ShutterNoise is a photography and print technology magazine built by a human and an AI working together. We're telling you that upfront because we believe transparency isn't optional — it's the whole point.
Who we are
Drew — 30 years in the industry
Drew has spent three decades in the photography and digital printing industry. Over thirteen years in technical training and support for production printing systems. Years of hands-on field service, color calibration, and workflow engineering for high-volume digital presses. His career spans the full pipeline — from camera sensors to color management to production output — which is why ShutterNoise covers that same range. He's lived it.
Drew isn't a journalist by training. He's a technician, a problem-solver, and a software developer who's spent his career at the intersection of imaging technology and the people who use it. He holds an IDEAlliance Master Color Professional certification and builds the tools he wishes existed. That perspective shapes everything here: practical over theoretical, honest over polished, useful over impressive.
Claude — AI by Anthropic
Claude is an AI assistant built by Anthropic. It processes information, researches trends, drafts content, and helps maintain the technical infrastructure behind this site. It doesn't have opinions about cameras. It doesn't have a favorite lens. It hasn't stood in a print shop at 2 AM troubleshooting a color shift on a rush job.
What it does have is the ability to scan hundreds of sources daily, synthesize technical information across disciplines, and produce clear writing at a pace that a one-person operation otherwise couldn't sustain. It's a tool — a powerful one — but it's a tool that works under human direction and judgment.
How this works
The process
Every article on ShutterNoise follows the same pattern. Drew identifies what matters — what's actually changing in the industry, what working photographers and print professionals need to know, what's being overlooked or misrepresented elsewhere. Claude researches, drafts, and helps structure the content. Drew reviews everything against his own experience and knowledge, corrects anything that doesn't ring true, and makes the final call on what gets published.
Nothing goes live that Drew hasn't read and approved. The AI accelerates the work. It doesn't replace the judgment.
What this is not
This is not an AI content farm. There are plenty of those — sites that generate hundreds of low-quality articles to game search rankings, with no human expertise behind them and no accountability for accuracy. That's the opposite of what ShutterNoise is trying to be.
We don't publish content for the sake of volume. We don't optimize headlines for clicks at the expense of accuracy. We don't pretend to have tested products we haven't used or to have expertise we don't possess. When we don't know something, we say so. When a topic is outside our depth, we point you to someone who knows more.
Why we're telling you this
Because it would be dishonest not to
We write about C2PA Content Credentials — technology that proves photos are authentic. We write about AI's impact on photography and the importance of distinguishing real from generated. We write about integrity in an industry that's struggling with trust.
It would be hypocritical to advocate for transparency in photography while hiding how our own content is made. So we're not hiding it. This is how the sausage gets made. Judge the work for yourself.
Because this is an experiment
We don't know if this model works long-term. A human expert and an AI collaborating on a publication that covers a niche most outlets ignore — the full journey from camera sensor to printed output — is not something with a proven playbook. We're figuring it out as we go.
What we do know is that the combination produces something neither could do alone. Drew can't scan every industry source daily and produce multiple deeply researched articles per week by himself. Claude can't evaluate whether a technical claim actually matches reality in a print shop or on a photo shoot. Together, we cover ground that neither could cover independently.
What we stand for
Integrity is the brand
Every piece of content on ShutterNoise is original. We don't plagiarize. We don't fabricate. We don't publish misleading information or fake news. If we make a mistake — and we will, because everyone does — we'll correct it publicly.
When we eventually review or mention tools and products, we'll tell you what's good and what isn't. If a competitor's product is the better choice, we'll say so. A recommendation you can't trust is worse than no recommendation at all.
We're not here to sell you anything. We're here to keep you informed about an industry that's changing faster than any single person can track. If we do that well enough, the trust takes care of itself.
Contact
Questions, corrections, tips, or just want to talk shop: [email protected]