Photoshop World 2011
Derry and I flew to Orlando to attend my tenth year of Photoshop World — a conference on the latest and greatest of all things Photoshop, including digital photography — being held at the Orange County Convention Center in “sunny” Orlando. We got an upgrade to First Class both going to returning, which was fabulous! I’d love to fly across country or overseas in such a chair. It reclined to a full bed position!
Our pre-session day class was with Faye Sirkis, The Art of the Contemporary Painting in CS5. I’ve taken several classes with Faye in the past, but I was interested to see how she uses the new mixer and other brushes in CS5. The last few hours of the class were very good. And, I was the lucky winner of one of Faye’s training DVDs.
Sunny Florida, right? Wrong. The only day it was sunny was the day we landed and the evening Photoshop World ended. Otherwise, it rained. It poured. There were thunder and lightening storms. There were daily tornado warnings with tornadoes touching down in surrounding areas. At times it sounded like the roof might cave in! But, so it goes!
The opening keynote has the feel of a rock concert where everyone eagerly awaits the start of the show (much like the days of Steve Jobs giving the opening keynote at Macworld). This year’s theme was Project Photoshop — a take off on Project Runway. The huge workbook cover, however, included the tag line, “The Feel. The Fashion. The Filters,” which reminded me more of “he look, the feel, of cotton, the fabric of your life,” rather than Project Runway. Small nitpick, I know. Anyway … the opening video featured Julieanne Kost playing the Heidi Klum character and David Ziser playing the Tim Gunn character, each having a different take on the name. A team of NAPP teachers were the Photoshop designers and the fabulous photographer Jay Maisel, and instructors Fay Sirkis and Terry White were the judges. After the video Scott Kelby started the show, and the models strutted down the runway with garments created by Florida fashion design students. Each garment was based on a different Photoshop tool, such as the paint bucket, pen, type tool, and so on.
Color swatches on the left and the pen tool on the right.
Based on the bucket tool, this design was the winner.
Scott Kelby among the models.
Another set of models showcased designs printed on silk.
The winning design.
I was very happy to see designs ink jet printed with pigment ink (I was told with an Epson wide format) onto silk fabric. Later I obtained a sample pack of the fabric from an Adobe employee and was very surprised to see the name of the company on the package. Without naming the company, it’s one that I used extensively in the past but have not ordered from in some time due to delivery problems. Hmm..
Johnny L. among the models.
Johnny Loiacono (aka Johnny L.), an Adobe Executive, also gave an overview of some of the latest Photoshop advances, which is always fun to see. He and Bryan Hughes (another Adobe person) demonstrated some future concepts. I’m looking forward to some of the new iPad apps coming out, such as “Toolbar meet Palette,” which puts Photoshop navigation on your iPad, meaning more screen real estate!
The rush of the crowd leaving the keynote.
The keynote concluded, and the rush to classes began. While I took many, a few were stand-outs.
Jeff Schewe.
The Art of the Digital Print was excellent. I’ve taken a full day panel discussion on digital printing, with Jeff being one of the instructors, and have taken classes with him at prior PSWs (including one with the late Bruce Fraser which was amazing). However, he continues to be one of the most knowledgeable teachers going, and I jump at any opportunity to learn from him. I also enjoyed the panel talk on The Art of Digital Photography. At the concluding keynote, a talk given by Dave Black was one of the most inspiring talks I’ve heard. He talked extensively about how a college teacher took an interest in him and literally changed his life. It bought him to tears and most people listening to tears. And so another Photoshop World concluded.
There are so many sharing teachers, classes, and incredibly talented people at the show that it can be overwhelming. I left feeling very humbled, but very inspired. And, the sun was finally out!
April 20th, 2011 at 5:38 pm
Glad you had a great time too. I was thrilled to see Jay Maisel and John Paul Caponigro. I wanted to see Jeff’s class but it was a conflict with others. So many wonderful choices in each time slot. I could have attended all 6!! Agreed that Dave Black was especially inspirational. Maybe I’ll see you next year in Orlando :-)
April 20th, 2011 at 9:22 pm
Jay Maisel is a master! I was fortunate to get a signed poster from him several years back at a show in NYC. I have it hanging in my office area.