$100 Bought Me 50 Photos of Someone Else

I've spent the better half of my life becoming a portrait photographer.

It started young — a 110 film camera, documenting everyday life. From there: 35mm, digital, mirrorless. Studio, lighting, backdrops. Workshops, classes, endless self-teaching. Post-processing, retouching, and yes, even AI tools where they genuinely help my workflow.

Photography is all-consuming and expensive, and I'm grateful it's also my livelihood. So when AI headshots started trending, I didn't want to have an opinion until I had experience. I uploaded 10 selfies to InstaHeadshots. Fifteen minutes later I had 50 "portraits" of myself.

Here's what I got: polished images of a person who isn't quite me. The clothing isn't mine. The jewelry isn't mine. The HANDS aren't mine. The backgrounds are places I've never been.

For $100, you get a convincing fake; a version of yourself that never existed, in a life you don't live. That's not a portrait. That's a rendering.

What I've always valued most in this work isn't the gear or the technical skill, it's the human connection. Getting to know someone. Understanding what they want to say about themselves. Capturing something true. That part is not optional for me. It's the whole point.

In a world moving fast toward automation, I hope people pause to consider what they're trading when they skip the human experience entirely. When you're ready for a portrait that's actually yours — I'll be here.