can tell it to gosearch the internet for all the
(19:54):
latest teen trends for the lastsix months with good examples.
You could even give it moreparameters than that.
You can say keep it to the fivemid tier stores, let's say you
know, so that you could keep itpretty accessible monetarily
speaking, for everybody.
Give it the parameters you want, have it, pull all of that data
(20:14):
and then create an actual styleguide with images from these
stores and links to where peoplecan buy them and make it inside
of your Canva and have it justliterally do it for you, like it
can do all of that.
The cool thing about agent modeas well is that, once you set it
on its task.
You can close your computer andcome back to it.
(20:36):
It'll be done.
So like not everyone has accessto agent mode yet you do have
to have chat to PT plus.
You have to be paying for it,it's just.
The $20 a month is fine, butyou are limited to I believe
it's 40 inquiries with agentmode a month, even with the paid
version.
If you pay the $200 a monthversion, which I don't, then you
(20:58):
get like something like 400,but they are rolling agent mode
out to everybody now who has theat least the plus version, and
I just got it last week.
So if you don't have it yet,just keep checking, you will.
I had it create a spreadsheet inmy Google Docs.
So my Google Sheets.
I had it go and source all thelatest trends for teenagers with
(21:21):
fashion, music and makeup andskincare for the last six months
, compile that into aspreadsheet for me and then also
create multiple pieces ofcontent, captions, blog and
SEO-rich posts based on thatcontent that it found.
So the spreadsheet had all ofthese columns so that I could
(21:44):
just copy and paste it into thecontent.
I could have hooked up my Canvato it as well and said, just
from here, go ahead and make thecontent in Canva, but I wanted
to sort of check and see that ithad done it right first and
maybe see if I needed to reviseanything, and it was pretty spot
(22:04):
on.
So the time-saving capabilitieshere are pretty amazing.
It's kind of crazy.
I'm working with a one-on-oneclient right now.
She's a photographer and justsick of making content, hates
making content like most of usdo.
And also it's about to be fall,and that's when feast or famine
(22:24):
happens, because you get superbusy and you're shooting and
you're editing and you're doingyour thing and you forget to
market.
And then, okay, it's like theholidays are early in January
and you ain't got no clients andyou're stressed.
This is literally like theblueprint for what happens every
year.
I don't want that to happen toyou guys.
So I want you to be preemptiveand I'm always talking about the
(22:45):
fact that you got to still finda way to market when you're
shooting.
And this is a fantastic use ofAI.
If you don't have an assistant,if you can't pay somebody you
know 500 or more a month to dosome of this for you, you need
to be paying ChaiGPT plus 20bucks a month and learn how to
automate stuff, and it's reallynot hard.
Like I walked a client throughthis.
(23:06):
We created all the messagingand made it very, very clear so
that it resonated distinctlywith her target clients, and now
we're creating custom GPTsbased on that so that all she
has to do is literally go in andsay, okay, give me this month's
content, and it just spits itout.
So it's kind of amazing whatyou can do truly, and just as a
(23:29):
side note, if you're not usingAI for your marketing ideas,
your scheduling, your reminders,your brand messaging, video
scripts, whatever it is contentcalendars.
You really do need to be doingthat, because that is like I see
that as like an entry level useof AI.
Like that's kind of like whereeverybody starts and then you'll
(23:53):
start to get more used to itand get better at it, and then
you're going to you're going tostart to see all of this amazing
capability and again, like it'schanging so quickly.
Things are going to change.
So now's the time to at leastget your feet wet and start
using it for simple things likecontent.
So what do creators reallythink about AI?
(24:15):
This is something I reallywanted to know and kind of talk
about here in this podcast.
In April of 2025, the contentagency Bread and Circuses
surveyed 51 creativeprofessionals and 70% said that
they see real benefits in AI.
Yet 75% use AI for less than25% of their creative process.
(24:38):
Their top uses were research,planning and ideation, with
refinement and editing at adistant second 45%.
So why the hesitation here?
I think that creators aredrawing boundaries.
They really want to keep thatconcept development editing.
They want to keep conceptdevelopment, editing, decisions
(25:02):
and final review human, sothey're willing to delegate
these admin tasks, but not thatsoul of their work.
And only 24% are willing to paymore than 50 bucks a month for
AI tools.
And I totally understand that,because the last thing we need
is another damn subscription,right?
(25:22):
Like, especially, photographers, we have to have so many things
and it would be great if wecould just have everything in
one.
But yeah, 20 bucks a month, Ithink, is 100% doable.
Anything more than $30 a month,it better be doing a whole lot
more for me.
So as a coach, I hear that sametension all the time, right,
excitement mixed with anxiety.
(25:42):
It's okay to feel both.
The key is to treat AI as anassistant and not an identity.
We've seen these stories.
It can create psychosis inpeople and I really do think
that you have to already sort ofbe walking that thread of
mental illness to begin with.
But I mean, it can be dangerous, right, but it's okay to be
(26:04):
excited about it and alsoanxious about it.
The key is to treat AI likeyour assistant and so use it to
get unstuck, to handlerepetitive tasks, for sure, but
at the end of the day, trustyour intuition when it comes to
creative decisions and whatfeels aligned to you.
Okay, ai is amazing atgenerating options, but it's
(26:26):
terrible at knowing which onewill make your heart sing.
And we can take this a stepfurther.
I think I've mentioned itbefore that I have created a GPT
for myself that is based on myhuman design chart, my astrology
chart and every personalitytest I've ever taken.
I've uploaded it to that GPTand it helps me make decisions
(26:50):
based on that, because humandesign, especially, is really
all about alignment.
And, of course, you have tocontinue to be a critical
thinker and you have to ask yourchat GPT or whatever AI you're
using to challenge you, becauseit is a mirror.
So if you are just like lettingit hype you up constantly and
be like yes, renee, that is anamazing idea.
(27:11):
And it's just yes, yes, yes,yes, yes all the time.
That's not great, okay, youcan't learn and grow in a vacuum
.
You do need to be challenged.
So all these people saying thatthey're using it as their life
coach or even as their therapist, I would be really careful with
that, really careful with that.
We're not there yet.
At the end of the day, it isyou, it is a mirror of you and
(27:34):
it's feeding you what you wantto hear, which is why some of
these people are going onpsychosis.
So you have to train your chat,gpt or whatever AI you use to
challenge you, to ask youquestions, not to just be a yes
man all day, every day, truly.
So if you haven't done that yet, at least dive into that.
(27:56):
So, looking ahead again, inaddition to the things that I
had mentioned earlier, we knowthat AI agents and browsers, you
know, are going to become moreof a thing as these agents
mature.
They could handleadministrative tasks like
booking sessions for you,sending invoices, ordering
prints, emailing clients, makingsure your website is structured
(28:18):
for AI navigation all that kindof stuff.
I mean agent mode already cando like it can log into your
email.
It can email clients for you,it can book you dinner
reservations, all kinds of stuff.
So we know that that is justgoing to get more robust.
But something else that'scoming for ChaiGPT is shopping
like.
Right inside of ChaiGPT they'retesting an in-app Shopify
(28:41):
integration and this could turnChaiGPT into a standalone sales
channel.
So imagine a client askingChaiGPBT for senior portraits in
Los Angeles and completing thebooking without visiting a
website, right?
So we kind of do need to bethinking about preparing our
product data, our links and ourofferings and our pricing to be
(29:07):
AI readable and considerpartnerships with platforms that
integrate with ChatGPT.
Now, I'm not saying you need togo out and get a Shopify account
and make a Shopify store, but Imean a lot of you guys who
listen to this podcast createyour own courses.
You have digital products.
This is going to be a thingOkay.
So for photographers,especially high-end
(29:29):
photographers, this is notnecessarily, I think, as
important, at least right now,because we don't even have, like
, our full pricing necessarilylisted on our websites.
You know, that's not the kindof photographer I am.
I'm not a turn and burnphotographer, so I'm not going
to just have a lot of thesethings where you can book a
high-end senior portrait sessionwith me without having a
conversation with me at somepoint about it, so that I don't
(29:51):
see that happening.
But for my headshot sessions,absolutely, I do 30-minute
headshot sessions at the studioand I've got that system already
fairly automated.
So, yeah, if Chad GPT can helpget me booked, yes, that would
(30:12):
be amazing Because I alreadyhave those things already lined
up, so that's going to be veryinteresting.
They're also doing somethingcalled record mode and Canvas.
So ChatGPT's record mode allowsthe app to record meetings and
transcribe them and generatesummaries, and Canvas is an
interactive workspace forbrainstorming and document
editing.
So these tools can really helpphotographers and creatives.
Just capture clientconsultations, zoom consults,
(30:37):
outline project plans, shoot dayplans, produce final
deliverables more efficiently,just in general.
Chatgpt isn't the only one.
Like I said before, claude 3.5by Anthropic is faster and
processed as longer documents,according to some articles, and
that makes it useful forcontracts long briefs.
(30:58):
Google Gemini is embedded intoGmail Docs and Sheets, offering
context-aware suggestions acrossyour email and editing workflow
, and Meta's AI is integratedinto WhatsApp and Instagram,
handling translations andcontent generation and customer
inquiries.
Even so, as a photographer, youcould use Meta's AI to answer
some common client questions onInstagram DMs or generate your
(31:22):
captions without having to popin and out of ChatGPT.
As always, though, please domake sure it sounds like you,
because I don't know about youguys, but maybe it's because I
use AI so much I can you know.
You can tell when something'swritten completely by AI.
You can just tell like thereare certain signs, speaking in
(31:46):
your own voice and tone, becauseI think that the more people
are using it and the moregeneric stuff is going to sound,
the more it's going to be aturnoff for clients.
Truly.
So, while you can use and youshould use AI, I think, to free
up your time, be intentionalabout it too.
(32:06):
Right, consciously reinvestthat time in high quality client
care, personal projects, restor even marketing efforts that
you don't have time for.
Okay, speed should be a meansto more meaningful work, not an
end in itself.
In coaching conversations, Iencourage clients to focus on
(32:28):
what we can control our mindset,our craft and our community,
and AI can be a very powerfulally, but our human ability to
empathize and to tell storiesand to connect will always be
our differentiator.
Embrace lifelong learningInstead of fearing displacement.
Ask how you can partner withtechnology to create deeper
(32:52):
value for your clients.
And don't forget to rest Eventhe most advanced AI can't
recharge you for you.
I know it's scary, especiallyas a photographer, because we
see a lot of these.
You know, ai generatedheadshots or whatever, and,
honestly, like some of theprograms out now, are incredible
at creating an AI twin ofyourself.
(33:14):
I've played around with it, so Ithink that that technology is
going to get better and moreaccessible to people, but
there's a lot of money to bemade with this too, you guys, as
a side note, so you know, ifyou are a photographer and you
are looking for a side gig orjust a creative in general and
(33:35):
you're thinking about, like,well, how can I use AI to create
a side business?
Basically, some really quickideas, because I do want to wrap
up.
I don't want this to be super,super long, but some quick ideas
for you guys.
If you're looking for some sidegig, money and you're into tech
and AI, you should look at someof these.
Okay, you can build an AI twin,become the face of your own
(33:56):
content empire without evershowing your actual face.
You can build an AI twin thatliterally acts and speaks like
you and is the face of yourbrand.
I'm not saying that you shoulddo this.
I think it's interesting forcertain things, for certain
businesses.
I mean, I wouldn't do it for myphotography business, but it's
an interesting thought.
(34:17):
You can use AI to offerghostwriting services like blogs
and emails and captions.
You can offer content days,where you use AI to script and
plan a month of posts for abusiness in town that you know
about once a day.
Maybe you want to start workinglocally with other people.
This is great for anyone reallywho needs fast content, not
(34:39):
fluff.
You can partner with serviceproviders.
You do the AI side, strategysystems automation and then they
do the delivery.
You can create and sell AIvideo scripts for TikToks and
Reels and YouTube Shorts onspecific industries.
You can build an affiliateincome stream by reviewing and
teaching how to use AI tools,creating tutorials, comparisons,
(35:01):
use case videos and links thatyou would recommend.
You can start a monthlysubscription where you deliver
AI generated content ideas tocreators and businesses or
influencers in one specificniche.
You can offer one-on-oneAI-enhanced strategy sessions.
This is something that I dobecause I love AI.
I use it anyway, and most of mycoaching students.
(35:23):
We do this kind of work anyway.
So I have that option as well.
If you want to like literallyjust have a power hour with me,
you can do that and we canactually build a custom bot in
less than that time.
You can build and sell manydigital products.
You can use ChatGPT to create,like checklists and guides and
swipe files and templates thatyou can easily sell on your site
(35:46):
or Etsy or any of the othersites, right?
I mean, I'm doing that with mycustom GPT Senior Sunday.
I have other products, ofcourse, like I create digital
products and courses forphotographers and creatives, and
Chai GPT helps me with a lot ofthe legwork.
So there's a lot ofpossibilities here and it is
(36:07):
moving very quickly.
So I understand that it can bereally scary to think about, but
just take a step, just likedive your toe into it and see if
it's something that's eveninteresting to you.
I encourage you to at leastunderstand you know pieces of it
, understand why people areusing it, because the fact of
(36:28):
the matter is that it isn'tgoing anywhere and you know,
even if we don't like it, evenif it's intimidating, it's not
going anywhere, and so that'skind of why I like to do these
episodes from time to time.
Again, this podcast is notgoing to become just a straight
up AI podcast.
I just I like to bring it toyou in this context so you can
(36:51):
see what's coming, and that'sreally kind of what I wanted to
focus on, for this episode islike there's some stuff coming
up very soon that is going toreally help you a lot.
So I just kind of want you tounderstand what's here, how to
use it and to know what's coming.
And one of the reasons why Icreated Senior Sunday is because
(37:12):
I saw a need in my industry.
As a photographer who alsocoaches creatives and other
photographers, I saw how muchtime you guys are spending on
repetitive planning tasks,brainstorming session themes,
writing emails, craftingmarketing posts and really just
like not enjoying it right.
So Senior Sunday is a customGPT that I built specifically
(37:35):
for high-end seniorphotographers.
It understands the language ofour niche, from session flow to
pricing strategies, and it canhelp you draft client emails,
brainstorm unique location ideas, find out the latest trends,
outline blog posts and evensuggest upsell opportunities.
Because it's a specializedassistant, it gives you better
(37:58):
answers than generic AI modelsand it saves you the countless
hours it would take to buildyour own and it's just 44 bucks.
And ChaiGPT helped me build it.
Yeah, I built it on ChaiGPPTand it's programmed with all of
my marketing knowledge and ideasand a lot of my coaching.
So I've really curated theprompts and ensured the outputs
(38:20):
align with this boutique seniorphotography experience you want
to deliver.
If you're a senior photographer, it's kind of like having me in
your back pocket, cheering youon and making this whole process
so much easier, because Ireally want you to have a life
outside of your business and somany of you guys don't,
especially in the busy season.
If you have any questions aboutSenior Sunday or anything like
(38:42):
that, just hit me up over onInstagram at Renee Bowen.
I'm happy to chat.
I will have the link for thatfor you below, as well as all
the other links that I promisedyou.
So we've covered a lot of groundon this episode.
I think how widespread AIadoption has become, the
exciting upgrades coming withChatGPT5, the tools that can
make your photography workflowsmoother, and the nuanced ways
(39:04):
creators are embracingtechnology.
We've also seen that AI'spromise is twofold it can
dramatically improve individualproductivity, but its aggregate
impact is modest unless weintegrate it thoughtfully.
So here's some action steps.
Experiment intentionally.
Pick one AI tool that feelsexciting and try it for a
specific task and notice how itmakes you feel and whether it
(39:27):
truly adds ease or not.
Protect your creative core.
So delegate the research,editing and admin tasks to AI,
but keep concept development,final edits and client
relationships personal.
Your vision is your brand.
Invest in specialized solutions.
Generic models are powerful,but niche assistants like Senior
Sunday or any kind of customGPT they're going to deliver
(39:50):
better results faster becausethey speak your language.
Prepare for what's next, so staycurious about upcoming releases
like ChatGPT 5 and competitorslike Claude and Gemini.
Join communities, read up onethics and be ready to adapt.
And finally, if you'reoverwhelmed, work with a coach.
Find somebody, even if it's notme, who can help you navigate
(40:11):
the mindset shifts that comewith scaling your creative
business in an AI-infused world.
This is something I absolutelylove doing, so thank you guys
for listening today.
I always love chatting with youabout this and I welcome your
questions and your concerns.
Hit me up over on Instagram atRenee Bowen, or just shoot me an
email and let's discuss Reneeat Renee Bowencom, and those of
(40:34):
you guys who do have seniorSunday who did grab it, while
the price is this low.
Let me know how it's workingfor you.
I've heard some really goodfeedback so far, but I am always
interested to hear all thefeedback, because I do want this
to be a really amazing tool foryou.
Thank you, guys.
Have a great rest of your week.
Love you, bye.
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