Demystifying Brand Photography and the Impact of AI with Amanda Hutchison

In this episode master of brand photography, Amanda Hutchison, unravels the intricacies of visuals for your business, bringing us behind the scenes of her nine-year journey, shooting over 200 business owners. She gets candid about her unique preparation process that goes beyond just making clients comfortable, and we discuss the impact of wardrobe choices on brand imagery and how the right clothes can send the exact message you want your clients to receive.

But that's not all. We step into the future, discussing the role of AI in photography and delve into how this technology is reshaping photo editing, offering a fresh perspective on the artistic process for photographers and copywriters alike. We also touch on the thorny side of AI including issues around copyright. This episode is a treasure trove of insights for anyone looking to strengthen their brand's visual identity.

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Find more information, episode transcriptions and an accessible podcast player here:  https://www.annfionamartin.com/podcast

Continue the conversation on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/annfionamartin

Find out more about Amanda Hutchison / AKP Branding Stories at: https://akpbrandingstories.co.uk/ and https://www.instagram.com/akpbrandingstories/

Transcript

Ann: 0:00

You're listening to Simple Content, the podcast for entrepreneurs, creatives and anyone who dreams of making money whilst doing what they love. I'm your host, Ann Martin, a copywriter, author and content expert. In this podcast, I'll be sharing my own experiences, plus having conversations with some of the world's most inspiring content creators and industry experts. This is your one stop shop for practical PR, marketing, business and self-development advice. Put the kettle on, settle in and get ready to listen, learn and feel inspired. Hello, hello, everybody, welcome to the Simple Content podcast. Today I'm joined by the very lovely Amanda Hutchison, who is a brand photographer, and today we're going to explore the world of brand photography together and answer all those questions that you have about having your picture taken, because I know for some of you, it feels a little bit scary. So we're going to demystify that, we're going to make you feel better about having your picture taken and, as always, we are going to get started with an introduction. So, Amanda, really excited to chat to you. Please can you introduce yourself today?

Amanda: 1:10

Hi, thank you for having me. So yeah, I'm Amanda, I'm a brand photographer. I have just celebrated nine years in business and I've had, honestly, the absolute pleasure of photographing over 200 business owners. Now a lot of them are repeat clients, so I work with them to kind of bring across their personality and their passion and what they do in image format so that they can share it over their socials, any of their marketing, basically wherever their face needs to be. That's the imagery that we're creating and a whole range of different industries. So I haven't. I know you get told to niche down, but I haven't niched into, like I'm only going to work with such and such an industry because I love the variety it brings and it helps keep me creative.

Ann: 1:58

200 people! Wow, I didn't realise you'd photographed as many people as that. That is quite a milestone.

Amanda: 2:04

Yeah, it's just a little bit nuts really that over that time and some of my clients I've been working with since day one, so I've been photographing them for nine years and seen their businesses move and grow through, which is just a little bit nuts really.

Ann: 2:18

Any particular favourites or any that you have absolutely hated? Because there must be some.

Amanda: 2:25

I would say there's definitely like locations that I've loved shooting in. Yes, yeah, I get to go on retreats and photograph there. I love my destination ones, but it's kind of hard to pick particular shoots.

Ann: 2:39

A lot of your work is inside and you know beautiful, anyone listening look at Amanda's Instagram. Beautiful location houses. I mean gorgeous, gorgeous places. But there must have been times in your business when you've been standing in the rain absolutely soaked.

Amanda: 2:54

So I used to do a wedding photography and particularly, you can't work anything around it then. I'd put my couple under an umbrella and I'd stand in the rain to get the shot and some of my shoots, if it has to be outside and we can't change the date, I'm still there.

Amanda: 3:11

I'll have an assistant with me holding an umbrella over my client so that they're staying dry and I just get wet for the shot, like anything for the shot. I've even been able to find indoor locations that look like you're outside so I can still get that nature vibe for some of my clients. So there's definitely ways around it and with brand photography, having that backup plan is really important and I have backup shoot dates for if we get rained off. I'm shooting outdoor Christmas minis next week. I've already got a date in the diary for if they get rained off, which at the moment the weather's looking great, but sometimes you have to move them because you can't go to an indoor location, but shoot houses definitely make things a lot easier and then you just go in the garden for the outdoor shots.

Ann: 3:57

Yeah, amazing, and I love that commitment. You're willing to get absolutely soaked through to get the picture. Tell us why brand photography is important for business owners. Why should they be thinking about getting pictures taken professionally?

Amanda: 4:08

I think because when you are engaging with either another consumer or another business, they want to get to know you and the majority of people take information in more visually, than they do with written words. They need to catch their attention anyway. You know, if you're scrolling through, it's a photo that captures their attention. So then they read that amazing content you've put underneath. But if you've just got blocks of text, we are so programmed now to just keep scrolling that you need that imagery to hook them in to the value that they're actually giving. So imagery and copy go so hand in hand. Because also, if you've got great imagery but you've got rubbish copy, then they're just going to scroll past you pretty quick and not hang around. So it's about building that know, like and trust and giving people that insight into what you do, how you work, who you are. So they want to part with their cash.

Ann: 5:00

Mm, perfect. And one of the things I love about your photos is that you're so good at bringing out the personality of the business owner. You're so good at those laughter shots but making them not seem staged, which I love, because you see so many pictures like that, taken by photographers, where it's obviously been like right, laugh now, do a laugh. But you managed to capture the sort of in between photos where it's almost like the person's posed and then you've taken a bit of a break and then you've got them being really natural, laughing or showing off their personality, and I wondered do you have a sort of method for doing that, or are those purely just moments that you've managed to capture?

Amanda: 5:37

So I do a lot of prep work with my clients. So we do a lot of really in-depth shoot planning. So part of the reason people are nervous in front of the cameras is because they don't know what they're doing. They don't know how to be, they don't know what to do with their hands, their face, what to wear. So we do all of that work in the run up to the shoot so that that fear of the unknown is gone, so they're more relaxed. They've also then had a couple of conversations with me beforehand. So they know me, they trust me, they know that I'm not going to do anything that's going to make them look bad on camera. And then we're just constantly chatting, like we are now, just chatting and I'm shooting away. So I'll take a lot of photos purely because I'm keeping that conversation going.

Amanda: 6:23

And yes, I will tell my clients oh, just laugh at that plant over there or just laugh at that wall. And you kind of have to do that fake laugh out loud and eventually you feel like such a tit that you end up laughing naturally. And the reason you get that laughter out loud is because it brings that sparkle to your eyes, and that's often what's missing is if people are just like silent laughing or just smiling. It doesn't reach your eyes and it's the eyes that you need to engage. It doesn't actually matter what your mouth is doing. Like you remember, when we were all having to wear face masks, you could tell a lot from what someone's eyes were doing, whether they were happy or sad, and it's the same when you're looking at photos. I f those eyes aren't engaging with the camera or they haven't got that twinkle or that kind of little crease mark, then it's not catching you.

Ann: 7:14

Yeah, that's so important, and we say so much with our eyes, don't we? And you're right when I think about it now, when I look at photographs, they have light in their eyes. It feels so much more genuine, doesn't it? It feels so much more relaxed, and I think it's really brilliant that you've thought about that, because I think a lot of photographers there's almost like this really corporate approach to it, like stand in front of a building in your suit and look professional, and you're one of the people online that I look at the pictures and I think, oh, I can really, especially if I know the person that you photographed I can see how you've captured their personality or how you've made them feel relaxed, and I think that's so important.

Ann: 7:51

One of the things you said online recently on Instagram that I found particularly interesting was you said 'everybody is photogenic', and I thought that was such an important statement. 'Everybody is photogenic'. Because in the world that we live in, we have these very unrealistic beauty standards put our way every day on social media, often very filtered, unrealistic standards, and this can really breed feelings of insecurity in people, particularly women. And when you said everybody is photogenic, I really love that message, because there are so many people who will be listening to this, thinking I don't want to have my picture taken professionally or I'm really scared because I don't feel attractive. I don't feel like someone who's photogenic. Can you tell us a bit more about that concept of being photogenic and what that means to you?

Amanda: 8:37

For me, the reason I say this because I get that a lot like look people, come to me, you're going to have a really hard time taking my photo. I don't take a good photo and I'm like right, the reason you don't think you take a good photo is because the only photos you've ever had taken are on a phone, possibly on a night out with rubbish lighting. Nobody looks good in that. Supermodels don't look good in bad lighting. It's about that. If you work with a photographer who makes you feel comfortable and relaxed, then on that shoot they will bring out the best in you.

Amanda: 9:06

Now, when you see those photos, you might still be self-critical of yourself. I know when I have had my shoots, there are certain elements of my body that I will look at straight away and I go no, I don't like that. I don't like my arms. I'm never going to use that photo. And I know when my husband, my friends, have looked at that photo, they're like I don't know what you're seeing, because that's my own internal self-critic and they are always going to be there.

Amanda: 9:29

Whether or not you have been airbrushed to an inch of your life, you are still going to see those things. What I think makes somebody photogenic is how the viewer of that image, so your audience, see you. And the easiest way to know that you are photogenic is when you post that first photo from your shoot. See the amazing comments you get from your friends and your family and your clients and your audience going I love this photo of you. I can really see your personality and you see it and you get all of these comments. Save those comments because they're not lying to you. They just wouldn't say anything if they didn't believe it?

Ann: 10:03

Yeah, absolutely, and it's such a confidence boost, isn't it?

Amanda: 10:07

And my client's biggest cheerleaders on their shoot. Like I am telling them how amazing they are looking, how great they are doing, how they have stepped out of their comfort zone to do this. Depending on the client, I will sometimes show them the back of the camera. But if they are a really, really self-critical person, I don't show them the back of the camera because I don't want to risk them losing that energy through the shoot and I'll wait until everything is edited and they can see the whole thing. But sometimes it just, you know, a little bit of a pep going oh crap, look, how amazing you look in this and they'll go oh, that's not me, I'm like, but it is because you've literally just sat there and seen me take the photo. So a brand shoot should help with that confidence and it is one of those things the more you do, the easier it gets.

Ann: 10:53

And one of the things I think that you're also very good at is posing people as well. So not posing in a sense of like, stay really static and be in that position, but particularly if somebody has issues with, maybe like their chin, you know there's ways to sort of say like you know, lift your head up a bit more. Issues with other parts of their body and you can sort of pose them in a certain way, can't you to make sure that they are, I guess, in the most flattering angle or a way that means that they're less likely to criticise themselves?

Amanda: 11:24

Yeah, so lots you can do on posing. And the chins is a really interesting one because everybody, everybody at some point in particular angles will have a double chin, and that is because we've got skin that allows us to move our head around. When you laugh, and we laugh, naturally we pull our heads back and even here I've now got an extra chin. I'm a size 10 and I've got an extra chin. So it's little things like you laugh towards the camera, because that then elongates your neck and your jawline. It stretches that skin a little bit.

Amanda: 12:02

For arms, don't have them kind of right to your sides. Have it so that you can see a bit of like daylight between your arm and your body. So there's lots of ways that you can tweak and do angles, but I will always start with my clients just saying right, just sit here or just stand here and I'll see how they naturally stand. So like if I'm asking someone to stand with their weight on one side or the other, for me I can only seem to do that by leaning to the right. I can't. I don't know, maybe I've got one leg longer than the other, but I don't find it natural to then lean the other way so I'd look uncomfortable if somebody said I'll just lean to the left so I see how my clients stand or sit fast and then I tweak accordingly. And also, clothing just helps a lot as well, making sure you're wearing things that you feel comfortable and confident in and that fit really well, right down to your underwear. A well-fitting bra does wonders.

Ann: 12:57

Do you know that it's so funny that you mentioned there about the chins. My friend and I were having this conversation the other day about, where's this chin come from? All of a sudden I've got an extra chin. It's so funny, isn't it? It's one of those things that you notice, things about your own body that nobody else notices, and we have this internal monologue about oh, I look a certain way, but nobody else sees you that way. And going back to what you said about the comments that you get once you've had professional pictures done. Those are so validating for people because they perhaps have thought about themselves in a certain way since childhood. They maybe only felt good about themselves in their wedding photos and you know they haven't had a picture since their wedding day that they've liked of themselves. So it's so important for that confidence boost which I think, probably you can tell me more about this, but it probably has a massive impact on their business as a whole having had those photographs, to then move forward with the work that they're doing with an extra confidence boost, I guess.

Amanda: 13:53

I think a lot of people aren't visible because they are self-conscious about how they look and that might be going on lives, that might be showing up on stories, any of those things. And so having that little bit more confidence and going actually, do you know what I am worth putting out there. I do believe in myself, and one of the things I say to clients is having a shoot is not just about you. If you think about the bigger picture, the fact that you are then more visible and you are putting yourself out there means you are talking to more people. You're getting more people in your audience, meaning you can help more people, Because we're all generally in business to serve someone else, be that whether we're a photographer, a copywriter, a coach. If we're in the service industry, it is to help people in some shape or form. You can't help people if they don't know you exist.

Ann: 14:44

Absolutely. That is so, so true and it's so easy on Instagram in particular. I mean, I do this to hide behind canvas graphics, right and not actually show your face that much. And I tend to feel comfortable showing my face on stories because I know they go away. But actually showing my face on the grid when I know it's going to be there for a while or doing a live, that feels a bit more vulnerable. And I think with a professional photograph I would maybe feel a bit more comfortable because I would know, like you say, it's been lit well, it's been very well considered and it's been edited to a certain extent. But with that, I feel from your pictures that you have a very light touch when it comes to editing. You know they're not highly photoshopped. How much editing do you tend to do of photographs? Do you take out stray hairs, little makeup marks, that sort of thing? Is that what you tend to do in post-production?

Amanda: 15:38

The editing that I do is around things like colour correction, temperature, lighting, exposure, all of those things. If a client comes to me and says I've woken up with the biggest spot in my life on my chin. I'm like, okay, it won't be in your photos. I won't remove things from somebody's face or body unless they specifically ask me and I certainly don't drop your dress size. Right, that for me, it's a hard. No, I'm not going to make you look smaller because, firstly, it's not representative of who you are. If you suddenly have photos of you as a size eight and you turn up to see a client and you're a size 12, then we're like oh okay, you don't look like your photos. What else are you not being honest about? But you know I've had clients say I'm actually going through laser treatment to remove this tattoo. I haven't quite had it all removed yet. Can you remove that tattoo? I'm like, yeah, I had a client recently. She has undergone treatment for thyroid cancer. When we had her shoot planning call she was like can you take out the scar on my neck? And I was like, if you want me to take the scar, I could take the scar out. By the time we came round to her shoot she said, actually can you leave it in, because it's part of me and my story. We had her call days after she'd had surgery. She hadn't told me until I was on the call that she'd been going through this and that she had had surgery and I was like why are we having this call? But from that call to then having a shoot she'd actually gone, you know I've processed this. It's who I am. I'm not going to remove it and it was barely visible in the photos anyway because of where it was on the crease line of her neck. But had she wanted me to remove it, I would have done.

Amanda: 17:20

And things like straight hairs, like if we're outside and it's windy and all of a sudden your hair has gone off like this. Yes, I'm going to tidy that up. Stains on clothes or creases, like. I'll do my best to remove them. It's always better to try and not come with creased clothes and stained clothes. But you know I'll do that sort of light touch. But I'm not changing people's facial features or their face shapes or their body shapes, because that's not who they are and if that's the level of airbrushing and retouching you want I'm not the photographer for you and I'm not willing to put my principles on that to one side, because we see too much of it on social media and we've had it our entire lives with, you know. I kind of think back to all the magazines that we used to get where they'd ring people's cellulite. That was terrible.

Amanda: 18:07

Someone would have a little bit of a mark in their waist where they just happened to be like putting their weight onto one side and obviously skin moves and they've gone. Oh look, she's got a muffin top. It's like, no, that's just skin. So I'm not contributing to that.

Ann: 18:21

No, absolutely, and I 100% agree with you there. That whole period of the 90s in the magazines that used to circle, areas of cellulite or comment on women who were postpartum, you know like all of that was so toxic and I'm really glad that we've moved past that now. But people probably still have a lasting impression of women's bodies based on that narrative. So it's really important to counteract that now and sort of say no, just be yourself. It's absolutely fine to be yourself.

Amanda: 18:51

No one else is going to notice that you've got a little bit of a tummy pouch and actually that tummy pouch is there because it's holding organs. Yeah, it's literally just your body, but I get it. I get that people are self critical. A lot of us are. So I think, as a photographer, it is our job to just celebrate our clients and for me, it's really important that I'm showing that actually I do photograph real people, like my portfolio and my feed is not filled with models because I'm photographing real people and I'm showing that real people can look amazing, because they are just showing you who you are.

Ann: 19:26

Amazing. There's so much life to your photos and I love that. I think it's really really needed and also so much diversity as well. Brand photography is not just for middle class white people, let's be honest.

Amanda: 19:37

But I can really really go on it. Absolutely. You'd think it was looking at some feeds, for sure, and it baffles me.

Ann: 19:47

It's not truly representative of the world that we live in. Brand photography, from the price point through to the actual experience, should be accessible to anybody, so regardless of skin colour, regardless of ability, and I do find that frustrating. I sort of echo your sentiment there about it is very frustrating when you see photographers only photographing specific types of people because they think that they have to have a particular aesthetic for social media, so it has to be very conventionally attractive, almost model type people. But that's not true brand photography, because brand photography should echo the look of the business owner. Right, that's the whole point of it.

Amanda: 20:24

Yeah, absolutely, and I remember when I started in weddings it's all about having this very beautiful, curated feed and that's because couples want to know that their wedding is going to be photographed in a particular way. So, yes, the couples change and you've got the diversity with your couples, but the feed. A wedding photography feed is very, very consistent in colour palettes and things like that. I can't do that with my brand photography feed and I like things to be all very matching and all very like, all co-ordinated. Like I was having this conversation with Hutch after I saw a reel of the difference between brightly coloured Christmas lights and that warm white glow of Christmas lights. I'm that you know beautiful White Company, Cox and Cox vibe and that's what I would like my house to look like and that's what I'd like my feed to look like. The people in it can change, but my brain automatically goes to look at this beautiful feed and my brand photography feed is this whole array of amazing colours and outfits and things. But what is consistent on it is my editing style and that's the only way then that I'm able to keep things consistent and aesthetically pleasing in my head, because I'll be like oh, maybe this month I'll showcase all my clients that were green or

Amanda: 21:41

I try and do it that way, but there's no way that I can have a feed that mirrors my wedding one. I'm shooting for other people's brands, I'm not shooting for my brand, and that's the difference and that's the transition that when people come from doing wedding or family photography, they don't always get that to start with and they end up shooting everything for their brand. I remember seeing a photography a few years ago and amazingly talented photographer. All of her photos were taken on the same steps in Nottingham. I know exactly which door it was and I was like that's just, that's not brand photography, that's portraiture.

Ann: 22:14

Yeah, it's clear to make that differentiation as well, isn't it? A big part of what you do is actually really tuning into what the business goals are and the type of clients that that person is trying to attract, and then trying to replicate that in a location and trying to tune into things like brand colours. You mentioned earlier about wearing the right thing, you know, bringing in the brand colours through the clothes they're wearing. If you've got any tips that people should bear in mind when they're planning for a photoshoot, what sort of things are important for them to keep in mind and to get organised around clothes and location and that sort of thing?

Amanda: 22:48

I would always say come back to your ideal client. So, whatever you're wearing, the props that you're bringing in your styling, it all has to align to who you are. But who is your ideal client wanting to engage with? So, if you know that there are particular books that your ideal client might be reading because we set our ideal client, then have those set on the coffee table next to you. They're not a focus, but it's a subliminal message and it's those little things that those clients will be going. Oh right, like they get me. They know who I am.

Amanda: 23:25

Clothing wise, even if you're having a 30 minute mini shoot, have a couple of varieties, even if you're just changing out a jacket, putting on a different jumper. But they need to either be your brand colours or compliment your brand colours. And I would say do a mix, because what you don't want especially if you're going to cut yourself out of that image and put you onto a graphic you don't want just ones of you wearing your brand colours and then put it onto a graphic of your brand colours, because you become a floating head, which is weird. Pick colours that compliment your brand but also that suit you and you kind of create your own brand capsule wardrobe, which is great, then, for when you are turning up on things like lives and stories, because you know what you can wear to that, or if you're going to events you want to be planning outfits that, like I said earlier, you feel comfortable and confident in, that compliment your brand and the sort of thing that your ideal client would probably expect you to be wearing. So an example of this is I've worked with a lot of wedding planners and I have taken photos of them when they're setting up weddings.

Amanda: 24:29

Now, when they're actually setting up a wedding, they are probably wearing flat shoes or trainers, because there's a lot of running around, and they might be in jeans and a t-shirt. That's not what they're having their photos taken for. In front of the finished beautiful wedding, though, because that's not what their clients want to think their suppliers are going to turn up in. So at that point, then, they'll change into something that's smarter put on some heels. If they're high end luxury, they might then add in some designer accessories, because that's the expectation of what those clients want to see, and it's part of that luxury brand. It's making sure that you are aligning with where you're targeting. If you're a fitness brand, then some of your shots are going to have you in fitness wear.

Ann: 25:09

That makes a lot of sense. I think one of the most important things that you touched upon there is staying true to yourself, but also the representation of what your clients expect of you. So if you're a personal trainer, you probably want to see you in fitness gear, because there's a certain aspirational element there as well, isn't there? There's a certain feeling of I want to look at that person and feel like they're going to give me their results and the solutions or the service that I am paying for, and that needs to inspire confidence, doesn't it? That photo needs to inspire confidence. So the client takes one look at the picture and thinks, yeah, that's the right person for the job. They look like they've got everything together, they know what they're doing and they're going to provide me with the service that I'm going to pay for. And if you're rocking up in a hoodie and stained joggers or something, then maybe that won't inspire the same confidence that somebody slightly more polished would.

Amanda: 26:01

On the flip side, it's like if you're taking photos of you working at home and you're sat on the sofa in a laptop, you're not going to do that in a two-piece suit, but you're probably going to do it in slightly smarter loungewear. You know, a nice little coordinated set, or you know, even if it's a hoodie, then it's going to be one that's maybe got a message on it. I'm not going to have loungewear shots of me in my husband's hoodie, which is like massive on me.

Ann: 26:30

I mean I say hoodie, I spend half my life in a hoodie or a jumper and jeans, so no shade on the hoodie. I mean it's just connecting into what your clients are really looking for. Looking ahead to the future, one of the things that I have been particularly looking into has been AI, because obviously I'm a copywriter. AI has massively changed our industry and copywriting is really shifting and people are really having to tune in, how they can differentiate themselves from things like chatGPT. In terms of photography. I'd love to know what your thoughts are around AI and how you feel like it might change your industry in the future?

Amanda: 27:08

I was listening to a really good podcast from an Australian photographer and they were talking about this very subject and the guest they had on there said AI is the biggest shift in the photography industry since we went from film to digital.

Amanda: 27:22

If you are not embracing, or at least harnessing, the power of AI in your business, you're going to get left behind by those that are using it. So what's really interesting is I take a photo and I own the copyright for that. Because I've taken a photo, it doesn't matter how the client is using it. Legally, that copyright, unless I sell it on, is mine. As far as I'm aware, any image that is created in chatGPT or whatever the kind of image ones are, no one owns the copyright to that because it was not created by a human being. So what it means is if somebody is creating a graphic, and it's the same with words, so if you write an entire book through chatGPT, anybody can go and take that and copy it because it wasn't created by a human, let alone the side that it might have plagiarism in it. There's lots of people in the photography world, like in the copywriting world, who are very nervous and very scared about how this is going to be, but the way I'm using it within my business, it has revolutionised how I edit. Something that might have taken me literally days to fix in an image can be done in minutes.

Amanda: 28:35

I had a shoot in the summer, went to a location house and the owners had gone away and the person that they had left to look after the house didn't know how to bring the pool cover off the pool. And we specifically had chosen this house because we wanted photos of my client by the pool not necessarily in the pool, although it would have been a bonus, but her by the pool big, flowing summer dress. That would have taken me days. If I had been able to do it at all, I probably would have had to outsource it to create the pool water in a pool that had a cover over it. Photoshop AI meant that I could highlight that pool cover and put create still calm swimming pool water and it just did it. And I sat there and I was like 90 seconds later it was done and I was like this is insane, it blew my mind.

Amanda: 29:22

Sometimes it gets it wrong. Like I've asked it to remove things in reflections and it's put really really freaky doll faces in it. It adds things. I've removed the background and it's added a suitcase. Like it's not perfect and it's really don't understand how it sometimes thinks to do things. But it means then that I can offer a quicker turnaround and a better service to my clients.

Amanda: 29:46

So, whilst I'm not using it for image generation, it's certainly helping me to polish a final image, especially if things haven't quite worked out on the shoot that we had wanted to. It's a kind of watch and learn. But I do also think it's going to make things more accessible for clients that don't have a huge budget for a location. So, as it gets more intelligent, people are going to be able to take existing photos of themselves and add them into locations. Now, it doesn't always get it right and I have been able, like where I've seen people do it, where they've added in team members, I've been able to spot that that's been done, because the lighting is not always consistent across the image, but I'm trained to to do that. My eyes will look at things like that. To the other 95% of the population. They'll just say, oh, look, that's a really great team image. It's lovely that you're all together. So, yeah, it's only going to get more intelligent and I think if we don't embrace it in our businesses, then you are likely to get left behind.

Ann: 30:49

I completely agree with you and I think one of the things you touched upon there is all about the human element, right, the humanity, and I think that's the most important thing to remember with AI.

Ann: 30:58

If it concerns you, if you're in a business like ours, like photography copywriting, if you're in a business where it could potentially have an effect on your job, it's really important to remember that we will always need the humanity in our work. So AI can only go so far and that human touch point. Like you said, for the example of writing a book, AI could write a book for you, but you're not going to get the human insight or the breadth and the depth of your experience in that book. And, like you mentioned, there's so many issues around copyright and plagiarism that are really quite shaky and dodgy. So the way that I've been embracing AI is to, like you said the re, just get ahead of it, learn as much as I can about it and then be able to educate my clients around. Here's how you can do your copywriting as a human being, but here's how AI on the right hand side here can complement your work rather than take it over, and that's the most important thing.

Amanda: 31:54

Idea generation or market research or things like that. Like I've been using it to help me try and find locations. If I'm going to a city that I don't know, I can now go into AI and say can you find me locations that fit this brief for this type of client in CITY and all of a sudden I'm not having to go up two days prior to do a location scout. It's about enhancing and I think you're right. Like we need that human element and you can read something or see an image and if it doesn't have that human element, something feels off. You can't put your finger on it, but something feels off. And I'm part of this AI survival skills mastermind, where we're learning all of these skills and we're seeing it all evolve and it's evolving so quickly and there's things that we were talking about in week one that have already been improved and surpassed and it's just about helping streamline our business the way any technology or machinery has done so far.

Ann: 32:54

Getting ahead is the name of the game, right? Getting ahead of it and learning as much about it as you possibly can. That's the best thing you could possibly do for your self and for your business. Let's wrap up with a bit of information about how and where people can find you, Amanda.

Amanda: 33:08

So I'm AKP Branding Stories on Instagram and Facebook, mainly Instagram. I try really hard to take people behind the scenes and shoots with me and I'm terrible at it because I walk to a shoot going. I've got a shoot today. I'm going to show you behind the scenes and then I get really into the shoot and I don't show you anything so you can see a bit of an insight into my business. I do need to be better on the stories side of things, all my website is akpbrandingstories. co. uk Lovely, thanks so much.

Amanda: 33:34

Thank you for having me.

Ann: 33:37

Thank you so much for listening today. Before you go, if you've enjoyed this episode or any of the other episodes on the podcast, please head over to Apple Podcasts and give us a lovely review. It really does make a big difference and it helps other people to find us. Whilst you're there, click subscribe so that you don't miss out on any of our future episodes. If you're unsure about how to do this, just check out the show notes for all the information that you need. Thank you and see you for the next episode of Simple Content.