Note to readers of this beta site: “XYZ” is a placeholder for a trio of letters that are not public yet.
1. About Me
I’m a photographer based in Chicago. I began photographing in the late 1970s when I was in college, and every year since—from the height of the film era into the maturation of the digital era—I have made at least part of my income from photography.
Most of my photography over the years has been “corporate”-style work for nonprofits: people, programs, and events. I’ve taken more than a million such photos in the digital era, but most of those pictures are of no great interest to anyone other than the clients who commissioned me to take them.
(For the record, I have never worked as a photojournalist or a news photographer, which is why XYZ was designed to cover a wide range of photographic genres far beyond “news” and “photojournalism” subjects.)
A few people come to websites like this to see what the subject looks like: for them, this is me in 2021, when this site was launched.
But most people coming to this website are here because XYZ sent them here, so let’s quickly retrace the development of that project:
Most of my photography over the years has been “corporate”-style work for nonprofits: people, programs, and events. I’ve taken more than a million such photos in the digital era, but most of those pictures are of no great interest to anyone other than the clients who commissioned me to take them.
(For the record, I have never worked as a photojournalist or a news photographer, which is why XYZ was designed to cover a wide range of photographic genres far beyond “news” and “photojournalism” subjects.)
A few people come to websites like this to see what the subject looks like: for them, this is me in 2021, when this site was launched.
But most people coming to this website are here because XYZ sent them here, so let’s quickly retrace the development of that project:
2. About the inspiration for XYZ
By the mid-1990s, professional photographers were becoming aware of what might be called the “Digital Dilemma,” the biggest downside of the digital-imaging era:
How does the public decide which visual images can be trusted now that trustworthiness can no longer be judged by looking?
From time immemorial, humans’ eyes have been perhaps the most trustworthy of the five senses. So what are people supposed to do when they can no longer believe their eyes?
How does the public decide which visual images can be trusted now that trustworthiness can no longer be judged by looking?
From time immemorial, humans’ eyes have been perhaps the most trustworthy of the five senses. So what are people supposed to do when they can no longer believe their eyes?
3. About the creation of the XYZ.photos label
While working in the darkroom one night late in 1996, I conceived of a label that photographers could attach to their photographs in order to reassure skeptical viewers.
The idea was that the label could serve as the photographer’s guarantee that a photo has all of the same characteristics that trusted photographs have.
There were a lot of bumps and dead-ends during the years of development, but the goal was always the same: simplify a lot of complex principles so that the resulting label could be used by anyone, using even the simplest camera.
The greatest progress came after the discovery that the behavior of light could be used to draw the line on photo manipulation; almost as significant was the realization that the “Nonfiction” label on books could serve as a model for a label designed for photographs.
The idea was that the label could serve as the photographer’s guarantee that a photo has all of the same characteristics that trusted photographs have.
There were a lot of bumps and dead-ends during the years of development, but the goal was always the same: simplify a lot of complex principles so that the resulting label could be used by anyone, using even the simplest camera.
The greatest progress came after the discovery that the behavior of light could be used to draw the line on photo manipulation; almost as significant was the realization that the “Nonfiction” label on books could serve as a model for a label designed for photographs.
4. About the initial launch of XYZ
Eventually everything came together into what is now called XYZ.photos (it had borne several different names during its development).
When the site was initially launched in 2021, almost no one saw the danger of images that look like undoctored photographs but are not—so the website soon disappeared from view, essentially unnoticed.
But today almost everyone sees the danger of images that look like undoctored images but are not.
What changed people’s minds? AI-generated imaging, which was introduced to the public in late 2021 and early 2022.
The widespread awareness of AI meant that XYZ’s time was finally coming, so in 2022 the website was taken offline for comprehensive updating before being relaunched.
When the site was initially launched in 2021, almost no one saw the danger of images that look like undoctored photographs but are not—so the website soon disappeared from view, essentially unnoticed.
But today almost everyone sees the danger of images that look like undoctored images but are not.
What changed people’s minds? AI-generated imaging, which was introduced to the public in late 2021 and early 2022.
The widespread awareness of AI meant that XYZ’s time was finally coming, so in 2022 the website was taken offline for comprehensive updating before being relaunched.
5. About the creation of XYZ.video
XYZ.video started coming together in early 2024, while XYZ.photos was still being updated.
Since a video is basically a lot of photos seen in quick succession — typically 24 or 30 photos every second — most of the explanatory background bits for XYZ.video could be adapted from the XYZ.photos website.
From there it was just a matter of identifying nine requirements for a video Trust Test that would correspond to the nine requirements of the photo Trust Test.
Everything finally came into order, and in December 2025, XYZ.video was launched and XYZ.photos was relaunched.
Since a video is basically a lot of photos seen in quick succession — typically 24 or 30 photos every second — most of the explanatory background bits for XYZ.video could be adapted from the XYZ.photos website.
From there it was just a matter of identifying nine requirements for a video Trust Test that would correspond to the nine requirements of the photo Trust Test.
Everything finally came into order, and in December 2025, XYZ.video was launched and XYZ.photos was relaunched.
6. About XYZ’s future
Although the two XYZ siblings (xyz.photos and xyz.video) have been published, they will never really be “finished.” Both Trust Tests will remain essentially unchanged, but various details on both sites will undergo continual updating to keep up with new technologies and to reflect user input.
Which is how it should be, just as the importance of personal visual “records” will always remain the same even though billions of different images will be created with every new day.
As it says on the ttg.photos website:
“From ancient cave paintings created thousands of years ago to an unforgettable image that will be recorded somewhere on the planet tomorrow afternoon...
“. . . humankind will always attach a unique value to the undoctored record of what one person saw, in one small corner of the world, at one unrepeatable moment in time.”
Which is how it should be, just as the importance of personal visual “records” will always remain the same even though billions of different images will be created with every new day.
As it says on the ttg.photos website:
“From ancient cave paintings created thousands of years ago to an unforgettable image that will be recorded somewhere on the planet tomorrow afternoon...
“. . . humankind will always attach a unique value to the undoctored record of what one person saw, in one small corner of the world, at one unrepeatable moment in time.”