OUR STORY
One photographer, one Samoyed, and a lot of late nights
Photo Spells started with a simple frustration: batch editing photos should not take six hours. Here is how a side project turned into something real.
From Lightroom burnout to AI magic
Maren Solvik spent years as a wedding photographer in Trondheim, Norway. She loved the creative work but dreaded what came after: hours upon hours of batch editing in Lightroom. Six-plus hours per batch was normal. Some weekends, the editing took longer than the shoot itself.
In late 2022, she started tinkering with a side project. What if AI could handle the repetitive transformations while she focused on the creative decisions? The first prototype was rough, but it worked. And it was fast.
Then something funny happened. Pixel, her Samoyed puppy, kept showing up in every demo photo she shared. People loved it. He became the unofficial mascot before anyone planned it that way.
By 2024, Maren quit freelancing to go full-time on Photo Spells. No regrets (though she does miss the wedding cake).
The studio
Photo Spells runs out of a converted boathouse on the Nidelva river in Trondheim. It is cozy, a little chaotic, and always smells faintly of dog treats. Pixel has his own bed under the standing desk. He takes his role as office morale officer very seriously.
The team is small on purpose. Maren handles product and design. Kaja, an ML engineer working remote from Oslo, builds the models. And there is an intern who mostly walks Pixel (but also helps with testing). That is the whole crew.
What we believe
Magic should be simple
No learning curve, no 47-step tutorials. Pick a spell, upload a photo, and watch it transform. If your grandma cannot figure it out, we have work to do.
Your photos stay yours
We process your images and then we forget them. No training on your data, no sharing, no surprises. Privacy is not a feature we brag about. It is just how things should work.
Speed matters
Waiting around for renders is the old way. Our spells run fast because your time is worth more than your patience. Most transformations finish in under ten seconds.
How we got here
- 2022 First prototype. Maren builds a scrappy AI editor on nights and weekends. Pixel photobombs the first demo.
- 2023 Private beta opens. 200 photographers sign up and start stress-testing everything.
- 2024 Full public launch. Maren goes full-time. Kaja joins from Oslo.
- 2025 API access and batch mode ship. Pro photographers and studios start integrating Photo Spells into their workflows.
- 2026 20+ spells available. 12,000 creators and counting. Pixel still has not learned to fetch, but he is very good at sitting on keyboards.
Ready to try some magic?
Join thousands of creators who have traded tedious editing for something a lot more fun.