Advice on finding outsourcing retouching companies

[4personnen]

To work for....


I'll try to explain:

1st: I need money
2nd: I'm not sure if I can deal with a full time employer, and I'd like to test the "freelancing" side without too much the hassle of billing, quoting, as a start.
3rd: I assume it's pretty hard earned poor money but I need to try my skills on a commercial basis.
4th: I'd prefer stay at home for the moment

I'd like to work for this kind of companies at start and maybe change my mind later if it doesn't suit me...
What are your advices, am I making the wrong/right choice? Do you know any reputable companies to work for? I'm not looking for interesting jobs for the moment, I'm looking for work.

[TEastman]

Just my observation, but for what it is worth, it appears that you are more concerned about what you *don't* want to do, rather than what it is that you *do* want to do. Freelancing rarely works as a "toe in the water" process. Either dive in and get wet, or stay out of the pool.

[4personnen]

I don't belong to the country live in. One may find difficult to start a business someplace where one is a newcomer, it's even more true if this place haven't got the customs, not to mention the language of one's country. I don't feel confident enough to start a business in that conditions and prefer to play "safe", knowing I'll probably be working for breadcrumbs. As I said as a start. Hope it will answer all your concerns

[bilguitei]

I am wondering so far how many customers u got using your website and portfolio?

[4personnen]

I'm not working on this basis. So far my website is a "homepage". Would you mind get further? Always interested on feedback good or bad.

[4personnen]

Any hints, by the way?

[ftp-Jeff]

Your website is of no use to anyone... You need to show what you can do...

If you do not feel comfortable in the UK, then why live there?

[4personnen]

I never said that I didn't feel comfortable in UK (You can check) I said that I didn't (and still do not) feel comfortable, confident enough for starting a business (due to the language, culture, tax stuffs, you probably know what I mean)...It's not so long that I'm here and I was feeling that beginning by a contracted work might be easier for me then move on to a less "comfortable" solution, when I will be understanding how things work... (I'm coming from a country with a different language, different culture, different everything even if it's only 100 miles away)...

I used to know some Britons when I was living in France and they felt exactly the same so when they wanted to start a business they chose to trade only with the other Brits...And some of them never - ever - went into dealing with French people...So, I don't feel particularly ashamed about the way I feel.


And about my site...There are a few things that I showed inside, but yes I'm not talking about being hired, prices etc... There is not so much about my work, because, in my previous country I used to make restorations (family albums with genealogical insets), but most of the families I was dealing with (All except one) didn't accept to have their ancestries appear on a website. Voilà!

I'll try to put more work of mine in here and feel free to tell exactly what goes wrong, I know the design is not very sexy but I'm not really a "design" person, more a "craftsman" person, so I sincerely need directions for that.


All the work you can see there is work I made:

1- For free
2- From originals I found in dedicated websites, such as Morguefile.
3- From originals I bought on boots sales, markets, auctions... Because I'm a real old photography lover and also a collector.

So, after all this blahblahblah about myself I have that feeling that I have to be forgave for what I've done...I apologise for maybe having being rude, but there nothing that upset me more than being regarded as a bad expat...

And sincerely sorry for my bad English...I wrote in a hurry and didn't have the will to check all my words in a dictionary...

[ftp-Jeff]

Well I suggest that you first decide where your market ls. Then you have to really promote yourself hard. I know how difficult it is starting in a new country, I have done it twice now, although both english speaking countries. For me that was a must, this business is about communication, if that fails, it all fails. Besides, I like to be where the big agencies and photographers are. I spent most of my time in London, then NY, now Toronto. Why Canada? Well look at it's growing economy compared to the U.K's and USA's collapsing economy. Advertising dies in recession, we all know that, this is at least my 3rd recession I have worked through.

It has taken a year of promotion and investment here in Canada to get up and running. And I mean heavy investment. But I saw my market in the agencies and top photographers. So that is where I aimed my sights.

This is a vast career, the difference between the top creative retouchers, and "smudger Joe" working from his apartment, is massive. Know where you want to be.... Invest and promote in that area, work stupid hours. Then in your free time, work some more.

Easy? No......Good luck.

[4personnen]

Thanks for sharing...Brighton is not so far from London and there are some agencies and photographers around Sussex too. I've already made some networking with one or two photographers but it's starting slowly. Maybe I'm too impatient...I am also worried about doing all this free work. I know I have to do it but I don't until what point it's "swindling" job. It's really all new to me, I don't really know if I can really stick to a tight deadline. Apart from migrating in a new country, I am also "migrating" in a new career although I've been a photographer myself when I was younger than had to change path in my late 20's. At last, I must admit that communication is a weakness of mine.

[ftp-Jeff]

Once you have identified your weaknesses, work on them. Free work? No, don't do it. Instead of doing free work, work on your folio. People that want free work done, or work done for minimal pay are not the people to work with, they are cheap and second rate. If that is where you want to be, then fine, do it.

You have to identify what you want to do! And at what level you want to work!!

I am also an airbrush artist, I know what level of clients I am aiming at, Not the high end and not the low end... I aim myself right in the middle.

As for retouching, I aim at the top. That is where the money and job satisfaction is! But remember, I have been doing this since 1973. It takes a lot of time, effort and money.

I went digital in 1989, when a decent retouching system cost $350,000. That showed clients I was very serious. You have to show them you are very serious.

So, do not skimp on equipment, have the latest and the best. Do not work from home or an apartment, and be able to offer a full service. Else you will always be a "FRED IN A SHED" No serious client will want that. Remember, it is their job on the line when they trust you with their work!

It may sound tough, but this is a tough career choice. You may think I am talking out of my butt, that is up to you! But hey, I am still here, and I am still busy 37 years on. I think I am doing something right!

[4personnen]

it doesn't sound tough, sounds real...But maybe this "lot of time" that it's supposed to take sounds like "need to get another job to feed the household while I build up the portfolio"...Dunno' hard to tell right now. I wanted some income while I'd become tougher, stronger, wiser...Maybe sounds too easy acting like that...