I operated Torborg Photography in St. Cloud and Minneapolis for 13 years, producing photographs for catalogues, advertising materials and audio/visual productions. When I started out, digital photography was nothing more than theory, and most advertising images were produced using bulky large-format cameras.

The arrival of digital technologies for photographic imaging brought huge changes to this business. The new technology was foreign to many photographers, and with it came new expectations from clients demanding press-ready, retouched images from folks who previously did none of that sort of work.

Digital service bureaus were likewise being asked to provide photographic services, putting them in a similar bind. It's because of this that I was recruited by ColorMax in 1997 to add a photographic studio to their range of services. It was an ideal combination; ColorMax could offer quality photographic work, and I could deliver properly prepared images for optimal print reproduction, something that most photographers were just starting to figure out.

In the six years I spent at ColorMax, I learned a tremendous amount about color correction, retouching, and lithographic print work. These skills have become quite useful in my work at the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library. Even with the ubiquity of digital photography today, most images need some retouching to produce optimal press images. I also provide much of the original photography needed for displays, brochures, and our in-house magazine, Illuminations.

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