I know where my domain expertise is ... and you are right, I've never built an imaging app ... but that don't matter ... at least with respect to this issue.
Ok...come back and let me know when you've don't something like Photoshop, Camera Raw or Lightroom...
So, here's the thing...Thomas Knoll who co-authored Photoshop with his brother John wrote Camera Raw 1.x and was the principle engineer for ACR 2.x-5.x and the raw processing pipeline to LR 1-2.x (including LR 3 beta)...
Lightroom was the brainchild of Mark Hamburg (the second engineer to work on Photoshop and the principle engineer on Lightroom)...
And yes, imaging apps are different in that image processing routines are what's "interesting" not basic UI stuff...and usability and functionality is completely dependent from normal computer user UI design...
I know on several levels...the basic UI design of LR was was done by
Phil Clevenger after Phil beat me out on the UI design creds for Lightroom (I did actually apply for the position). Phil was Kai Krause' main UI designer for things like Goo and a few other imaging apps with
Kai...
You really don't wanna belly bump with me dooode...you won't win (and the odds are you'll just end up embarrassed). The fact you are in New York pretty much says you aren't on the cutting edge of digital imaging...(sorry, that stuff happens on the west coast–or MIT at the least).
Sorry, your creds mean little to me...doubtful it will mean much to the guys creating this stuff–on the other hand, those guys creating the stuff do tend to listen to me. So, there ya go...life's a beach, and then ya die...ya gotta go more than what you've shown to be a player...
:~)
BTW just understand, I'm not trying to call you out...I've been involved in DI image applications for well over a decade and I know all the guys doing this stuff by their first name (and have both their cell and home numbers and they actually answer my calls). So, you really can't tell me much I don't already know...