Not that Pascal needs any more attention

Ant · #1 05-06-2008, 07:22 PM

So much talk of retouching the last year or so and TONS lately. Now The New Yorker is writing him up. Pascal still seems to certainly have quite a hold the market.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2...urrentPage=all

Benny Profane · #2 05-06-2008, 09:02 PM

"“When I see a print, I could probably tell you if it was a Pascal print,” Charlotte Cotton, the head of photography at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, said. “It’s immaculate, and there’s a kind of richness to the pixellation. It feels like you could almost sink your finger into it.”"

jeez, that guy must have a ton of charm to get away with this stuff. But, you know, high overhead is a bitch during a recession.......

cricket1961 · #3 05-06-2008, 10:32 PM

He does indeed have something. He knows how to get the media to come and write a story about him and retouching to keep him in the minds of others.

Something few of us can probably afford.

Julesj · #4 05-07-2008, 02:37 AM

Interesting article, I almost got sucked in believing they guy has magical powers at one point. It's funny how people become so superstitious that they end up believing no-one else can do the job, when in reality there is probably some kid in russia who has just as much skill. It's like Vogue Italia with Steven Meisel; there are so many talented photographers out there, let someone else shoot the cover for once.........

TheVeed · #5 05-07-2008, 07:42 AM

Very long read, but a good one. Over-hyped, probably, but his clients sure are top of the line...

Benny Profane · #6 05-07-2008, 07:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheVeed

Very long read, but a good one. Over-hyped, probably, but his clients sure are top of the line...

Yes, but, edit doesn't pay nearly as much as advertising. I just can't imagine he's making very much money doing Annie's comps. That's a lot of hours.

Ant · #7 05-07-2008, 08:45 AM

He has cornered the market on the highest end work. He didn't do it through charm alone. Careful not to discount him. I would never work at his place, but if you do work there, you get to work on, potentially and depending on your level there, some of the living legends art.

Certainly there is hype, he seems to be excellent at that and us in the industry in NY don't buy all of it, but it's not like he does shoddy work.

Editing might not pay, but it's not about that. How many houses you work at that do all a photogs editorial for free, perhaps even capture for the understanding that when they shoot a big budget ad job that the house gets to do it? [ Greg Kadel The Veed? ]

All shops do that. You build a relationship. Photographers are notoriously neurotic. Pascal provides assurance of excellence, or at least conveys that feeling.

Benny Profane · #8 05-07-2008, 09:07 AM

Oh, I agree that his stuff is great. But I'll bet he has, as I mentioned, overhead problems that won't go away. Big staff, glitzy building, PR agents and salesman. Both of which guys like you, Ant, and Cricket and others don't, but can still do the same quality work, probably better at times. We're now at a stage in this biz when someone with the right skills only has to invest 10-12 thousand dollars and find a nice dark room in even an apartment to work in, hook up to a broadband pipe, and they're in business. The only thing I see separating him and you is the hype, and, boy, he does that well. But the magazine business is slowly sinking into the morass that swallowed the newspaper biz, and they just don't have the budgets to justify him.

side note: I'm a long time subscriber to The New Yorker, and, I must say, I'm disappointed at them publishing such a puff piece - I know it's not the same New Yorker from the 50s, but still, it's a great read every week. But it is a Conde Nast rag, and Annie is a Vanity Fair star, so, I guess scratching of backs was involved.

BodegaGo · #9 05-07-2008, 09:19 AM

they couldn't find a better picture? so cheeeeeeesy.....

Benny Profane · #10 05-08-2008, 05:09 PM

BTW, there is a before and after in the printed version of this article that would be flipped by quickly by most managers looking through a portfolio. Not much to see there. That's the only other image in the magazine with this article.

DJSoulglo · #11 05-08-2008, 06:34 PM

People are now taking quotes from the article. Today on ad-age: a big huff over the fact that he said the Dove images were heavily retouched.

Funny.

http://adage.com/article?article_id=126914

krisdaloo · #12 05-08-2008, 07:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DJSoulglo

People are now taking quotes from the article. Today on ad-age: a big huff over the fact that he said the Dove images were heavily retouched.

Funny.

http://adage.com/article?article_id=126914

That's a big deal.

If I hired someone to do a job, and the entire campaign was intended to be "real beauty", I wouldn't be happy about that person telling the world how fake it actually is.

I don't know the details of the legality... but I'm hesitant to show any before-and-afters. Besides, there are very few people in the world who should be able to speak the words "good retouching"... the majority of people shouldn't know it's happened at all.

cricket1961 · #13 05-08-2008, 10:53 PM

The Dove campaign that he mentions is kind of lopsided anyway. It shows a lot of larger women but no one else. If you took a random sample of women walking down the street you can bet there would be a good deal women ranging from slim to heavy looking. Dove is showing the extreme on the other end. Equally as bad to me.
Their viral video showing such a extreme retouch is,I suppose, possible. I have never in my 25 year career as a retoucher seen anything done like this. Except to show what MIGHT be done. And usually as a joke.

Ant I'm not discounting him. I just wish that people looked past some of that fluff a little more or that he gives a little more credence to how retouching is wrongly perceived.

Chris

zganie · #14 05-10-2008, 04:50 AM

Most People like this guy are great at PR.
Which is whats missing from most peoples arsenal of talents
I know your going to say you need talent,But there are many talented people just as talented and maybe more so than this guy but you do not see anybody writing articles on them
WHY because this guy knows how to schmooz and do the smoke and mirror show thats why

cricket1961 · #15 05-10-2008, 11:27 AM

You're right zganie. There is definitely a need to learn how to promote oneself. I have had plenty of interviews and magazine articles written about me, but I still am terrible at self promotion fluff. It isn't in my nature and I doubt that even a business degree will help me out with it.

And there are plenty of good, not great, retouchers/artists out there with way more business than I have because of it. Come to think of it, plenty of great ones also. But that is a fault of mine not theirs.

Chris