Today, we received an email from Microsoft.
Azure AI Custom Vision will cease this coming September 2028, so there's still some time... but it's a moment to reflect.
Not because we didn't see it coming and it's still far off, but because it suddenly marks the end of something that was much more to us than just a tool. I think our Teun won't make it to 2028, as everything in tech moves so rapidly. But this was Teun, our Teun from PB, which Dennis crafted so brilliantly in 2018, when we were already deeply engaged with AI in image processing.
How It Began
In 2018, Dennis (and a bit of me) built something that barely existed at the time. No buzzwords, no AI hype — just a concrete problem. We had too many images, too much manual work, and it simply took too long to go live. And then Teun emerged. A system that looked, made decisions, and processed images autonomously. Not perfect, but ours.
What Teun Really Did
Teun was never just an AI tool. It was our entire production line.
From shoot to selection, to editing, to live — everything in one flow.
What used to take days, now took minutes.
What was once manual labour became system logic. We moved from manually selecting and editing to a scalable machine that could handle thousands of images per week. And perhaps more importantly: we gained control.
The Magic Wasn't in AI
The real strength lay in how we thought. Teun recognised angles, types, and products. It automatically made crops, set up compositions, and ensured everything was immediately suitable for e-commerce. Yes, there was technology underneath — Custom Vision, detection, Photoshop automation — but that was never the story.
The real story was this: We turned image production into a system.
And Now That Foundation Ends
Microsoft says: we are closing this chapter.
And that feels strange. You build on it for years. You trust it. You refine it further and further. And then you suddenly realise it's finite.
But Here It Gets Interesting
Because at the same time, we know: we are already further along. Teun as it was, no longer exists.
We have reinvented it. Not as a pipeline, but as a thinking system.
Zappa
Where Teun processed images, Zappa generates the world around them.
No more classification, but intention.
No more crop, but composition.
No more detection, but identity.
It's not an upgrade — it's a different category.
What Remains
Perhaps the name. Certainly the thought.
Because the true innovation of Teun was never in the technology, but in the choice to do things differently.
Daring to automate where others still work manually.
The End of an Era
Yes.
But also exactly how it should be.
Tools come and go. Systems evolve. What you build is overtaken — and if you're lucky, you do that yourself.
Thank You, Teun
For everything you have given us.
For speed, for calm, and for scale.
But above all, for the insight that things can be different.
#Endoor
We continue to build. #Always.
BUT TEUN is still around for a while!
Teun is still here, and in the coming weeks, he will continue doing what he has always done: processing genuine studio photography images within Studio PB. So we will also continue to conduct model shoots for e-commerce, and thankfully so. Let AI be a part of what we do, but not something that makes the craft itself obsolete — that would be a shame for everything that makes this work so beautiful. So yes, we continue. With light, with people, with real images. And with Teun, who will keep running as he has for years. See you soon at Studio PB.
Peet.