Selected photography

Saud Rifat began working with cameras at five. That early encounter became a decades-long study of image, narrative, and production craft. In 2002 he launched his first audiovisual company and learned the work from the ground up. By 2007 his focus had shifted to fashion photography, a decision that led to a national LUX Silver Award for Fashion and Beauty in 2011.

He founded Silver Snow Studios in Marbella, Spain, in 2013. Today he oversees international photo and film productions across Europe and the Middle East, working with precision and a producer's discipline.

His photography has been published in Vogue Italia and Harper's Bazaar Turkey. Brand clients include GHD International and Pfizer. On the production side, he has led shoots for O2 Slovakia, AsiaCell Iraq, Yves Saint Laurent UK, Herbalife UK, FIFA Esports, and an international campaign featuring Novak Djokovic.

Experience behind the lens gives Saud practical understanding of directors, cinematographers, stylists, and lighting crews. He anticipates needs, keeps productions running smoothly, and maintains a working environment that respects the craft.

Alongside his creative practice, Saud is advancing original research in cognitive science. His current focus includes Cognitive Singularity Theory and a reformulation of Lewin's Field Theory, frameworks designed to quantify autonomy and higher-order thought in human and machine systems.

Recasting Lewin's Field Theory (manuscript under peer review)

This paper updates Kurt Lewin's classic equation, B = f(P, E), into a time-indexed form: Bₜ = f(Pₜ, Eₜ). Behavior is treated as a dynamic field, updating continuously with new inputs and prior states.

The framework quantifies surprise using KL divergence and updates beliefs through Bayes' rule. Salient signals are broadcast through a goal-weighted global workspace and filtered by a higher-order thought gate that determines which information becomes part of conscious processing.

For decision behavior, predictions are mapped onto drift-diffusion parameters, providing a means to test and falsify theoretical claims against empirical data. The aim is to extend Lewin's original insight into a form compatible with modern cognitive science and machine learning systems.

This manuscript has been submitted and is currently under peer review. The preprint is available on Zenodo.

Cognitive Singularity Theory (work in progress)

CST addresses the question of when an artificial system moves from tool behavior to genuine autonomy. It defines that threshold using measurable signals and an explicit onset rule, ensuring the claim can be tested rather than assumed.

The framework tracks four signals in combination: self-model revision, goal independence, policy novelty, and access to higher-order thought. These are combined into a Cognitive Autonomy Index. Beliefs are updated with Bayes' rule and surprise is measured using KL divergence, with emphasis on observable shifts in behavior.

Autonomy is declared only when the index remains above a data-dependent threshold across multiple evaluation windows under decreasing assistance and stable or improving reward. The rule separates genuine autonomy from drift and ensures the test remains falsifiable across systems.

This work is ongoing. A technical brief is available on Zenodo.

Contact

For inquiries, collaborations, or representation:

info@saudrifat.com