Changing The Picture

From the Jerusalem Post article. 31/12/2010

By YONI COHEN 

Packing up and reinventing yourself professionally in a new country is never easy, especially when it involves cultural differences and a change in direction. However, Tom Langford, a professional photographer with an established careers in Europe, recently decided to leave it all behind and came to discover the fast-growing and vibrant arts scene that makes Israel the place to be.

Tom confesses that it is only thanks to his Israeli wife that he was introduced to all that this crazy country, with its bemusing parking laws, has to offer.

He grew up in a poor, but artistic family in the northeast of England, and once he was old enough he moved to London and enrolled in art college.

As a self-taught photographer he became a professional just because of his interest in the art form. He spent 35 years taking photos of the best-looking models London could throw at him and enjoyed every minute. Then an Israeli entered his life and everything changed.

He moved to Pardess Hanna, along with his wife, just over two years ago and has not looked back since. “I prefer living in Pardess Hanna than in London,” he affirms. “I feel at home here. When an Israeli comes to visit for the first time, it seems like they have been friends for years. I like the warmth of the people.”

However it was not such an easy adjustment. “There are a lot of cultural differences to overcome,” he admits.

Even though he has still not acclimatized himself to the Israeli parking and driving etiquette, he enjoys the challenges that living in the Middle East entails. “Every day is an adventure here in Israel. It is never boring.”

Not only was he faced with the challenges of moving to a different country, he also had to reinvent himself professionally. Since he has been in Israel, he has focused on teaching photography to various people with differing levels of ability.

“I now teach what I would have liked to have be taught,” he explains.

He holds interactive field courses using classic Israeli backdrops, such as historic Tel Aviv and Zichron Ya’acov.

“Most people are not visually aware. I don’t necessarily teach people about photography techniques, I teach people how to use their heads.”

“Since I have moved to Israel I have enjoyed the challenge of looking for new things to do,” he says. “I love teaching, but I have also explored my passion for designing websites and retouching pictures.”

Tom Langford is a prime example of someone who has created a whole new life for himself in Israel and is using the opportunity to rediscover his talents and interests.

“Although I do sometimes miss a good English café, I am happy here, I do not miss home.”

Tom holds photography courses for beginners and “improvers.” For more details about the next available courses visit www.langford.co.il/courses

Finding retouching work. Some Do's and Don'ts

I occasionally get emails asking for advice or work experience from young, hopeful retouchers. The are often so badly written that I can't imagine them every getting a reply.

Here are a few tips that might turn your emails into jobs:

1) Do some research about each person you contact; at least look at their website. Address the email to them personally, and not to a company.

2) In the first sentence, tell them something you admire about their work, or website, etc.

3) Be very brief. Your email is likely to be junked anyway, so get to the point.

4) Include a link to your own website so they can view your work if they are interested. If you don't have a website then get one, with your own URL. 

Having your own website means that you are in the business and understand more than just Photoshop. If you use a Mac, Shutterbug is an excellent WYSIWYG application for creating websites.

5) Never, ever, send jpegs, pdfs, in the email, or links to upload sites - it looks unprofessional. 

Unsolicited emails with megabytes of attachments will be junked immediately by anybody with a business to run.

6) Use a subject line that might attract curiosity, such as: "You advice would be greatly appreciated ..."

7) Show before and after examples of your retouching work so that they can see how good you are. 


If they are incredibly busy then they will probably need creative retouching as well as bog standard stuff. You will need to be fairly at proficient retouching to get any work because most of the people you approach can do simple retouching themselves. 

Unfortunately I don't farm out work, or give work experience but I hope you find these tips helpful, and I wish you the best of luck.

9) Here's an example of what might work:

Hi ****.

My name is ***** and I admire the quality and variety of work on your website.

I would appreciate your advice: I am developing my retouching career and would like to gain work experience, find more clients, and make more contacts.

I studied ***** for two years in the **** School of *****. I am dedicated, motivated and always concerned to meet deadlines while producing work to the highest standards.

Of course it would be a privilege working with you in any capacity.

Regards,

Your Name,

T   landline number

M  mobile number

www.myname.com

How do you become a retoucher?

There are a few routes into the profession - here's is how I did it:

After leaving Art College I needed an outlet for my creative talents and started "testing" - shooting fashion models portfolios. I gained a great deal of experience and I became a freelance professional photographer.

I spent years developing film, working in darkrooms, making colour and black-and-white prints, and retouching them with brushes and photo dyes. Eventually I switched to digital imaging and loved the convenience working with a computer.

I taught myself Photoshop in a year of intense study, and I developed my retouching skills on my own commercial photography.

Other photographers began to give me retouching work and I became experienced and confident enough to take on complex technical and creative work.

If you already have reasonable Photoshop skills you could try a more direct approach and look for work in advertising agencies. The pay would probably be low and the hours long but you would get to know the industry from the inside and make valuable contacts.

Photographers sometimes advertise for assistants who can also retouch their images. Again the pay would be low, but you would get lots of experience of real world retouching. You would probably need to do unpaid work experience as a "second assistant" to learn how to help in studios and on location.

Unless you are lucky or persistent enough to get a full-time job the only way you can survive as a freelance retoucher is to have lots of good contacts. You need to spend at least as much time cultivating contacts as you did developing you Photoshop skills. The value of assisting busy photographers is that you will meet plenty lots of the right sorts of people.

Try professional photographers associations for email addresses. Send a polite email with appreciative comments about the photographers work. Get your own website with examples of your retouching work and include a link to it. Never attach megabytes of jpegs to your unsolicited email - it will just be junked unopened.

It's usless trying to get jobs with graphic designers, or even work experience, unless you are proficient at not only Photoshop but also Quark or InDesigm, Dreamweaver, and Flash.

Freelance retouching can be very tough work.. Advertising agencies, photographers, and magazines only give me the complex or difficult creative stuff they can't do themselves. These clients expect an awful lot of technical an artistic ability, and can be trying to work for. You have to be able to do whatever is required and there is always a tight deadline!

In my experience the three most important things you need to be a retoucher are contacts, contacts, and more contacts.

Good luck, and may the Force be with you!

My Favourite Cafe/Bar in Amsterdam

LOKAAL t LOOSJE is my favourite Cafe/Bar in Amsterdam. It has such an understated, authentic atmosphere.

I took a few overlapping shots and comped them together in Photoshop to create this wide angle view.

I gave it a dramatc feel by using many curves adjustment layers to contril areas of contrast.