NY Retouchers,how'd you get your foot in the door?

[DSutherland]

I'm curious how the industry works in that part of the world seeing as it's pretty much the Mecca of retouching.

[eraanexact]

I had almost nine years experience working in various studios in Detroit and Atlanta before moving to NYC, almost none of it in beauty and fashion however (advertising and automotive mostly).

I responded to as many job listings as I could find, including craigslist, and after a few weeks, started freelancing at some studios. One of the places offered me a full time position after freelancing with them for two weeks. I've been working for them now for almost two years.

I think for me, having the prior experience was what got my foot in the door, but my willingness to learn a completely different side of the industry and take direction has kept me here.

[cricket1961]

Definitely prior experience. When I started working in NYC in 2002
it was only because of that experience. I was a little luckier than most
probably as I didn't have to do the freelance gig. I just came home
from work one day to a message on the answering machine with a job offer.

I've been out of NYC since July 2007 and sometimes miss the challenges
I faced that kept pushing me to get better and stay on top of my game.

Chris

[DJSoulglo]

Currently looking at working in NYC, but to me so far, sending out an email to some companies saying that I was looking for work, with my CV and a link to my website attached seems to be working for me. It does help that I have a couple of years experience. Just email people and see what happens.

[abenormal]

I'm embarrassed to even say how I got started retouching here in NYC.

I was freelancing as a traditional comp artist in a couple of ad agency studios - trimming and mounting prints on foamcore, building books, gluing tip-ins into magazines, that sort of thing. I was just about finished up on a double shift when the day studio manager (whom I didn't really know, I'd mostly dealt with the night manager) walked up to me and asked, "Do you know Photoshop?"

I said yes. He said, "Great. be here tomorrow by 10. You're a retoucher."

Luckily, I did know enough Photoshop and had a good enough eye to survive a week or two, and asked enough questions and looked over enough shoulders to be able to survive a week or two more, and so on.