We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Humberto Vidal a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Humberto, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start big picture – what are some of biggest trends you are seeing in your industry?

Not only in Photography but maybe in all professions, the two words that now have everybody nervous -or excited- are Artificial Intelligence. But maybe in my specific field, photography, the people or the professionals are more worried and disoriented than in other professions. Evidently, there are going to be a lot of changes, actually, happening right now, but from my point of view, nothing is going to disappear or is going to be eliminated, but is going to change, and is going to change a lot. Weddings, sporting events, photojournalism, etc., these kinds of photography are not going to be replaced by AI, but products and stock photography, for sure are going to have a big change. So, the time is now to embrace this change from the beginning and use it in our favor, instead of seeing it as a threat.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am a Venezuelan living in South Florida since 2001. Before moving here, I studied and worked in business-related fields for over 15 years. After several years here, I decided to pursue my real passion and studied Photography at college level. Since 2010 I’ve been working full-time as Professional Photographer and teacher, shooting every kind of genre: fashion, events, fitness, etc. I also do a lot of Fine Art Photography, with several solo and group exhibitions in different countries and cities. During the last few years, I have been shooting “the same”, but paying more attention to the media where my work is used or seen, what I mean or I want to say, is that at the beginning my pictures were printed for magazines, catalogs, or wedding albums; right now most the pictures are seen in the small screens from a smartphone. The content is the same, but the way to show it has changed dramatically.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I tried to study and work in fine arts fields since a was a kid. My parents hired a psychologist since in theory I was “disoriented”, and I didn’t know what to study at college. Well, I was noticeably clear and the very first option, the second, and the third in all psychology test batteries were the same: art-related studies. But even with these “proofs”, it was not enough, and in the end, I finished studying business, I got an MBA, and I can’t complain about my job, but I wasn’t happy. I started to study Photography but at the beginning, just as a hobby. But one day I noticed that I was super happy creating images for clients, and I decided to switch 180º from what was I doing and decided to just concentrate on photography and fulfill my dreams.

Can you share your view on NFTs? (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

From the beginning, I knew that it was going to be a very temporary fad. I received hundreds of requests for invitations, mint NFTs, and register my work in the blockchain. Well, all the companies that contacted me, I think all of them are not alive, or if not, are doing it very badly right now. In my specific field, art is to be touched, to be seen, and to admire, not just “zeros” and “ones” to say that I have it but I can’t show it. If the problem is the provenance, this can be automated, but in the form of NFTs or with the blockchain.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://humbertovidalphoto.com/
• Instagram: @humbertovidalphoto
• Facebook: @humbertovidalphoto
• Linkedin: @humbertovidalphoto
• Twitter: @humbertovidalphoto
• Youtube: @humbertovidalphoto
• Yelp: @humbertovidalphoto

Image Credits
Lewis Hamilton and Naomi Campbell are in the pictures. All pictures are mine