Hi there.
I would have loved to talk with someone who is working or has worked at Box in NY with Pascal...
Anyone here ?
Thanks a lot.

Hi Parisian

Never come across anyone yet ! Although im almost inclined to say check out taylorjames in london .
I know Box in NYC do brilliant work and work with most celebs on front covers at which last time i heard they charge around $10k for a front cover for a magazine .

Good question is does Box have a website ? ive searched and not found anything on them other than editorial blurbs about them and what they charge (good PR id say )

Cheers

Brett

Box definitely has a site, but unfortunately it doesn't showcase their work.

www.boxstudios.com

I had an interview with them.....waiting on the callback. Fingers crossed.

I never worked for Box or Pascal. But I worked for years at ColorEdge before they merged and got rid of their hi end retouching dept. It was my job to "fix" Boxes retouching. Box specialized in magazine sized images that looked great at that size, but once you looked really close needed a lot of work because of shortcuts taken. Especially if the photographer wished the image to be used at a larger size.

Not to preach, but it NEVER pays to take shortcuts and any image you do should be done at its best for any size it may be reproduced at. And since one rarely knows what sizes they might be used at, the size you DO know is the one that is made perfect.

Chris

Chris:

Could you elaborate a little on these "shortcuts"? And what size files do you normally work on now?

Hi Benny

By shortcuts I mean not taking care of smooth transitions into shadows, or fixing over-retouched areas by putting some texture back in. Areas that are blown out that look fine at 8.5x11 but are terrible at 16x20. Obvious repetition of strokes etc. These kind of things stick out quite a bit to the art directors etc. And while it might slip past because of deadlines and such, eventually it means jobs won't be coming your way.

Typically most of my images are around 500 megs or so. But about 40% of my work is over 2 gigs and as much as 3.

Chris

Thanx. Since time is money, the people who profit from those shortcuts probably have a better term for them. I'm finding that fast and good is valued over slower and precise.

Depends on the client Benny. I take anywhere from 3-6 hours an image, to sometimes a week. With no complaints becasue there is usually no second round, or i fthere is it is just a few minutes worth of work.

Better to get it right than to fix it.

Chris

Chris, one more question:

Since you live in CT, fairly far from the city, how do you interact with clients? A few train trips into the city, with email and high speed transfers after that? Do you use Wamnet?

Thanx

No I don't use whamnet Benny. I have Optmium Online as my service provider, and I purchased the booster for the service. Gives me about 30 mb download and about 5 upload. A gig takes me about 2 minutes or so to download.

The only times that I go into the cit is when the client wants me there to d the work. Starting to pick up now, so it is about 2 times a week that I travel. A lot of times I will start the image at home and finish it at the clients. I also have a Canon ipf5000 printer that is phenomenal. I do a lot of Portfolio prints for clients and also for my own retouching before it goes to press.

Chris

Chris, noticed that you have changed your site, not as intuitive nor readily navigatible

Chris, noticed that you have changed your site, not as intuitive nor readily navigatible


Hmmm. I have not changed the site yet. Have to add a bunch of new images.
This has me curious though. How has it become less intuitive and navigable?

Thanks for the heads up. I'll check it out when I get back from NYC today.

Chris

Hmmm. I have not changed the site yet. Have to add a bunch of new images.
This has me curious though. How has it become less intuitive and navigable?

Thanks for the heads up. I'll check it out when I get back from NYC today.

Chris
Chris,

Had another look at your site, maybe I had a memory leak at the time and it prevented your pages from loading properly, don't recall seeing the slider bar when I last viewed it and so it seemed to lack navigation. Other navigational items were also missing and most thumbnails failed to load, but everything seems ok this morning. Apologies for the false alarm :)

I never worked for Box or Pascal. But I worked for years at ColorEdge before they merged and got rid of their hi end retouching dept. ...
Chris

Chris, what did they do with their retouching then? Give it to another section of their merged form? Send it overseas??

No, they mostly got rid of working directly with any Photographers. They still do a little hi end at their main shop. They also just purchased another place called Fuel. Another of the lingering hi end shops in the city.

Interesting. It's amazing how many retouching shops were around in the late 1990's. I remember one called Sox Imaging. I think they're gone too. Quite a shake out. Lot's of mergers, man. I think we, as independent, sole proprietor retouchers, really need to be agressive in dealing with all the changes.