Pascal Dangin

Pascal Dangin (pronounced dahn-ZHANN) is a digital artist associated with retouching fashion photographs. He is the founder and chief executive of Box Studios, a photo retouching business based in New York ("Pascal Dangin Bio"). Dangin has helped the company Dove to improve women's beauty in ad campaigns.

Early years

In his youth, Dangin lived in various small towns in Corsica with his family. His parents were musically talented yet Dangin “was indifferent to music.” Dangin had two sisters and a “tumultuous, itinerant childhood, which he does not like to recall” (Collins).

Before he turned fifteen, Dangin left home and worked “as a shampoo boy in a no-name salon in Paris’s Fifteenth Arrondissement.” Dangin was drafted by the French Army and after serving for three months, he was discharged and returned to Paris to continue his work as a hairdresser (Collins)

Dangin moved to America in 1989, taking the first flight out of Paris on New Year’s Day. While doing hair for photo shoots in New York, he became interested in the connection between cameras and computers (Kaufman). He then went to his friend's house to use his computer (Kaufman). Usually Dangin would take it home and work with the computer programs all night long, then would run quickly to return back the computer to his friend before he woke up (Kaufman). Eventually, Dangin got his own laptop. That's when everything started out and led him become who he is today (Kaufman). In 1993, Dangin accepted his first paid retouching job (Collins).

In 1995, he married Laura Tiozzo, a fashion editor. The next year, their daughter, Cecilia, was born, and Dangin opened Box. Dangin and Tiozzo divorced in 2004. Two years later, he married Sarah West, a British-born former photography agent whom he had hired to work for Box in London.

The Photo Whisperer

Pascal Dangin is called the "Photo Whisperer" ("Final Fantasy"). He has been dubbed the "premier retoucher of fashion photographs" ("Final Fantasy"). Directors from other places call him when they want someone who looks less than great to look great and someone who looks great to look superhuman ("Final Fantasy"). Dangin is currently the "world's most sought-after photo retoucher" (Kaufman). He's also been referred to as "a master photographer with an artist's eye to any one person" (Kaufman). Dangin is well-known in the fashion world as a Digital artist, editing many shots that have appeared in Vanity Fair and Vogue ("Pascal Dangin"). Clients usually said that he adds an artistic eye to the mere technical skills that most image editors possessed ("Pascal Dangin"). They also describe him as "a photo whisperer, able to persuade possibilities, palettes, ad shadings out of pictures that even the person who shot them may not have imagined possible" ("Final Fantasy"). He has been called "a really powerful man in fashion" ("Pascal Dangin Biography"). Additionally, he's also "a translator, an interpreter, a conductor, and a ballet dancer articulating choreographed steps" (Harris).

Master Manipulator

Pascal Dangin is known as a "Master Manipulator" ("Art & Designs"). He helped Dove "to make more women feel beautiful everyday by widening the definition of beauty and inspiring them to take care of themselves" ("Dove's statement"). While Dangin works with Dove, he also works with one of the top ten photographers: Annie Leibovitz. Since Dangin is so professionally good at editing pictures, Leibovitz and Steven Meisel won't even print out a picture without Dangin ("Pascal Dangin Biography"). Dangin can do more than anyone can ever imagine. He can deliver sculpted cheekbones, slimmer waists, bigger busts, or more smoldering eyes ("Pascal Dangin:The master manipulator"). He can also banish wrinkles, slim down limbs and paint on make-up; Dangin can plump up breasts, add volume to hair, fatten hips and enhance cleavage ("Art & Design"). He can even remove cigarettes, tattoos or other items deemed unsuitable and splice together facial features from separate images of the same person to create an ideal end product ("Art & Design"). Dangin is always sought out by the top photographers, film stars, and models that seek perfection or at least the impression of perfection ("Pascal Dangin: The master manipulator"). Everyone believes that he's the man who makes woman beautiful.

Box Studios

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 (Kaufman).

Works cited

* “Art & Design”. July 2, 2008. .
* Collins, Laura. “Pixel Perfect.” The New Yorker. 12 May 2008. 15 July 2008. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/05/12/080512fa_fact_collins?currentPage=all
* “Dove’s Statement on Retouched Real Beauty Photos”. May 9 2008 June 7 2008. < http://feedfury.com/content/15931946-dove_s_statement_on_retouched_real_beauty_photos.html>.
* “Final Fantasy-Pascal Dangin is The Photo Whisper”. May 9, 2008 June 30, 2008 .
* Harris, Misty. “Popcultini”. June 5 2008 July 7, 2008. .
* Kaufman, Josh. “Profiles in Self Education: Pascal Dangin.” "The Personal MBA". May 9, 2008 June 29, 2008. < http://personalmba.com/profiles-in-self-education/pascal-dangin/>.
* “Pascal Dangin Biography”. June 29, 2008. < http://www.tokion.com/creativitynow/SPEAKER%20BIO/dangin.html>.
* “Pascal Dangin”. July 2, 2008. .
* “Pascal Dangin: The master manipulator”. May 18, 2008 June 30, 2008 < http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/celebrity/article3953925.ece>.