How to NOT change the path/uri after applying a style?
I've found a kinda nasty solution:

hook_preprocess_image_style(&amp;$variables) {
    $variables['uri'] = $variables['path'];
}

hook_preprocess_image(&amp;$vars) {
    if(array_key_exists('uri', $vars)) {
        $vars['path'] = $vars['uri'];
    }

    if(!isset($vars['style_name'])){
        return FALSE;
    }

    $image_styles = image_styles();

    foreach ($image_styles as $image_style_key =&gt; $image_style) {
        if ($vars['style_name'] == $image_style_key) {
            foreach ($image_style['effects'] as $effect_key =&gt; $effect) {
                if ($effect['name'] == 'myEffect') {
                    $vars['path'] = generateAPIURL($vars['path'], $effect['data']); //get baseURL from path and URL parameters from data
                    break;
                 }
            }
        }
    }
    return FALSE;
}