In the Age of AI, Why Being Authentic Matters and How to Actually Make That Happen
With AI-generated content saturating the internet, authenticity has become more important than ever—especially in photography and visual storytelling. While artificial intelligence can create polished images, people are starting to scroll right past them. Why? Because they can feel when something is real—and when it isn’t.
What Does Google Say About Authenticity?
Google's algorithm has evolved to prioritise what’s called E-E-A-T: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. AI can tick some of those boxes (especially with clever prompts), but what it lacks is lived experience. When it comes to photography and human-centric content, Google looks for signs of original, first-hand work—something AI simply can’t replicate.
Photos with metadata, natural imperfections, or location-specific relevance tend to perform better in search rankings because Google sees them as trustworthy. AI-generated images, by contrast, are often flagged as stock-style or generic—good for filler, not for connection.
Why Real Photos Still Win
Fast Facts for ya: photos with faces (especially those of the social media account owner) get 38% more ‘likes’, 32% more comments and increase engagement rates by a whopping 50% compared to stock or generated imagery.
People are craving real. In business, connection is currency. A beautifully lit, AI-rendered yoga class might catch someone’s eye, but a slightly grainy photo of an actual class, mid-laughter, creates emotional resonance. The same goes for behind-the-scenes shots, studio vibes, and personality-filled portraits. They may not be perfect, but they’re alive. And just to prove my point…here’s a REAL photo of me. Now I HATE having my photo in the public domain. I’ve been doing it for way too long and I’m just getting too old lol. But when you see me, you CONNECT to me, and regardless of how I feel about myself, that helps me in business, so I just have to suck it up and get on with it.
‘Being Your Brand’ in an authentic way is an increasingly important factor as AI-generated images start infiltrating digital marketing.
My Approach to Content Creation & Photography
But being authentic doesn’t mean a live video to your fan base in bad lighting and pyjamas. I encourage my clients to schedule a photography branding session every 3-6 months (or even once a year depending how much they want to ‘turn up’ for their brand). And this doesn’t mean I wave an iPhone around and call it ‘content’. I come with about $20,000 worth of professional photography kit and 20 years of experience in both shooting and editing people.
Together we do some planning before I arrive so we know the stories you want told visually either with stills or video.
I also think like a trained journalist when I’m there with my camera, looking for fresh angles and hooks to tell your business story in a way that is authentic and real.
And when you think about it like this, ‘being your brand’ doesn’t sound so scary after all, now, does it?
