Dan Saelinger Reimagines Craft in the Age of AI in New Test Shoot

Photographer and AI Director Dan Saelinger has long been fascinated by the intersection of traditional craft and cutting-edge technology. Invited by Portland’s Mixed* to lead a workshop as part of their Story Lab series on October 15th (available on zoom), Dan’s talk will focus on how foundational photographic skills, storytelling, lighting, and visual intent can inform and elevate AI-generated imagery. Wanting to provide a case study, Dan created the test series of Native Products to explore how natural landscapes, scent, and texture could come together through a hybrid workflow.

The resulting images and animations combine practical studio photography with AI-generated environments, showing what’s possible when an artist’s technical foundation meets a willingness to experiment with new tools. As both photographer and director, Dan merges concept, craft, and collaboration, approaching each image as a complete creative ecosystem where lighting, styling, retouching, and post-production work in harmony. From his roots in classic rock and MTV-era visuals to his current exploration of AI and digital craft, Dan continues to push the boundaries of image-making while remaining grounded in storytelling and collaboration.

Tell me about the workshop and what inspired you to create this test shoot.

It’s part of the Mixed* Story Lab workshop series here in Portland, a community of creatives and technologists who are exploring how AI can be absorbed and understood within the creative process. I was invited to lead a session, and when I started thinking about what I wanted to talk about, I kept coming back to traditional craft. My approach is rooted in how analog photography principles, lighting, composition, storytelling, translate into AI creation. The Native project became a perfect case study to share during the talk, because it brings all of those ideas together in a tangible way.

What was your goal with the Native test?

I wanted to see if I could create something that felt truly practical, like a project I might have directed and shot in the studio. The question was: can I get AI to behave in a way that aligns with my creative language? That meant combining traditional photography with AI workflows to produce images that looked and felt like they were physically built, not digitally generated.

Why did you choose Native as the subject?

I’ve always liked their work and their aesthetic, and I thought their products provided an interesting challenge. Each scent has a distinct mood and character, so I used that as inspiration to build out different landscapes, each one evoking a different light, atmosphere, and feeling. It also gave me a reason to merge the outdoors with my studio work, which I don’t get to do often.

How did you approach the process technically?

The project involved blending practical and AI-generated elements. The products themselves and the shelf they sit on were photographed, along with some organic foreground elements like plants. The backgrounds were generated in Midjourney, and I used those to guide my lighting in the studio so that everything matched. After shooting, I refined the AI environments, composited the final stills, and then moved into animation, rebuilding product labels in After Effects and adding sound design using Firefly AI. All told, it took about two weeks to complete.

You’ve mentioned before that AI isn’t as effortless as people think. Did that hold true here?

Definitely. There’s a misconception that AI art is instant, but to create something that really works, it’s a meticulous process. Between generating, refining, matching lighting, compositing, animating, and sound design, it’s still a lot of work. But the exciting part is that I can do it all myself, without a big production budget. If this had been produced practically, it could’ve easily cost a couple of hundred thousand dollars. AI opens up new possibilities for experimentation that weren’t accessible before.

What do you hope people take away from the workshop?

That traditional craft still matters, maybe more than ever. The same skills that make a photograph compelling apply when working with AI. It’s not about abandoning what we know; it’s about using that knowledge to guide these new tools and create work that still feels human, intentional, and designed with purpose.