Profiles in Self-Education: Pascal Dangin
Photo by Fred R. Conrad / New York Times
One of the major themes you’ll see developing on the PMBA blog over the next few months is what I’m calling “Profiles in Self-Education.” The intent of these posts is to call to your attention a few of the millions of self-educated individuals around the world who are accomplishing (or have accomplished) great things.
We all need a little inspiration in our lives, and reading profiles of other self-educated people is a great way to develop a greater appreciation for what you can achieve if you’re willing to spend time and effort developing your skills and abilities.
This week’s profile is of a very unlikely businessman: a former hairdresser turned digital Rembrandt.
Pascal Dangin
Pascal Dangin is currently the world’s most sought-after photo retoucher. A master of Photoshop with an artist’s eye, his post-production work regularly graces the covers and pages of virtually every major fashion publication, improving upon the work of photographers like Annie Leibovitz, Steven Meisel, Craig McDean, Mario Sorrenti, Inez van Lamsweerde, Vinoodh Matadin, and Philip-Lorca diCorcia.
How did Dangin develop his world-renowned skills? He taught himself…
From this recent profile of Dangin in the New Yorker:
A tinkerer and an autodidact, who started out as a hairdresser, Dangin brings to mind, actually, a building superintendent: he knows how to do a lot of jobs, and those he doesn’t he figures out through trial and error. He is, more than anything, the consigliere for a generation of photographers uncomfortable with, or uninterested in, the details of digital technology. According to Cotton, “Pascal is actually an unwritten author of what is leading the newest areas of contemporary image-making….”
…While doing hair for photo shoots in New York he became interested in the crossover between cameras and computers. He had a friend who had a Mac Quadra. “We had a deal where at night I could use his computer,” Dangin recalled. “I used to go to his studio at seven-thirty, disconnect his computer, put it in a tote bag, and walk six blocks to my apartment. I’d work all night long, learning programming, and then by 7 A.M. have to stop so that when he woke up his computer would be there.”
Eventually, Dangin got a computer of his own, a Toshiba laptop. Hanging around shoots, he would make suggestions to photographers about how they could change their angles or correct their colors. A few of them began asking him to ply his effects on their images. “I always said no,” Dangin recalled. “I was very secretive in my studio. I hated the simple fact that, unless I got really good, I would have to be there waiting like a chimpanzee for someone to say, ‘Make it darker over here.’ ” He continued to hone his techniques and, in 1993, finally accepted his first paid retouching job: splicing a curtain onto a rod for the cover of a window-hangings brochure.
Dangin is now the founder and CEO of Box Studios, where he leads a team of 40 photo post-production experts doing work for major magazines, photographers, and ad agencies. He and his staff typically handle 10,000 photo projects at any given time, which range in revenue from $500 for a small photo to $20,000 for the cover of a major magazine.
Self-Education Inspiration!
Know of another self-educated individual who inspires you? Send me your thoughts at josh [at] personalmba [dot] com and I’ll consider them for an upcoming profile. In the meantime, leave your thoughts in the comments…
(Hat tip to Seth Roberts for bringing my attention to the profile.)
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One Comment, Comment or Ping
zowoco
Thanks, I find Pascal’s story really inspiring, especially the beginning where he was borrowing a Mac and working through the night. Here is a guy who really believed in himself, had a pssion, stuck his neck out!
And see how all the time input has paid off for him. But he also had great vision, built a bigger picture for himself and walked into it!
What really enthralls me is that he took 2 existing concepts, the camera and the computer and built a third concept from them. He trod where no man had trod before and educated himself in a system which only he could put together, because no one else was aware of its inherent possibilites.
This teaches me there are connections to be made all around us, it is no use pretending there is no opportunity! We have to choose a vision for the future and build it big, sometimes even having to master a complex technique as Pascal did.
He never gave up but always kept on to his end vision. This inspires me: set yourself a big goal, go towards it step by step, let nothing distract you, heed no negative voices but just believe in yourself and your project and expect to win through, even if it takes you years.
The other key issue is that Pascal kept a secret: this actually made his task easier to complete because he didn’t constantly have people laughing at him, or any direct competition to fight.
May 11th, 2008