Visual 1st announces 2023 program

The Visual 1st conference returns in October but in a new venue: the historic The General’s Residence at the Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture, featuring views of Aquatic Park, Alcatraz, and the far reaches of San Francisco Bay, and within walking distance of Fisherman’s Warf and surrounding hotels.

The executive-level networking and technology event will be Oct. 24-25, 2023. (There will also be a Dead Pixels Society meetup on the morning of Oct. 24 – stay tuned for more details.)

Here’s a look at some of the session highlights:

Profiting from Major Technology Transformation – How about AI?

Today’s thriving photo and video industry is the result of major technology transformations over the past 30 years. We’re now in the initial stages of another such upheaval, driven this time by Artificial Intelligence, and it’s shaping up to be the most pervasive and revolutionary of them all.

Fireside chat: Google Photos – The challenge of “Anything is Possible”

You’ve amassed over 1 billion users worldwide, and your top-flight engineering team has access to a trove of cutting-edge company-owned technologies, including machine learning, that they can leverage to develop almost any imaginable innovative photo or video product feature. So how do you decide which ones to go for, and which ones to pass on? And, most importantly, how do these strategic product innovation choices support your customer-focused mission: “A home for your memories so you can save and share what matters?”

These questions are core to the job description of John Fisher, head of the Google Photos engineering team in charge of developing Google Photos’ photo & video storage, reminiscing, sharing, editing, and printing features.

Fireside chat: Tim McCain – From homelessness to success as a photo entrepreneur and beyond

Tim McCain, volume photography software pioneer and founder of PhotoLynx (acquired by ImageQuix, which was acquired last fall by Charlesbank Capital Partners) takes us through his remarkable journey: From being brought up homeless to becoming a twice-acquired developer of innovative photography workflow and e-commerce software.

Beyond succeeding in the business world, Tim was also ordained as a pastor at age 47, and recently founded KidsforPics, a non-profit to provide photos, yearbooks and cameras to homeless and other students living in poverty.

Panel discussion topics

The event will feature four panels exploring innovation opportunities for:

• AI IMAGE CURATION 2.0 – WHEN AI-BASED AUTO-TAGGING IS SO YESTERDAY

• AI IMAGE CREATION – EXPLORING WHERE BOUNDLESS CREATIVITY COULD TAKE US

• THE FUTURE OF STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY AIN’T WHAT IT USED TO BE

• WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE PHOTO PRINTING MARKET – TODAY’S CONSUMERS ARE DIGITAL, ONLINE, AND DO VIDEO. NOW WHAT?

Here’s our video report from 2022: