Life & Work with Natalie “Nat” Bluhm

Today we’d like to introduce you to Natalie “Nat” Bluhm.

Hi Natalie, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Hi! I grew up in Kansas City, right off Loose Park, and was a creative child, to say the least. Luckily, my parents embraced my passions by keeping me in art classes year-round (sometimes at the Nelson-Atkins Museum) and sending me to a high school with a substantial art program. I took drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, and silversmithing. In an independent study during my junior year, I redesigned my favorite bands’ album art in order to teach myself the program Photoshop (this was back in 2003 – eeek!). I fell absolutely IN LOVE with the process because it was the perfect combination of painting, drawing, and technical pixel manipulation.

Determined to make a career out of art, I attended the Rhode Island School of Design despite being pressured to consider liberal arts colleges. RISD’s foundation year seriously kicked my butt! An avalanche of work, surrounded by so many talented artists. It was both a humbling and invaluable experience. Photoshop was my preferred method to complete assignments. I would develop my concept, sketch the composition, and photograph the elements to create a final image in Photoshop. The ability to make an image in my mind become a reality by using multiple photographs was liberating. It wasn’t until my senior year that I learned this medium was considered a viable career – photo retouching! Whaaat!

After graduating in 2009 with a Bachelor in Fine Arts in Illustration, I took the most obvious next step and moved to New York City to intern with an editorial photographer and a conceptual photographer. Both encouraged me to pursue photography or video editing, not retouching. I landed a part-time job as a studio manager and retoucher for a wedding photographer and really enjoyed working for her, but after nine months in New York, it was time to return to Kansas City to be closer to family, drive my car, spread out with more space, and adopt a dog. I moved back home, began interning with a renowned retoucher at a production studio in town, and after a few months, they handed me my first paycheck as an official commercial photo retoucher! YAY!

Following my freelancing gigs at that studio and some local companies for a couple of years, the studio hired me as their lead digital artist working on national and international ad campaigns and gaining great experience navigating the commercial advertising world. In 2019, after nearly a decade at the production studio, it was time to launch my own post-production company, High Heart Creative, and I have been retouching for great clients ever since! I’ve even had to hire freelancers at times to help with the workload! It has been an absolute dream!!!

Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It’s funny. While in school it seemed my path was NOT straightforward and smooth. After freshman year at RISD, I went to the Kansas City Art Institute for one semester. Unfortunately, KCAI had recently dissolved its illustration program so I went into graphic design. After 3 days of typography classes, I escaped to the photo + new media department (perhaps it was fate that the painting department was full?). Upon returning to RISD the next semester, I stayed in photography, only to transfer back into their illustration department junior year. Woof!

The unexpected bouncing around was unsettling at times, but my interest in Photoshop remained consistent – even though it was not the conventional route. In illustration classes, my classmates would be confused when presented with a high-quality print of a photo composite instead of a traditional medium such as a painting or drawing. In photography classes, my peers would dismiss my work more quickly because they weren’t looking at a “pure” photograph. I didn’t really fit in anywhere. Never swaying from my heart paid off because every single move I made only contributed to me being a multi-faceted artist, especially in my career as a retoucher.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a high-end photo retoucher and digital artist specializing in Adobe Photoshop. I work with photographers, ad agencies, and clients directly to elevate stills, build composites, and create gif animations for the desired commercial usage (print, web, OOH advertising, etc). Literally, that means I sit (or stand) all day with my Wacom tablet, two monitors, and my two doggos (shout out to Steelie and Stanley!), focusing on details in images zoomed to 200% and following notes provided to me by the client. It’s a unique combination of art and technical work but ultimately, I don’t think any other career path would have embraced my personality and skillset like retouching. Although I considered pursuing interior design after college, my house is an outlet to pursue that interest.

My field is a niche that sets me apart in and of itself, but I believe my formal art training in both illustration and photography has been very helpful in distinguishing my work. Being a successful retoucher requires a lot of skills beyond clean-up and color correction. My art school experience honed my ability to focus on the details while incorporating an artistic touch. I am probably best at photo composites for that reason. Composites are also my favorite projects to work on because it poses a fun challenge that allows me to be creative, technical, detail-oriented, and gets me excited – because the goal is to build a beautiful and cohesive reality in a single image that otherwise wouldn’t exist (which has always been my drive to create)!

Having always stayed true to myself regardless of the many people who have tried to judge and discourage me along the way is something I am very proud of. Plus, I get to wake up every day doing what I love to do. And perhaps the icing on the cake of starting my own business is the ongoing collaborative passion project I share with two of my talented friends (shout out to @Lauren.Pusateri and @GPritchettphoto)! We call it “A Real Nice Lady” and it’s our way to create the work we want for ourselves while also highlighting the awesome lady-identifying folks in our community.

Our content from this initiative has won multiple awards since we started in early 2020 which has been super fun.

Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs, or other resources you think our readers should check out?
Retouching requires hyper-focus, so I like to live slowly and enjoy the present moment as much as possible. My go-to chill has always been listening to Alan Watts lectures (haha). It seriously calms and empowers me at the same time.

Mornings typically begin with Wordle and the “MindPal” app, cold brew or espresso (lots and lots of it), and yoga.

Steering clear from social media as much as possible throughout the day has been monumental for my mental health, and when feeling overwhelmed or stressed (because the world is ultra heavy as of late), I rearrange my space or do an “automatic” doodle.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.highheartcreative.com
• Instagram: @natbluhm (personal) and @highheartcreative (business)
• Other: www.arealnicelady.com/blog