Welcome back to our second, online only, installment of Artisan—yes, the next version is already in the works and will be bound for the printer late summer and out to mailboxes Fall 2008.

That said, my last (and first-ever) editor's letter covered a lot of ground. It introduced the group, Artisan, a bit of my history, and started to highlight what I thought was the current state of the modern retouching industry. So it seems with my second letter, I can continue rambling from the perspective of agent-for-retouchers and thinking the best place to start is with what's happened in our world that might be worth sharing publicly.

In March, besides being invited by the APA to give a presentation at the San Francisco Apple Store on retouching—a second for me with public speaking (where's my phone relationship when I need it?)—our cooperative gathered again in-person for some beers, bowling, and business coaching. (Although, the coach was mystified over the business model of retouching and wondered why the estimate should still bear the burden of being anything more than an estimate given before seeing photography assets...but I digress on my little soapbox as that's another issue for showcasing terms & conditions down the road a ways). Anyway, beer and bowling should be obvious but suffice it to say the coaching day (hosted graciously at the headquarters of our friends at Popgun Design) covered sober subjects, from pricing and the cost of doing business to the challenges of being a small business owner, and ultimately, how to better understand the most important part of the business: our relationships.

It somehow broke down to what we could all relate to—love lessons, and then again to dating vs. marrying. While no one was quite sure what made the better relationships from our personal histories, we talked metaphorically about the analogies of professionally determining how you know when you're dating, realizing when you're married, and how to recognize various relationships along the way. Play the field, serial monogamy, married short-term, long-term, dating a few, commitment & expectation issues (yes, we stopped short of group therapy), and all the others you might care to think of yourself. And we discussed and acknowledged that these emotional metaphors do indeed cross over. In order to creatively exceed expectations, understanding these relationships was the key to post-process successes with both new and existing clients. Also, regardless of who is now involved in the buying, selling, and managing of post today—and certainly there are many to choose from: photographer, photo producer, photographer's agent, retoucher's agent, art buyer, print producer, creative director, art director, post producer, account executives or the end-client—it seemed that at the completion of our coaching day, there was still no real business formula for anyone to rely on in the world of retouching. Being conscious of some simple guidelines would have to suffice for maintaining the enjoyment of it all. And based on the love metaphors we netted out, what works and is proven time and time again is the amount that you get back is proportionate to what you put in. Certainly it was a good segue to create this Issue's topic and showcase some great retouching relationships in these stories for Artisan — Modern Retouching Magazine.

Sort of last but certainly not least, sharing that DeeDee Porter is now contracting as post producer. We welcome her history and her experiences from photo production to help achieve objectives for all on the post side of the equation.

And without further ado, I give you love in the time of retouching.