Celebrating the power of photography to change minds, hearts, and perspectives
When Louis Daguerre invented a process to capture and develop real-life images in 1839, his discovery was seen as miraculous. But no one could predict the extent to which photography would transform the way people create, tell, and share stories.
The art form would be unrecognizable to Daguerre today, with digital cameras and generative AI-powered editing technologies unlocking new levels of creative freedom for seasoned photographers and amateurs alike. But one thing has not changed — the passion these people feel the first time they pick up a camera and point their lens at the world.
To celebrate World Photography Day, Adobe asked four photographers with different backgrounds and styles to reflect on what they love about their craft, what makes their work unique, and why photography still feels miraculous nearly two centuries after its invention.
Also, we’ve launched a wave of new capabilities in Adobe Photoshop to make image editing faster and more precise than ever. Because while tasks like compositing, upscaling, and content removals are essential, they should not distract photographers from what matters most — capturing and immortalizing unique moments to share with the world.
Matt Solie
At 20 years old, Matt Solie has already found more success than most photographers three times his age. Through his travel imagery and short videos, the Vancouver-based Solie has built a following of millions on Instagram.
Meanwhile, his Adobe Photoshop tutorials and Lightroom presets have made him a trusted resource for other photographers who want to improve their editing skills. Solie uses Adobe across his workflows — Photoshop and Lightroom for photo editing, Premiere Pro for short videos, and the generative AI capabilities of Firefly to bring the ideas in his mind to life.
In addition to his unique view of the world, Solie has set himself apart by staying humble. He is the first to admit that he still has much to learn about his craft and is committed to bringing his followers along on his learning journey through his work and his educational content. “I want people to feel they’re there with me, experiencing the countries and places I get to visit. Good photography is the closest you can get to that,” he said.
“Every photo has a different purpose – some are just pretty, some I take to be moving. But the biggest thing I want is for people see them and want to put themselves out there. I want to inspire them to travel, explore, and take photos of their own.”
-Matt Solie, photographer and content creator
Esther Havens Mann
Esther Havens Mann vividly remembers the moment photography entered her life. Inspired by her father’s slideshows in the 1970s, the eight-year-old Havens eventually saved enough money to buy her first 110 film camera and immediately rushed back home to start shooting scenes of her brothers, sisters, and cats. Today, the widely published humanitarian photographer tells stories of hope that connect her audience to social causes around the world.
Havens' images are not just beautiful. They are empowering, portraying her subjects as heroes of their communities. One of the most memorable people she has photographed was Mulitani, a woman that Havens met while on shoot in Malawi for the non-profit charity: water, and who would go on to break ground for a new clean water source for her small remote village.
After asking Mulitani what her name means, she responded that it translated to "What will you do with it?" Havens then asked her what she would do with the new water project, to which Mulitani responded, “I will take care of it like I care for a new baby”. For Havens, this poetic link between Mulitani’s name and intention for her community was a sign that she had found the key to telling this incredible woman’s story.
“I realized that to truly photograph someone I have to get close to them. The more I get to know people, the more their personality comes out.”
-Esther Havens Mann, artist, humanitarian photographer
Havens has been using Adobe products since the beginning of her career. She started by experimenting with and refining her Adobe Photoshop skills on an Apple iBook for hours each day. Twenty years later, she uses the Lightroom app on her iPhone to edit and process photos directly in the field.
Havens’ advice for new photographers, regardless of which camera or editing technologies they use, is to jump in headfirst and start shooting until they find their lane. “Photography can transform the way we think about people and situations in the world,” she said. “It’s amazing to see people without water get water, to see people in poverty get out of poverty. There are so many incredible stories to be told.”
Joel Rodriguez
London-based photographer Joel Rodriguez tells stories of vulnerability — of people and lifestyles that might otherwise remain hidden from society. Whether shooting documentary-style images, portraits, still lifes, or fashion scenes, Rodriguez’s photographs all convey a sense of raw vulnerability that encourages viewers to connect with their own emotions and insecurities.
Rodriguez also uses his photography to shift mindsets. As visual beings, he argues, people respond more viscerally to images than other artforms. That makes photos a powerful medium to drive positive change in the world. “I love to see my work have a social, political, cultural impact, even if it’s small,” he said. “When someone tells me they felt something after seeing one of my images, I know my job is done.”
Adobe features heavily in Rodriguez’ workflow, from mood boarding, to creating concepts for client review, to post-production. He uses Adobe Photoshop for detailed retouching and compositing, Lightroom for color grading, batch editing, and image management, and Bridge to organize and review large sets of imagery.
“Adobe is the core of my work. Without it, I couldn’t create the looks and feelings I want to convey. These solutions are a huge and important part of who I am as a creative and as a professional.”
-Joel Rodriguez, photographer, producer, director
Sadie Lynn
“There’s a lot more to photography than pressing a button on a camera,” said Sadie Lynn, a multimedia major from North Dakota who first picked up a camera to shoot photos for her high school yearbook. Sadie developed her signature style after photographing a local bowling alley that had recently burned down, and in whose decay she found a nostalgic beauty.
When she visited the building, she noticed a stack of chairs in the corner that hadn’t moved since she used to visit the bowling alley as a child, and which was now holding up part of its ceiling structure. That parallel to her past life made Sadie realize there’s always a story behind decaying structures, which is why she likes photographing them so much today.
“It’s melancholy to feel the emptiness of a building that used to be loved and cherished and now sits empty and alone. Through my photography, I want my audiences to feel that melancholy when looking at the abandoned places.”
-Sadie Lynn, photographer and multimedia artist
Finding the melancholy in abandoned structures. Source: Sadie Lynn.
Sadie also creates self-portraits that use symbolism to convey her past experiences and the feelings they elicited at the time. Take the image “Am I Fixed Yet,” which Lynn created as a reflection on an old wrist injury. By shooting the photo in analog and pouring fixer on the prints while developing them in her school’s darkroom, Sadie was able to cast lines on the image that look like tears running down the sides of the artwork.
When it comes to detailed editing work like fixing exposure issues or making micro-adjustments to individual image elements, Sadie uses Photoshop. She uses Lightroom for batch processing and specific editing tasks, like removing dust particles from her screen using the solution’s Eraser tool.
As a photography student on the move, Sadie loves having Lightroom on her phone as it allows her to make quick adjustments to snapshots while away from her computer. “If somebody needs me to deliver a photo right away, I can easily transfer it from my camera to my phone via Bluetooth and edit it using Lightroom within minutes,” she said. “It’s also great for creating Instagram posts.”
Expressing feelings and shared experiences through portraiture. Source: Sadie Lynn.
More creative freedom and focus with features powered by generative AI
Each of the artists we profiled for World Photography Day is a singular talent, but there are countless purpose-driven photographers out there using their cameras to illuminate the world and make it a more open and empathetic place. Adobe is proud to support this amazing community of creators with apps that empower them to keep pushing boundaries while cutting time and hassle from the editing process. The latest generative AI features we’ve brought to Photoshop reflect our commitment to their mission.
That includes features like Harmonize, which allows creators to blend different image elements into stunning compositions, and Generative Upscale, which they can use to make resolution enhancements of up to eight megapixels without sacrificing image clarity. And then there’s Projects, a new file management system that makes it easy for Photoshop users to organize and share group assets. To take advantage of inspiration when and wherever it strikes, explore the latest Photoshop innovations across the Photoshop beta on desktop and on the web and get the latest version of Photoshop mobile on iOS.