The Talent

Corrado Rotondella: An imaging/color grading professional with nearly two decades of experience distorting, correcting and altering still and motion imagery for world class fashion, beauty, commercial and still life clientelle in addition to global advertising and branding companies.
 
I was born in New York way back in the 60’s just as the Beatles marched through town and Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) won his first heavyweight belt. Some attribute my penchant for the creative to this planetary moment in time, but my mother has a completely different take on things and tends to take most of the credit for anything exceptional in my life. The rest she blames on my father. As a young boy, I displayed a natural flair for distorting reality which, of course, is paramount in the retouching business. Altering report card grades, forging the occasional “sick note” and concealing the many bumps and bruises I allegedly inflicted upon my little sister — usually caused by one of many failed attempts at launching her into space — were an important part of growing up for me. Things are a bit different for me today. My parents have given up on my formal education and my sister, with the help of a good therapist, has managed to forgive me and move on with her life. But on a serious note….
 
I began my career in the early nineties with the onset of one of Adobe’s first releases of Photoshop. Armed with a 25MB Syquest drive the size of a VCR player and the occasional “command-z”, I soon found myself working for a flourishing design boutique in New York where I had the chance to get my feet wet in the advertising industry retouching still-life images for clients the likes of Mikimoto, Piaget, Panerai, Baum & Mercier and Christian Dior. Soon after, I was recruited by a small, but very successful French retouching boutique in lower Manhattan specializing in fashion, beauty & still life imagery. It was there, under the mentorship of owner/photographer Herve Lefond and now President of dTouchNY Sebastian Serval that I mastered my craft retouching images for national ad campaigns by some of the industries most renowned photographers and elite advertising agencies.

Today you can find me sporting flip flops in my Los Angeles studio- far from the cold streets of New York City, but never far away from the action – thanks to the internet. From liquids to skin texture and everything in between, I’ve pretty much retouched it or color corrected it. In my spare time you can find me teaching the craft to the latest crop of retouchers and rookie photographers looking to break into the business. I’m also a certified Filipino Martial Arts Instructor under Guro Dan Inosanto and a Berklee educated musician – occasionally playing the drums with my “rock star” buddies when they roll into town. Perhaps most important of all, I still Facetime with mom at least once a week…and my little sister is still my best friend in the whole world.

If your thing is stills or motion I’m sure I can help you with your next project. Feel free to reach out and introduce yourself. I’ll be glad to help!

Corrado Rotondella
Owner/Founder ConradDigital