by A.J. Wood

NAPP Nation – Photoshop World Orlando 2010

I’m still coming down from the high that is Photoshop World. Truly, as an adult it has become my favorite holiday. This was my 6th visit to PSW, but the first time I’ve attended in the spring. It was fun to catch all the great performances BEFORE everyone has a chance to talk about it on Facebook & Twitter. The party’s a lot more exciting when you don’t know what’s coming.

I thoroughly enjoyed the time spent in Orlando, and it was great to meet so many Twitter & Facebook folks in person for the first time. Chatted with Adobe folks at the Tweetup, and celebrated my 40+ birthday during the NAPP forum party. I met the genius that is @ErikBernskiold, chatted with fab designer @Firgs, hung out with the likes of @Elorg, @EGower, @AprilAndrews & the infamous @Vanelli. Caught up with friends Dawn, Terry & Heather, had a chance to chat some with David Ziser and his lovely wife LaDawn. I have been through most of the classes at PSW, so I was really looking forward to seeing new presentations. Zack Arias DID NOT disappoint. Walked away humbled, and excited at the possibilities. Of course, you can’t go wrong watching Joe McNally, and I enjoyed catching RC talk about websites for photographers & Rod Harlan share his knowledge of social media. Missed Alan Hess Precon, but had a chance to catch his session, and chat with him after the After Party. Some amazing talent at PSW, met Michael Green at the NAPP forum party (he’s featured in the Westcott catalog don’t ya know), Joey Wright at BB Kings (designers who photograph have an edge), chance encounter with Sandy Foster (from Dallas) at the NAPP forum party the day before she won the Vinny–CONGRATS AGAIN!!!

People ask me why I attend over & over–how could you not want to be around the best in the world as often as possible? I can’t emphasize this enough Photoshop World is THE learning conference to attend if you are a creative. I’ve been to Imaging USA, MacWorld & other events. Other conferences serve as infomercials for their presenters & vendors. PSW is not only a fun place to network with other creatives, THIS conference provides classes that educate, inspire & motivate the artist in all of us.

In summary:

Scott Kelby tells you what you missed at Photoshop World.

Terry Reinert has some ideas on what to do now that Photoshop World is over.

Here’s a quick Flickr gallery of snaps from PSW.

in Arts/Media / Events 3 comments
 by A.J. Wood

Photoshop Questions? Just Ask A.J.

It’s a quick hit Thursday. I’d say I was recovering from my Photoshop World experience (which was AWESOME), but we both know I’ve been knee deep in work since coming back from Vegas. Plenty of things on my plate, but had to take a moment to announce some cool stuff:

1. Ask A.J. (brought to you by Tip Squirrel) – This new column launched this week. Head over to the Tip Squirrel blog and ask me those nagging Photoshop questions, you know, the ones that keep you stirring about in your chair, scraping your nails against your Wacom tablet. I’ll be answering as many questions as I can each week, and if you behave, I might even thrown in some video responses.

2. Lightroom Core Series – due to the popularity of this seminar, I’m repeating the classes this month. Part 1 – Get Organized kicks off next week on Oct 14th, followed by the Part 2 – Develop It on Oct 21st, and we’ll wrap up with Part 3 – Output/Export on Oct 28th. Advanced registration is $25, or $40 at the door.

Finally had a chance to work on a few photos from my Photoshop World trip. Might post some HDR stuff later, but you’ll enjoy the hazing I took during the Photoshop Challenge EXTREME. Alright, that’s it for now, back to work people.

in Adobe / Events 2 comments
 by A.J. Wood

Photoshop World – Midnight Madness

Good morning dear readers. If you haven’t been watching the #PSW hashtag then you might not have seen the announcement that I won the “Photoshop Challenge EXTREME” last night at Midnight Madness here in Vegas at Photoshop World. What a crazy night. I wanted to thank @NAPP_News for calling me out as a contestant, and @JohnPoz who also encouraged me to throwdown a Photoshop tip in public. I also have to thank @JohnPoz for taking photos of the contest so there would be public record of the hazing I took as a proud member of NAPP. (I couldn’t have gotten through without that final kiss of encouragement from @LayersTV_RC – OMG LOL!!!)

Finally, a shout out to @JustinSeeley, Patrick LaMontagne, @DawnMHSH, @TKRPhoto, @TigerBright, @RomyYoung, @MattKloskowski, @JanineSmith, @Edpflager, @Vanelli, @ScottKelby and all the Twitter peeps I finally met in person here in Las Vegas. It’s cool when the bond created through social media extends offline.

Checkout some of the pictures @JohnPoz took last night:

I’ll be posting more of John’s pics on my Flickr page later today.

in Adobe / Events 0 comments
 by A.J. Wood

I Need PSW Love

Alrighty. I had planned a much longer post hours ago, when I hadn’t started ALL the things I started that I just now finished, which has me up late/early instead of sleeping, which would be a good idea considering I have a Flash class in about 7 hours. With that in mind, let me get to the point – I need your help to get to Photoshop World. Now, I’m not talking about a fundraiser. Don’t want your money–but feel free to hire me for your training needs ;^) –no, what I need is your support in convincing the wonderful folks at NAPP that yours truly would be an awesome speaker. If you’ve ever taken a class from me, if you enjoy my Twitter Adobe tips, if my tutorials on LayersMagazine.com rock your socks off, then tell a friend, hug a stranger, write your Congressman, tell your Twitter peeps, shout it on Facebook, post on the NAPP forums–you want to see me deliver my first class at Photoshop World this October 2009.

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in Adobe / Editorial 11 comments
 by A.J. Wood

Photoshop World 2008 Recap

Recovering today from the event that was Photoshop World 2008. Arrived home in the late evening (due to time change), and a week of no sleep has finally caught up to me. This was my fourth time out to PSW, and it never fails to be a worthwhile experience. Some highlights from my trip:

  1. Just met a ton of people, including Twitter peeps Nancy, LeAnn, Dorothy & Jeff. This was really the best part of the trip for me. Not only did I make new business contacts, I had a great time with folks sharing our interests in photography and Photoshop.
  2. I won a copy of the CS3 Master Collection my first day at the pre-conference. (This would ultimately doom me the next day)
  3. I was a Photoshop Guru Award top three finalist in the Photo Restoration category. (I would have gladly traded out my CS3 prize for the Guru award)
  4. I had a chance to chat with Scott Kelby, and had him sign his book for a friend back here in Dallas.
  5. Afterparty at the House of Blues. Probably the largest showing I have seen this particular event. The club was packed, standing room only. I posted a Flickr photostream of Scott Kelby and the band.
  6. Tweeting live from the event. I didn’t get as much posting done as I had planned, but a few folks commented on tweets. I’ll have a better plan of attack for next time.

You can click the thumbnails to see the TwitPics.
Photoshop Guru Award Finalist

 

 

 

 

NAPP reminds me of the employee culture at Southwest Airlines. I’ve yet to meet a NAPP member or employee who doesn’t think the world of the organization. That’s truly a testament to the company that Scott Kelby has built. Twice a year they put on this conference, and it only gets better. If I would have changed anything it would have been some cooler announcements from Adobe, Canon or Nikon. Really, with a captive audience of 3000+, I expected some insider info, not confirmation of rumors learned two months ago.

The only regret I have is I didn’t take any pictures after the House of Blues event. There I was with my new iPhone, twitpicking away, and not once did I grab a photo of the cool peeps I met at the conference. Oh well, next time…

in Adobe / Events 4 comments