Experienced: I’m a professional photo retoucher and hands-on studio director with 15 years experience at some of the top names in television entertainment: MTV, USA Network, Syfy Channel, and Comedy Central. I’ve produced numerous high-profile and national consumer ad campaigns, including high-rez artwork and final mechanicals for billboards, subway advertising, bus shelters and phone kiosks, and newspaper and magazine ads.

Passionate: My first love is image manipulation and retouching. Each image I work on presents an opportunity to transform the brutal honesty of the raw capture into something higher… something beautiful. My work is part artistry and part technique, with a dash of alchemy. I believe that when I do my best work, no one should notice. It’s an illusion, of course, but the final image needs to be convincing. First and foremost it must meet the needs of the project, and satisfy the creative team charged with expressing a particular visual message. Yet beyond that there are numerous ways an image can be enhanced and improved, and I take pride in bringing my own point of view to the table. Do the elements come together to create a harmonious whole? Are the skin textures and colors honest? Is there detail in the highlights and shadows? Are the neutrals… neutral? Can the emphasis of the image be improved? Should the dynamic range be expanded? Do the colors need to be juiced up or toned down? I believe in non-destructive editing and flexible files — files that can be easily resized, recomposed, color corrected, or reverted. So, well-named adjustment layers and the appropriate use of smart objects are indispensable. There are many powerful tools available to today’s digital artist and retoucher, but for color correction I mostly employ curves in any the three major color spaces. I keep a constant eye on the info palette for the relationships between numbers. I love big-bang techniques like channel blending, color correction in Lab, or the thoughtful use of filters, but I’m no stranger to detailed pixel-by-pixel work like dodging and burning, cloning, subtle warping, or a hand-drawn mask.

Versatile: Besides photo retouching, I’m an ace studio artist with top prepress skills in InDesign and Illustrator. Let's not overlook the web, which we have started to tap as a resource and workflow tool. First and foremost, I installed a web-accessible front end to our library of digital assets powered by Extensis Portfolio. Now, anyone in the company can search for stuff without having to put in their request to the graphics department and wait for a response. Self-service and immediate gratification — two great concepts! Second, and perhaps more important, I produced a web application for designing and approving Adobe Flash banner ads. The old process was, basically, utter chaos; now we have order and sanity — two more great concepts! All of our campaigns are accessible from a single home page. The app keeps track of all sizes and versions, and manages the entire chain of approvals. One very important feature is keeping our development work off the main stage until we are ready to seek comments and approval from management and our friends in marketing.

Beyond all the above, I also take on the occasional original design project, including CD covers, artist’s websites, or helping small businesses with matters of corporate identity, promotional materials, signage, and trade show booths. Each of these projects has been interesting and challenging in unique ways, and I jump at every chance I get to learn something new.

I manage staff with the same care I approach all my work. I really believe that strong retouching and prepress skills and even work habits like attention to detail are things that can be learned — and I lead by example. I believe in the importance of inspiration, and loving what you do.