05/24/2024
May 13, 2024
An Open Letter to Adobe
Adobe, you might imagine that asking your users to “skip the photoshoot” as you did in a recent set of ads would be a clever way to promote your new tools in Photoshop, but instead, this campaign indicated a shocking dismissal of photography and the photographers who have dedicated their lives to creating it.
As one of the largest professional associations representing photographers and all visual creators, and as our 6,500 members well know, creating a career in photography is harder than ever, with the average photographer having to navigate stolen images, copyright infringement, broken business promises, and now, the specter of wholesale replacement of their art and craft by AI platforms.
But while fighting these battles on these multiple fronts, photographers would not have expected to have to defend themselves from attack by the company whose products are inseparable from the current and past toolbox of the professional photographer. Put simply, why, Adobe, would you dismiss and discount all that your most fervent and loyal customers aspire to?
And this was an attack; an attack on the creativity of the photographer, on the skill and nuance they bring to the photoshoot, and the countless hours they spend preparing for, and working after the photoshoot you are so cavalier to simply throw away.
Great photography is born in the vision of the photographer first, and then brought to life by the artisans who have focused their creative energy for years and decades to make the final image. It is not mechanical; it is not replaceable by a button or an algorithm. Despite your intimation, great photography is more than pixels – it is passion.
While you may change your campaign, soften your language, or otherwise blunt this anger you find currently pointed in your direction, we hope that this is not a stopgap measure. Adobe should take a hard look at how it describes photography and photographers and determine if you support this industry or wish to aid in its destruction.
For the legions of photographers who have used your products, both ASMP Members and non-members alike, we ask you to do better. To stand with us to strengthen all that photography is and can be. To engage in good faith to find technological solutions that professionals can be proud to use.
Do better Adobe.

Gabriella Marks
Chair, American Society of Media Photographers
