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Clare Bishop

Published

- View Clare's Creativepool profile here

Website: clarelouisebishop.com

"Clare is a creative retoucher based in London. Having for sometime worked for creative studios around London, both freelance and in-house, she made the daunting leap of starting up alone, and hasn't looked back."

How long have you been a Freelancer for?
3 years

Describe your work in one sentence.
The Darkroom in my iMac

Who are some of the clients you have worked for?
Hilton hotels, Wired magazine, Rue Lala and Red Cross International (via Saddington Baynes) as well as Illamasqua, Style Magazine for the Independent and the National Hair Awards among others.

What's the most important thing you've learnt in your line of work?
Patience, endurance, accuracy, meticulousness... but fundamentally the ability to provoke a reaction or emotion from an image.

What attracted you to your chosen field?
Its really culmination of my background and my love of photography and visual disciplines. I trained in architecture but found myself more enamored with the imagery and the vision than with the buildings or the construction processes. I took a career change into studio photography and this is where I discovered retouching and digital art, I was instantly absorbed by the process of subtle manipulation; the endless possibilities and the reality alongside hyper-reality. It also has that blend of technical and more scientific processes that are ruled by the creative flair and aesthetic decision making - I admire the way that as a discipline it encompasses both science vs. art and fact vs. fiction.

 

 

Tell us about your best project to date.
This is difficult question but my current favorite is a set of images that I'm working on for Illamasqua. They are a very pure set of beauty images with a primary focus on innovative make-up. It has been an honour to work with a team of photographers, make-up artists and stylists at the top of their field. I would usually prefer fashion or editorial work due to the creative scope for colour grading and design but in this case simple good lighting and photography etc. is making my work especially enjoyable.

 

 

What sets you apart from your competitors?
Adobe CS and image manipulation in general is something that everyone has a hand in these days so it is difficult - there are a lot of people out there who can use the clone tool in Photoshop and think that is all there is to it - they can be very scornful of this profession. Personally I think it's two fold. A blend of technical skills (inspired by original, non-destructive darkroom techniques with the photography and lighting knowledge to back it up) and also a natural creative flair and the ability to give an image that arresting and attention grabbing presence.

 

 

If you could work on any project for any company/organisation, what would it be and who would it be for?
For me it's more about the brief and the success of a finished project than working for a high-brow company or aspirational brand.... I do want to get my hands on some underwater photography though.

 

 

What frustrates you the most about your job?
I suppose retouching gets a lot of bad press, there seems to be a general consensus that supposed 'invention' of reouching and digital art has destroyed the beauty and truth in photography. To me this is nonsense, a camera can never do the job of a human eye so truth is out of the question. Ever since photography was invented it has been manipulated and used as an art form as well as a recording device, this IS the beauty of it. Many people don't realise that what retouchers do today is exactly what has been done for years and years hidden away in a darkroom - now that it's on a modern computer and is easily accessible, does this make it make less honest or less artistic? I'm not at all against those who hate the digital revolution and crave film photography, I love film too, but there is room for us all here.

What pearl of wisdom can you offer to someone thinking about starting out as a freelancer?
I suppose persistence is good advice, these are difficult economic times in an already overly competitive market but people are still shooting and work is still out there. Also, pick up a camera yourself, your own photography will improve your work more than any tutorial. Working for free is another difficult issue - this is fine if you are new to the profession and need to build a portfolio, its a great way to get your hands on high quality imagery. But I do think that as a profession (photographers, retouchers and everyone involved) we do need to move on from this slightly. It's devaluing to what we do. This situation used to exist in the equally competitive world of architecture until regulations were put in place. I think some of the other creative disciplines need to catch up on this front.

 

 

If you could have ONE super power, what would it be?
Breathing under water (and living under water?)

What's your favourite bit of kit?
It's my camera actually.

 

 

Tell us a random fact about yourself.
I am currently engaged in a painstaking and time consuming nationwide hunt for a hypoallergenic kitten.

What's your favourite song of all time?
Sonic Youth - Teen Age Riot... or ...Field Mice - So Said Kay

What is your favourite app?
The one that lets you call people?!

 

 

Facebook or Twitter?
Facebook, purely because I don't use twitter at all.

Eat In or eat out?
Eat in - Preferably involving lots of mess, experimentation and potential injuries in the kitchen.

 

 

 

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