Box New York

[ftp-Jeff]

Ahh.... You OK? I am fine mate! Still floating around scratching a living... LOL.

But will have relocated before the end of summer. Thank gawd!

[Lex]

Canada I see, good luck, what the work like out there. Oh and Jo (my Mrs) says Hello

[ftp-Jeff]

Is she there too! Hello back Jo!

Work out there seems OK.... Only doing another year of retouching then that's it mate!

I am mostly airbrushing now, done a full circle! Just finished this.... Pays more than retouching, and not every knob head in the world is doing it!

[Lex]

No I was on the phone she still does a Fridays at Bayeux.

Maybe I should get into that, looks good and if you get more than retouching for it that cant be bad. There are a lot more retouchers around now than when we started but still not that many really good ones, thank god.

[ftp-Jeff]

There are a load of smudgers out there mate, They have the art of blurring skin to perfection!

[Lex]

Yeah I know what you mean

[pixel_monkey]

It seems like Box is still getting a lot of work in this economy. They're hiring.

http://www.devbistro.com/jobs/91643

[Sweetlight]

Wow, What an outpouring of ridicule, loathing and rapier wit toward the innocent questions/ideas of an enthusiastic kid. Not to mention any names, "Benny" but although I have a keen sarcastic wit, why so biting my friend?
Maybe this will wrap it up.

"The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity."
Keats

[Benny Profane]

You'll have to put that quote back into context. It makes absolutely no sense standing alone. And, I'm "biting" because, as I grow older, I have this much (thumb and forefinger 1/4 inch away from each other) tolerance for BS hype in my life. It's an absolute waste of valuable time. Which is, of course, why I wouldn't last a week in the Box milieu.

Why do you think the original poster is an "innocent, enthusiastic kid"? Just askin'.

[Sweetlight]

But it's our maturity, growth, life-experience and age that have brought us to that intolerant place.
Me, as I grow older and with my varied life experience I am frickin' intolerant of bad drivers and it seemed the more intolerant I became the more of them got in front of me. Funny thing happened. When I got control of my intolerance they all seemed not to drive in front of me anymore. It's a Kharma thing or self manisftation in our lives.
I am just saying, I hear people say "I don't like kids, or don't wanna be around them."
How can you not see some good in what we once were??
Please take no ill-will from this, if your as experienced as you say, you must remember your early enthusiasm and maybe over-zealousness. Me I am just a little fish in a big pond I guess. Being a big fish kind of sucks after a while so I am back here helping others, picking and choosing my clients, I don't care if they are some well known magazine or person. If I don't wanna shoot it, I'll take a job shooting fishing poles for some good guy who has been making them in his garage for years and is breaking it big now.
I ramble.
Kamaste,
c

[Paul Cooper]

- They employ 70 full time retouchers

=> They had around 40 employees in 2008. Less than 18 are retouchers though

- They handle 10,000 jobs at any one time! (source - wiki)

=> No comment. That s just a stupid.

- Each retoucher only handles one part of the image, e.g. handbags, hair, skin, clothing, then it all comes together at the end via the man himself. Upshot of this is that no single employee can say they have retouched the whole image and bugger off to another company with the knowledge.

=> They do split jobs between juniors (masks, etc) and seniors (who ll do all the color work). But that s it...

- Pascal has helicopter land him on roof of building each day !

=> Don t know if he has one. I know he likes to fly. But anyways you can t land on the roof, so...

- Pascal works very very long days. Often longer than anyone else.

=> Can t say

- All retouchers are kept apart from each other and on different floors, and have signed NDA's. Only the man myself has dealings with the big photographers.

=> They all have NDAs. And only a few key people of the company deal with the big photographers

- They write there own retouching software

=> Not true. They use photoshop. But have worked on something for the capture though.