2025 | The future of photography

I’ve been looking back at some of my favourite shoots from 2024 and thinking about what the future holds for the photography industry and it’s freelance teams in 2025.

Whilst I’m sure AI will pay a major part in the evolution of the photography landscape in 2025, I’m not viewing it as an existential threat, rather as another tool that we utilise alongside human creativity.

Creatives are always evolving and as freelancers our ability to pivot at a moment’s notice is a major part of our skill set, and one of the reasons I love this job is the ever-changing nature of it.

This year I created video timelines and creative concepts in Midjourney to help to pitch a treatment to a client for a complex 6 day shoot.  We won the shoot and we were able to book a team of 10+ freelancers to help deliver the concept with us on location, that for me is the sweet spot combining AI with human talent at the moment.

I plan to approach 2025 with optimism and excitement about the creative future. I feel that alongside all the new developments that AI inevitably brings, there will be a real valuing of authenticity, a word which is often used in a cliched way but I think probably is the right word to use in this context.

All the freelancers I work with are incredibly good at their craft, we have to be to continue to get work and survive in an extremely competitive environment, and most of us are also extremely good at collaborating to bring complex briefs to fruition. So I hope we are able to keep this going for 2025, here’s to more brilliant collaborations and more talented teams on set!

I realise 2024 has at times been a challenging year for the industry, but I do feel there will be a trend in 2025 for a real grounding back to quality, skill, attention to detail and all the things that make us really good at our jobs.

AI absolutely has a place for speed and cost reduction, and also the potential for amazing creativity when combined with human brains. There is also huge value in our ability to connect with others on an emotional level. Look how successful the most emotive adverts have been this year - Volvo’s longer form ad with cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema is the perfect example.

I wanted to finish this post with a few favourite images I crafted for regular client Panasonic this year with hugely talented teams, all of whom work incredibly hard, they’re also a lovely and hilarious bunch of people to be on set with!

Here’s to a great 2025 for the photography industry!