Confession: It takes me 20 hours to take good professional photos.  Granted, part of my job is speaking to large audiences, and that requires an extremely high-quality picture that wasn’t necessary when I was in corporate America.  That said, I think the bar continues to go up for all of us and it’s amazing how much time it takes!

First, I have to find a photographer. I’ve gotten burned on this a few times, paying hundreds of dollars on images that were duds. Then I need to an outfit (typically multiple because these photographers aren’t cheap, and I want to get the most out of my time) and jewelry (which I always forget). Then I find a make-up artist (I live life in mascara and ChapStick and – turns out – that doesn’t look great in pictures). Next, I give up 3+ hours to cart myself to whatever location this person has chosen, get a pound of makeup put on, get into clothes I don’t actually like, and smile.  That results in this:

So, when I read this article about professional photos done by Ai, I was intrigued. No need to find an outfit, get the makeup right, a photographer. In fact, no need to leave my desk at all. I CAN DO IT IN MY PJS?!?! Yes please. 

Here’s what I got (aka: The Wins):

Here’s what else I got (aka: The Many Fails):

In conclusion, are these as good as the best ones I’ve had professionally done in the past? No.

Am I amazed by how good (some of them) are? Absolutely.

Did it generate quite a bit of laughter? 100%

Here’s the company we used in case you want to try it for yourself! AI Headshots | Aragon AI