M. Seth Jones

And a writer.

As well as a long haired, bearded misfit.

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Celebrate! by Lara Jade for Papercut – Page 0

November 9, 2011

Celebrate!
by Lara Jade for Papercut

Celebrate! by Lara Jade for Papercut – Page 1

November 9, 2011

After eight solid weeks of working on countless lookbooks that, visually at least, share more similarities than differences, it can be easy to switch into a sort of assembly line mentality when it comes to retouching; more automaton than autonomous, focusing on perhaps a small range of repeated techniques and processes, perpetually tending to the same problems and areas in need. It’s times like this that a project which startles you out of that unconscious routine is welcomed more than any other; Celebrate!, shot by ex-UK, now NYC based Lara Jade, was one such project and most definitely a welcome editorial to work on and, in the process, wrap up 2010 professionally.

Featured cover star for Papercut magazines Holiday Issue, Celebrate! was a pleasant deviation from those few standard retouching tropes that can begin to dominate your commercial workflow. Reminding me more of my early (dare I say, more experimental) film days of post-processing, where a broader, looser balance of tones and colour was generally the focus, as opposed to the more current fix-every-pore-and-make-every-shadow-and-highlight-perfect mentality that does seep through if you don’t keep it in check, Celebrate! was exactly the kind of shoot that reminded me why I was drawn to darkroom experimentation all those years ago; it was fun, with more than enough room to create a strong visual aesthetic.