Why use a retoucher?
Let me give you three examples. 
All the retouched images (ones on the left) were done by Gretchen Hilmers, (her web site),
a digital retouch and compositing artist based in LA.   She has an impressive resume.
Worked full-time with Jill Greenberg as her retoucher and digital asset manager and is now freelancing.  
Check out her work - you'll be impressed.
Working with her has really changed the way I see my images.  I don't necessarily change the way
I shoot - I still like to get it all in-camera.  But knowing that she's there to put the finishing
touches on an images really make life a lot easier (and I can be more creative).  Plus I get more work
done because I'm not struggling retouching an image myself.
She use to working long distance so having her in LA and me in NYC doesn't get in the
way of our working relationship.  She's great on the phone and follows up.  Very professional!

The subtle changes in the images below are quite noticeable when the images are side by side. 
Especially in the close-up portrait.  Skin can be very tricky - trust me, I've tried it.

Portrait Series II

Having once been a teacher I have come to learn that students can be a little suspicious of what they are learning, wondering why all of the information thrown at them is so important.  Only after completing school (and growing up a bit) do we really start to understand how history, math, science and the arts shape our lives and effect our point of view.

Jared was asked to show how he feels about school.
From his point of view: Suspicious, Curious, Apathetic

Portrait Series I

In the next few weeks I'm going to show a series of portraits I took of high school students.  The photographs show their reactions when asked a question or given a school scenario.  The results show their emotions, telling a lot about who they are and what they think.

-- You're suspicious of what a fellow student has told you.  You don't want to look gullible.
-- You're embarrassed after you found out you have been deceived and can't believe it's happened again.
-- You're angry and want revenge.

Dignity, Emotion and Humor

A quote I recently found from Max Gerber really hit home for me. He was describing what he loves most about portrait photography. It pretty much sums up how I feel about it as well.

"The thing I love most about portrait photography
is its capacity - at times, when you're lucky - for
unparalleled empathy. The trick is finding more
dignity in your subject than they knew they had
themselves."

Along with dignity, I would add emotion, character and grace. All of these can make a great portrait. Adding none of these and the image falls flat.

Of course I like adding a touch of humor as well. Especially when pairing images. Here are some examples put together by Rhoni Epstein and Susan Baraz of Phototherapists for my new portfolio.

 

  

 

The Art Directors

I love taking photos of people! But when I was asked to take the photos of two local art directors I was kind of nervous and excited at the same time. Nervous because I could only use 1/10 of the studio space available to me and excited because I knew I could experiment. We ended up shooting against the garage door then added a black and then white background for contrast. It's nice working with people who are willing to experiment a little

Here are some of the photos I took of Neal Ashby and Mathew Curry. They were nominated for a Grammy in the album design category. The images were shot for Apple's web site.

To see more images from this shoot go to my web site

Barber Shop

These are two images from a recent shoot for BlueCross BlueSheild at a small barber shop in Washington, DC. The first is an personal portrait taken of Fredrick just before we started shooting. He had a great look and I wanted to take a few minutes to take his portrait.
The second photo is the one used for the advertisement. It was a fairly simple shoot - mainly used the available light from outside and the existing tungsten lights in the shop. Two lights were use. One on the left, behind the subjects and bounced off the ceiling. The second is a fill light directed towards the subject.