The dreaded question.

It happens almost every time. I go out somewhere new and somewhere along the line I strike up a conversation with a stranger. At some point, the small talk starts to dissipate, so they ask me a common question to avoid the awkward silence.

"So what do you do?"

The first time this occurred, I gave the obvious answer - retoucher. I had been retouching for a living for several years so I figured everyone knew what my job entailed. But I was very wrong. The blank look that was returned to me clearly indicated that they had no idea what I meant. I may as well have been a cognitive neuro-physicist. I then tried to explain further.

"I... erm... Photoshop images"

At this point, if my new conversation buddy actually knows what Photoshop is, they regard me with wary eyes. I know what they are thinking. They think I sit behind a computer all day and make skinny models even skinnier. Now suddenly, I'm the bad guy and there's just no redeeming myself. I should have stayed at home and watched a good series from the comfort of my couch. Netflix would never judge me.

In all honesty, I wish I could just show them the image below. THIS is what I do. It takes ages to learn and even longer to master. And there is NO thinning involved whatsoever. Now if someone asks what I do, I know what to reply.

Photographer...

Drag the line back and forth to see the image as it was before and after I retouched it.