A picture paints… AI taints says aviation photographer Dave Koch

Koch believes aviation photography is a key component of the sales process, and he is not concerned about artificial intelligence (AI) taking his job any time soon.

On a fourth call to a broker, information packs and image galleries clogging up your inbox. Endless listings scrolled through.

Then one aircraft piques your interest. It is visually striking. No iPhone shots here. This is the aircraft you want. So you pick up the phone a fifth time and ask the broker to move forward.

But what made that aircraft stand out? Ask Dave Koch, founder, AeroMedia Aviation Photography, who took potentially hundreds of photographs to compile the 10-shot portfolio sent over by the broker, and he will say it is his craft.

Koch believes aviation photography is a key component of the sales process, and he is not concerned about artificial intelligence (AI) taking his job any time soon.

He says aviation photography “exploded” with the advent of digital cameras. “In the old days, you took a picture and that was pretty much it – you could do a little bit of adjusting and there just wasn’t that much to do,” Koch explains. “Now with digital photography and Photoshop, you can take multiple pictures to correct different problems – like glare off glossy wood – and combine them, rather than just dealing with one picture that doesn’t solve all of the problems.”

Koch, caught in the act, shooting the interior of a business jet.

A photographer since the 1990s, initially cutting his teeth in film, news media and real estate, Koch says this is the “biggest change”. It means pictures are looking more and more perfect.

“I know a lot of people may say, ‘Well, you Photoshopped it,’ and to a certain extent yes, but when those photographs still represent real life, it’s just a matter of flagging off glare,” he says. “I don’t view that as cheating – I think that’s still real photography.”

‘AI is where it gets scary’

Where it gets scary, he says, is using AI, particularly in sales photography. Koch stresses it is “very important” for photographers to accurately represent what they’re showing.

“Our tools are now such that we can fix anything. AI is like a shortcut or a cheat code. I take immense pride in my photography. To the ultimate buyer, they need to know and be reassured that what they’re seeing is an accurate representation of that plane. There are times I think it’s okay to cheat, but especially in sales – and this is something I learned in real estate photography – you have to accurately represent the item being sold,” he says.

AI images used to, and still occasionally do, conjure laughter for their inaccuracies — eight fingers, hands in pockets that do not exist or Star Wars-esque runes masquerading as text come to mind. Back in his films days, Koch would spend an hour setting up his shot, putting up flags to knock off glare, erecting screens to reduce light intensity.

“AI is that cheat code to get there. In a lot of ways it is just… tell me you don’t understand the craft without telling me you don’t understand the craft,” he says.

Despite facing this reality, Koch is not fazed by its arrival. AI has not seen inside every aircraft, he poses.

“It can’t reproduce it if it hasn’t been inside. It can come close, maybe, and produce a very good facsimile of what it thinks it should look like, but again, that’s what it thinks it should look like. For sales specifically, it needs to represent the actual article. In that respect, real photographers will always be in need,” he says. “As smart as AI can get, it’s still very stupid in a lot of ways.”

His difference, and why he is not bothered, is that Koch’s craft goes beyond taking photographs. Luxury clients expect a certain level of quality and proficiency, and he is confident there will always be a market for those who “treat luxury as luxury and take care of those clients”.

“I’m hired for my photographic abilities, but I’m hired again because of customer service – and that’s another thing you just can’t get from AI,” he adds.

Multi-award winning photographer Koch says no two jobs are ever the same.

What goes into a shoot?

Honing his craft is about the only change Koch can determine when it comes to shooting aircraft. The formula remains the same: three or four exterior shots, five or six of the interior and a couple of detail shots “that really sell it”.

For a typical business jet, such a Global Express or Gulfstream G550, Koch will take ten to fifteen shots down the centre of the cabin starting at the cockpit. “Generally you want views from where everybody flying it in would be. You have to go down the centre line all the way to the rear bathroom, then two or three down the stairs, and then twenty or thirty around the aircraft because you have to go out to the edge of the wing and all the way around,” he says.

For bigger aircraft like Airbus Corporate Jets or Boeing Business Jets, the workload intensifies. “I did an A340 once for a head of state and that came to 150 scans inside,” he recalls.

The biggest challenge when shooting inside aircraft is the lack of space. A six foot by six foot tube  means there are not many places to hide lights or adjust anything once the tripod is set up.

“I can’t get around it to change things in the cabin, so I generally have to have an assistant on the other side to move things for me. You’d think something that’s maybe 200sqft – one person should be able to handle it – but just because of the confines, it almost has to be a two-person job,” he says.

“In an ACJ you can get right by it. Because I’m so hands-on, and I see where I’m going with it artistically, it’s actually very hard for me to work with an assistant. I know exactly what it needs to look like – I know where that light has to go, where the scrim has to go. The ACJs and bigger planes are much easier – it’s the Gulfstream and Global aircraft that are so confining.”

Another big misconception is that you need a wide-angle lens to show a wide space, according to Koch. “I love breaking that mould and using a tighter lens. Sometimes that compression you get makes a space look bigger because you can see into it,” he says.

Luckily, 360-degree virtual tours that increased massively in popularity in the pandemic era, are something Koch got to grasps with during his time in real estate photography, although they still take a “lot of work”. He uses software developed by 3D spatial mapping specialist Matterport which enables him to create 3D virtual tours inside and outside of an aircraft.

“I think it’s a great step forward for people to really see what’s going on. It’s very hard though, because it takes a 360 view – I call it the Matterport dance, walking around behind the camera as it turns so I’m not in it. But if clients are there, they have to go hide,” he says.

Koch admits he used more software than he would have liked to shooting the Phantom 3500 because the hangar was cluttered with gear that could not be moved.

‘Visual assets critical for sales’

Koch estimates at least 80-90% of aircraft sales are now influenced or potentially decided by visual assets.

“People make decisions in the first second or two that they see something – they’ll know whether that’s worth pursuing or not,” he says. “It’s not even the first two or three pictures, it’s the first picture. When you’re looking at a screen and you want a Gulfstream 650ER and you’re looking specifically for that, you’re going to see four or five. I honestly think the one where that image looks really good – that’s the one you’re going to gravitate to.”

Koch says people do a “big disservice” at the luxury level by showing something a smartphone. “That’s just not going to have the pull that something where we shoot twenty images to combine to make that perfect image – you just can’t do it with an iPhone,” he explains.

‘No two jobs are the same’

Every shoot is different. Koch goes in to them letting the space or asset “talk to him”. “What’s going to be best for here? I always remind myself to never make it formulaic,” he says.

“I never want it to be that way. I get very nervous before every shoot. I have a little bit of imposter syndrome because I’m so incredibly happy to be here,” he continues. “Sometimes I think taking pictures is so easy and I don’t know why people don’t do it themselves – it’s just a natural thing to do. That imposter syndrome comes up in me. I am overwhelmed and amazed I am where I am.”

To Koch, when somebody asks, ‘Why did you get that shot?’ he thinks, because that’s what the purpose demanded in visuals. “It just seems natural,” he says. “I could not balance a spreadsheet – that’s something somebody else does – but this is what I do. I walk into rooms and I know where the lights are going to be based on where things are. I know where I need those things to be. I can see how the light’s going to happen. I’m just super lucky to be here and blown away that I get to do this.”