AI trouble and farewell to the glacier – the photo news of the week 22/2026

The past photo week provided some excitement and AI is back in the game: A renowned gallery in Manhattan is exhibiting an AI-colored version of one of the most famous photos in history and offering it for sale – without asking. Software subscriptions are becoming more expensive again. And a moving documentary reminds us that not only images but also the landscapes we photograph can disappear forever.

Ansel Adams, AI and die Ask for respect

The Danziger Gallery in New York exhibited an AI-generated color version of Ansel Adams’ iconic photo “Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico” at the Photography Show in April – in three sizes, in editions of ten, and for sale. The prompt? “Make a realistic color version of Ansel Adams’ iconic ‘Moonrise Over Hernandez'”. The image was then edited, proofed and put onto paper by a master printer for months.

The problem: Nobody asked the Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust. From a legal point of view, gallery owner James Danziger may be in the right, because the photo from 1941 is in the public domain. Morally, things are different. The trust noted that Adams fought throughout his life to establish photography as an art form – and that no one should make money off someone else’s name, reputation and work without permission.

Danziger defended himself (): He created the picture out of love for the original and wanted to show what Adams might have seen in color at that moment. A copyright attorney confirmed that the photo is in the public domain. But sometimes love alone isn’t enough – a phone call would have been enough.

VSCO wants to use photos for AI

There is also news about the software that is less encouraging. VSCO, the photography app popular with many creatives, has changed its terms of service and privacy policy. From June 22nd, the company will be allowed to use uploaded photos to train AI models – anonymously, of course, as they say. Specifically: “We may use your data for research and development to understand and improve our or our partners’ services, including artificial intelligence and machine learning models.”

The data will be retained “only for as long as we reasonably need it for the stated purposes” – potentially forever. Many users are disappointed. VSCO has always been an app for creatives, and now its images are used to feed a soulless machine. If you don’t want that, you’ll probably have to leave the app. At least you still have the option of not accepting the new conditions – but then you will no longer be able to use the app.

Capture One increases prices by six percent

Speaking of software: Capture One will increase the prices for all products – Pro, All-in-One, Studio – by six percent from June 2nd. This applies to monthly and annual subscriptions as well as perpetual licenses. Those who pay monthly will be informed seven and three days before the renewal, annual subscribers 30, seven and three days before.

For the Pro subscription, this means: Instead of $17 a month if paid annually, it will now be around $12 more per year. Monthly without commitment, the price rises to over $27. The all-in-one version with iPad app and cloud functions climbs to almost $25 per month, and the studio subscription to just under $49.

Capture One justifies the increase with increased costs for development and support. After all, anyone who switches from a monthly subscription to an annual subscription before June 2nd will still secure the old price. And compared to other providers, the increase is moderate – but it is another sign that the days of cheap subscriptions in photo software are over.

Vienna auctions: record prices and tradition

The news from Vienna is more encouraging. The OstLicht Camera Auction Spring 2026 on May 28 brought impressive results: a Leica MP pre-series from 1956 fetched 1.14 million euros – one of the most expensive post-war Leicas ever auctioned. There were also highlights at the photo auction on the same day: a large-format print by René Burri sold for 43,200 euros, a collage by Peter Beard for 54,000 euros.

OstLicht continues the tradition of the WestLicht auctions, which have established Vienna as a European address for photo auctions since 2002. And best of all, collectors with smaller budgets also get their money’s worth. Part of the proceeds goes to the work of the non-profit organization WestLicht. The next photo auction will take place on September 13th as part of the parallel art fair.

Time and Water: A Film About Disappearance

Finally, a recommendation that makes you think. The documentary “Time and Water” by Sara Dosa (known for “Fire of Love”) is taking part in the Sundance Film Festival and will be in cinemas from May 29th (trailer). It tells the story of Icelandic writer Andri Snær Magnason, who is confronted with the death of his country’s glaciers and the loss of his grandparents.

Magnason, who in 2019 gave the eulogy for Okjökull, the first Icelandic glacier to lose its status, tries to capture in archive footage, photos and family films what is disappearing: memories, time, water. The film is “polytemporal,” as Dosa says – it connects past, present and future. And it shows that not only images, but also the world we photograph can be lost forever if we do nothing.

Glaciers are time capsules of the earth, they store what was in the air and water – including our pollution. Iceland’s glaciers are about 2,500 years old, older than the people who live there. By 2100, half of the remaining ice volume could be gone, and perhaps all of it by 2200. “Time and Water” is not a film that overwhelms with a doomsday mood, but it shows emphatically: the future is still open, but it is up to us to shape it.

(tho)