I'm currently doing retouching for two advertising agencies but I'm looking for more. I'll be catching up with the APN Adservices creative director (then beers with the rest of the team at Portside)  next week to get insider info on how to get a foot-up in the field of commercial advertising photography which is where the real money is. There's good reason full time fashion photographers are getting to shoot with medium format digital gear ($25,000+). Last week was the first time I left a job and felt really good about the time I spent there for more than "it's paying the bills".  There's nothing better than landing a job that drives you on a really steep learning curve the whole time you are there and all the while gives you peer respect and freedom to have fun at the same time.

My only regret is that I landed that job through an agency and their fees cut deeply into my pay and into the budget that my pay had to come out of.  I was really very lucky that for the time I was there, the studio growth was such that I started off with a 31hour week for two weeks and then ended up averaging about 55hours a week for the rest of the seven months. I had to pull the pin on one week as it hit 67hours and a migraine took its toll.

The time I spent with APN has really opened my eyes to better advertising standards in terms of both photography and in design and copyrighting. I made great use of the seven months there to get quality feedback on both my photography and design from some of the best designers in the country. (couldn't ask for a nicer studio team either - they rocked - and we're all likely to network on collaborations outside APN over the long term)

I went to the PMA Australia photo imaging technology show on Friday (open day to pros and trades) and ran into a fair few familiar faces.  One of these was Troy Hansen, a mate I used to work with at Chris Hall Photography. Troy just scooped a multitude of prizes and scored the International Photographer of the Year 2007 at the British Assoc Professional Photographer awards. He's now freelancing again in Brisbane and you can be sure his shots are going to start landing magazine covers all over the place.

I enjoyed a lecture by Marcus Bell at PMA, as he explained a few things about colour profiling that I knew the basics of but hadn't seen it described in such a clear way before. There's a good reason Marcus is so well regarded in the photography world. He comes across as being exceedingly intelligent, very friendly and patient and he seems to love sharing knowledge. I'd love to work with him and so I will be sending an application to him to do retouching work. He had a position going for a portrait shooter but honestly I felt so daunted by the calibre of his work that I abandoned my application. I'm good at what I do but that is one of - if not THE top photographic studio in Australia.

I picked up a several month old edition of Better Photoshop Techniques and recognised the cover image as being shot near Brisbane. It turned out to be about a shooter one of my clients uses, and whose shots they now sometimes get me to retouch. It's been a while since I last landed a magazine cover so I hope that if my retouching keeps improving I'll soon nab another. =)

Oh, and I am looking to see if any accountants need shoots. I may be able to work magic with light but that talent falls far short of accounting paperwork. I don't like my chances but if any accountants are reading this - please contact me.