Hi Gang: I’m back, and as you might imagine—I had just an amazing time! I met so many great people; I got to teach 4 sessions in the conference tracks, and three on the Expo floor, I had meetings, I went to parties, I got to play with my band, I stayed up way too late, and just had a ball.
Rather than giving you a thousands words, here are some pictures that tell the story better than I can (photos by official PSW photographers Brad Moore, Drew Gurian, and Josh Bradley).
Above: During David Ziser’s “Live Wedding Shoot” Pre-Conference Workshop
Above: The NAPP Photo Safari on location; taught by Joe McNally, Moose Peterson, and Crew.
Above: The proud winner of an Apple iPad, during the “Faux Olympics” during “Photoshop Midnight Madness!” (Our way after-hours session just for fun).
Above: Vanelli gets the crowd going before the doors to Midnight Madness open.
Above: Talking Twitter: Scott Bourne and Rod Harlan during our Twitter class on the Business Track
Above: Hey, isn’t that frequent commenter Mike Reeves there right of center?
Above: Deke McClelland during his “Channels & Masks” workshop
Above: Laurie Excel showing how she uses OnOne Software’s Photoshop plug-ins in her workflow during an Expo Floor presentation.
Above: Rod, Scott & Terry posing with another Midnight Madness Winner! (She won a custom-made NAPP baseball jacket, with two tickets to Photoshop World Orlando in the pocket!).
Above: Larry Becker is choosing contestants for a Midnight Madness game, and she’s yelling “Pick me. Pick me!” He picked her!
Above: Intellectual Property Attorney Ed Greenberg (front) with photographer’s rights advocate Jack Reznicki, (seated) during their class for photographers on how to protect your images (from our new business track).
Above: Amazing wedding photographers Cliff Mautner in one of his classes during his first time teaching at Photoshop World. He totally rocked it!
Joe McNally during his live class on shooting portraits with small off-camera flash. Here he’s taking a portrait of Adobe’s Russell Brown (follow this link to see the results from the shoot above over on Joe’s blog).
Above: Artist Fay Sirkis during her session on Painting with Photoshop CS5.
Above: McNally doing a live demo at the Manfrotto Distribution booth on the Expo Floor.
Above: Web guru Janine Warner during one of her conference sessions.
Above: A group pic of the instructors featured in our after hours “The Art of Digital Photography” roundtable. L to R: Joe McNally, Jay Maisel, Vincent Versace, Julieanne Kost, Moose Peterson, Joe Glyda, Jim DiVitale, and John Paul Caponigro.
Above: One of the way cool photo set-ups created by the creative team at Westcott, so you could just walk up and shoot. I don’t want to spoil it, because I’m doing a special post on Friday just about this, but this was coolest thing on our show floor ever, and attendees were over-the-top loving his (you’re seeing just one small part. More Friday).
Above: Adobe had their best booth ever, with computers running every single version of Photoshop ever (museum style), on the outside of the booth, and on the inside, an intimate presentation area attendees get up close with the people behind the product.
Above: My band, “Big Electric Cat” during the attendee Party at the House of Blues. (that’s Kalebra to my left, Felix Nelson in between on bass, and Scott Stahley back on the drums. You’ll see lead guitar player Tony Llanes in just a moment).
Above: Another booth on the floor that was drawing huge crowds was Dell’s “Photoshop Wars” presentation, where attendees, and instructors, battled it out. Very well done, and loads of fun (plus, Dell gave away lots of Dell monitors!). That’s Corey Barker and Larry Becker above.
Above: There’s Tony, rocking the House of Blues (with Felix on bass behind).
Above: Russell Preston Brown doing a presentation in Wacom’s booth.
Above: Joe Glyda during the free one-on-one Portfolio Reviews (note: a lot of people brought their portfolio on their iPad this year. Cool!).
Above: Veer draws a crowd to their Expo Floor booth.
Above: Soaking it all in during one of the conference sessions.
Above: Peter Bauer during his induction into the Photoshop Hall of Fame
Above: Adobe’s CEO Shantanu Narayan shares the crowd’s passion for Photoshop during the opening keynote.
Above: Adobe VP John Loiacono, Me (obviously very excited), and Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayan grab a photo op during the opening keynote.
Above: Photoshop Product Manager Bryan Hughes talks to the crowd about NAPP’s involvement in Adobe’s “Just Do It” program that brought loads of tweaks, enhancements, and improvements to existing features in Photoshop CS5.
Above: Adobe’s Worldwide Creative Suite Evangelist Terry White during his live demo during the opening Keynote.
Above: Adobe VP “Johnny L” kicks off Adobe’s keynote presentation.
Above: NAPP’s Creative Director Felix Nelson gets made-up backstage by Make Up Artist Shelley Giard for our KISS parody (he’s got Crop Tools for his eye makeup). I was the Move Tool. Matt was the Clone Stamp, and Dave Cross was the Hand tool.
Above: The doors open for the Opening Keynote, and the crowd gets settled in.
Above: After the opening parody of VH-1’s “Where are they Now?” show, chronicling the history of the fictitious KISS-like band “NAPP” the curtain drops (kabuki style) and boys play “I want to Photoshop All Nite…..and Retouch Every Day!” live! (with song lyrics captioned on screen, as seen here).
Above: The band in mid song. Full Disclosure: (a) Yes, we were really playing live! (b) That’s Felix on the far right on bass and me playing the “Flying V” in the center (c) Although Dave Cross was the lead guitarist in the video, and Matt was the drummer, Dave and Matt don’t really play, so we used a bit of trickery. Thanks to the make-up, we were able to substitute Big Electric Cat drummer Scott Stahley and guitarist Tony Llanes in their place. We made sure the camera guys never did close-ups on either Tony or Scotty, so the crowd just assumed it was Dave and Matt (and we heard that again and again throughout the conference: “Man, I never knew Dave Cross played such an awesome lead guitar!”). ;-)
Above: NPS (Nikon Professional Services) was the official sponsor of our “Real World Concert Photography” Pre-Conference workshop, and the class instructors (L) Scott Diussa and (R) Alan Hess had the crowd judge the best overall image from the live shoot part of the workshop, and then awarded the winner a Nikon D300s and lens!
Above: Senior Portrait artist (and kick butt instructor), James Schmelzer during his “Quality of Light” Workshop.
Above: Richard Harrington during his class on how to shoot and edit video taken with your DSLR.
Above: Checking out the new gear at the Really Right Stuff booth.
Above: Zack Arias during his class on things you need to know to be a professional photographer.
Above: MPIX Rocks! (see his shirt!). MPIX sponsored our live taping of Photoshop User TV on the Expo Floor, and we had Joe Dellasega from MPIX on as our guest, and he gave away loads of cool goodies—and gave a special one-day only discount to everyone watching. (Hey, I just noticed—that’s one of my portraits [football player], hanging in their booth. Sweet!).
Above: During the closing ceremonies I introduced Julie Stephenson, our Conference Director, and the crowd gave her a spontaneous standing ovation. Julie does a truly amazing job, and it shows!
Above: Photographer Michael “MJ” Green was helping out over at the Westcott Photo Shootout.
Above: John Paul Caponigro connects during one of his class presentations.
Above: Ben Willmore during one of his sessions, lit by the light of his laptop.
Above: The Father of Modern Color Correction, Dan Margulis, challenges his students with advanced classes on Lab, CMYK and Curves.
Above: Dave Cross, Canadian at Large, during one of his Expo Floor classes.
Above: Johnny L poses a question we don’t want to know the answer to. :)
Above: Heading back from class. Nothing else to do. Ho hum. Oh wait…this is Vegas!!!!
That’s a quick visual tour of this year’s Photoshop World. Our video team is putting together a video tour of the experience, but they have hours and hours of footage to go through, but I’ll let you know when they get it finished (probably in a week or so).
Thanks to everybody who helped make this a record-breaking show for us in more ways than one. By the way—-if this looks like a lot of fun, you can sign up later this week for next year’s show, coming to Orlando, Florida in late March. Hope I’ll see you there!
Looks like it was a really great time. Thanks for the live keynote broadcast too!
Looks like a blast, i wanted to go so badly, but was asked to shoot a wedding in the Bahamas in November for a friend so that took priorty this year. Won’t probably make it in March, but definatly looking into the fall one. Will it be about the same time and in Vegas again.
It was Sean. Any chance you’ll be over in March to join us?
It was Sean. Any chance you’ll be joining us in Orlando?
‘Twas a really good time! I have to say that the presentation called “The War on Photographers and Artists” by Jack Resnicki and Ed Greenberg was worth the price of a ticket itself. So many important questions answered. Also gained even more respect for Joe McNally and Zack Arias for their “full disclosure” openness about the rough times they’ve encountered pursuing their love of photography- if they only knew me, we could definitely share some misery beers on that subject. Great thing is that after hearing them speak, one realizes that photography is mostly a labor of love, it’s not just you that’s struggling, and no one gets a free ride to success.
Thanks to Larry Becker, Matt Kloskowski, Jay Maisel, Michael Green, and Ed Greenberg/Jack Resnicki for being so helpful to me and giving me their time at the event. I’m still mentally processing everything! Cheers-
Matt,
Thanks for the kind words. PSW had tons of energy this year. Fantastic!
Just a note- even though it’s mis-spelled in Scott’s post, like Liza with a “Z” it’s Reznicki with a “Z” ;->
Jack Reznicki
http://www.thecopyrightzone.com
I ztand corrected!
Like muslims should visit Mekka once in their life, I think I must visit PSW once in my lif …. :-) There seems to be so many great instructors, and so many great guys and girls at PWS . Great cover and juicy pictures :-)
Hey Scott,
Looks like you had a brilliant time in Vegas. Can’t wait to see the video footage once it’s all edited. Must have been a total inspiration from conferences to live demos with what Matt has said too.
A picture tells a thousand words…Looks like everyone had a total blast in Vegas, both before, during and after Midnight Madness. ;-)
My first and hopefully not my last. Unbelievable time and everyone was just so friendly from day 1 to the final minute. Some great new friends made. Thanks for the experience !
Dave, I’m really glad that we finally got the chance to meet up in person (ironically in Vegas) and I look forward to staying in contact and working together to ensure that NAPP UK grows and reaches its potential!
This was an excellent time. And, I am totally excited that I already paid for next year’s conference in Vegas. I made some excellent new friends like Dave Clayton & Ken Toney, and got re-aquainted with many others.
If you’ve never been to Photoshop World, why not? You’ll be glad you did.
Mike
Nice shot of you Mike.
Looks marvelous! I’m so longing to go to another Photoshop World. Are you ever coming back to Boston again? It’s been several years – and Boston is the only venue I can attend.
Yeah – Boston would be great and about the only venue I could attend too. Last time I was all set to attend, and my niece decided to make her appearance into this world three weeks early! I had to miss the conference!
Scott, I’m still laughing from the Insult Dog skit during MM; you’re a funny funny man. I literally needed an extra suitcase just to bring back all the free stuff from the EXPO. I’m definitely going to be a “repeat attender”. I’m already crunching away in PS trying out all the new techniques I learned.
It looks like it was a great time. I really hope I can make it next time. I would love to take advantage of the opportunity to get out, meet so many others who share my same interests, and just have a great time. Thanks, by the way, for the live broadcast of the keynote. It was fun to get a glimpse of things.
CHACKA!!!!!
IT WAS AMAZING!
Never saw a Event like this. I had a great time.
The “german guy” liked it:-)
lg Calvin
Hey Calvin,
It was great meeting you. I hope to see you at next year’s event in Vegas.
PS Remember, the moon goes behind the clouds :)
Mike
LOL
Yeah i remeber.
But i work with Smart Objects…. so no Problem:-)
lg Calvin
Keep them cell phones off unless you just like whos sitting next to you!! What a time!
Calvin & Mike & everybody else,
I had the time of my life! I never knew what I was missing, until now! I have bought my ticket for next year and God willing I will be there. Calvin, you did great when Russell put you on the spot, you’re a class act! Yes Mike, the moon behind cloud, I know one person who will remeber that for a long time!!! :)
Till next year..Ken
Scott, the keynote broadcast was awesome! Though I don’t think Paul Stanley has anything to worry about. :-)
Looks like it was a great time in Vegas. I’d love to come out. But I can’t pass up shooting Dragon Con, here in ATL. I get a lot of business from those shoots. I’ll have some of the photos up on my Zen site this week. However, if you’re doing another Photoshop World in spring down in FL, I’ll certainly be there.
Hey Scott, I tried to send you an email from the portfolio wesite but it keeps getting rejected. Is there a better email to send a message?
Thanks
Aaron
Looks like a lot of fun! Maybe next year for me.
Are the credentials around Ed Greenberg’s neck big enough– wow!
Well I missed seeing the keynote online because I got sucked into a meeting at the last minute grrrr….BUT! My sister and her husband have just moved to Orlando! So I’m totally saving my pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters to be at the next PSW! I’ve wanted to go for several years now! I’m soooo excited plus I’ll get to spend time with my super cute niece Olivia too…PSW + cute baby = good times, good times!
I can just imagine the atmosphere! I would have been absolutely worn out after all the activities you were involved in, but would have had a great time also!
I may come to a Photoshop World event one day when I can afford to travel from the UK.
I take it you and the other Photoshop guys went to you usual haunts like the ‘in and out’ Burger Restaurant.
Thanks for keeping us up to date!
It really was a great conference. I met nice people, learned quite a bit and had a fun time. The opportunities for photography were everywhere and I remember thinking that I wished I could do this every day. It’s amazing how the NAPP team pulls this off twice a year.
What a great week.
Thanks to everyone who came to my classes or just came up to chat in the expo hall and the corridors.
It was great meeting all of you.
I did a post over on my blog about the Keynote NAPP performance from a slightly different angle. Hope you all enjoy it.
http://alanhessphotography.com/archives/2128
Great blog entry, Alan! I love the backstage documentation. It was a lot of work for one song but we wouldn’t expect anything less from everyone at NAPP!
My big question is… how do they top this one??? That’s going to be a tall order especially without the 9 inch platform boots! :-)
Awesome post.
Loads of knowledge, loads of information and loads of fun.
My brain is still completely overloaded from all the stuff from last week. Absolutely an amazing time. For my first PSW I knew I’d have fun, but had a much better time than I expected. Everybody (including all the instructors) was so incredibly nice – such a nice change from all the computer industry conferences I’ve gone to in the past. There wasn’t 1 session I wanted to walk out of because all the speakers were incredible (again, a nice change from the computer industry conferences). I’m already trying to figure out how to get to Orlando.
Oh, Orlando is easy to find. Just drive east until you hit Atlanta and then turn Right. Keep going until you see a large mouse.
I want to go. Looked like a ton of fun. We could use a work/fun retreat.
Thanks to everyone at NAPP for a great conference. It was my first of many to come. I still can’t believe I won an iPad at Midnight Madness. Can you tell Felix he can have a rematch in Ping Pong anytime. LOL
Tim, they thought they had you there on the table, man you rocked! What a time we had! See ya next year!!
Yeah, way to make a comeback!
Yeah man you rocked! I sat back with my beer and watched the tormenting for my amusement! iPad well deserved!
Such an eye-opening experience! I’ve never done anything like it in my life! I learned so much, and made a lot of new friends. Scott, you were twice as awesome and friendly (And much taller…) as I expected you to be, thanks for making us all feel welcome!
I am very happy to have gone. I highly recommend it and I will come again. Not happy with the Mandalay tho. Thank you for putting together an excellant event to all the people at NAPP.
I just wanted to say thanks for a brilliant event. It was my first PSW… first of many to come since I was completely blown away by how fantastic it was. I find myself missing the experience already. It was nice to learn lots of tricks and techniques that make my life so much easier as well as listen to so many inspiring instructors.
Bravo.
I had an amazing time too, it was great simply to put names to faces and to shake the hands of so many who inspire me so much.
Rightly stated it was Vegas though and the after hour activities did take me for all that I had! … but when I think back and remember times throwing down my last $20 bucks with my hero (and now buddy) Zack on the Craps table, I’m reminded that the 11 hour flight over from London was well worth it and that I’d do it all again in a heart beat!
P.s I finally made it onto Scott’s blog! (last image on the left) … not yet a guest blog invite but I’m on my way there ;)
@Paul It was good meeting you! Since I’m the Asian guy on the right, it was only fitting that I respond to your comment. I still want that 60/40 shirt!
@Scott, amazing event as always! It has improved so much since my first PSW in San Francisco. I thought coming here would be a drag this year by myself, but needless to say the fellow attendees are all fantastic and soon enough we were forming our own roving band of retouchers (about 4 of us). This year I attended Midnight Madness and it was definitely worth getting line at 6:30am for a ticket. Fun fun fun!
Hey Scott,
Thanks for sharing all the photos looks like it was a grand time I hope to make it to Orlando
Denny
Thanks for another amazing Photoshop world! As always, I’ve learned a ton, and had a blast! I blogged the event, as it went on, and at the end, included my top reasons for EVERYONE to attend PSW. I’s like to share that part here:
top reasons for attending PSW (for people of any experience level):
1. The learning:
There is no doubt that you will gain a mind-boggling amount of new knowledge and techniques, on photography, photoshop, and much more. Whether your an experienced photographer looking to improve your skills, learn advanced lighting and upping your profits, or you just got into photography and want to learn your camera, do minor editing on your photos and share them with friends, there are classes for you.
2. The fun:
Let’s face it. This stuff is just plain fun, and NAPP, the organization who puts the whole shebang together, understands the importance of fun. In fact, they all have black belts in fun. From the opening keynote, to the closing session, they keep you laughing the whole time. And while all of the instructors and incredibly talented, they are also excellent at being serious about their work, but at the same time not taking themselves too seriously. Make sense? If not, just attend. You’ll see what I mean.
3. The People
This is huge. And it goes for both the attendees and the instructors. The people you will meet at PSW are so amazing. Every single time I go, I end up meeting new people, who I continue to keep in touch with. There is such an atmosphere of sharing throughout the whole crowd. Not only will you learn from the instructors, but you will learn from fellow attendees. And one more word on the “dream team” of instructors. I had been learning from many of them via their books and videos for years. In the past year or so I’ve gotten to know many of them personally and I have to say, without a shadow of a doubt, that they are all as amazing and inspiring as I’ve always perceived them to be. All that passion and enthusiasm you see on stage? That’s REALLY there, all the time.
So that’s my story, and I’m stickin’ to it. :-)
Hey Scott-
I had a great time at PSW this year, this was my third PSW Vegas in a row. I think I will try to make it to Orlando next year, I need a change of scenery! Thanks to all the instructors and vendors!
Scott – I just posted a short blog entry on my first trip to PSW. I took lots of photos of Big Electric Cat at The House of Blues and posted a couple in my blog. I particularly like the shot of your better half glancing over at you. It was fun meeting you (at the check-in line at Mandalay Bay) and Larry and so many other artistic professionals. I’ve been to other conferences, but this one had the best mix of quality content and plain fun. Thanks to you and your great staff!
I really want to get there!
I had a wonderful time. So much to take in and enjoy.
I had such a fantastic time! This was my second PSW, and it was a million times better than the last one. I learned so much (and still need to have a good sit down with the massive book) and met so many great people. I’m definitely hooked now. I wish I could clone myself; the book is great, but nothing beats seeing the classes first hand. Kudos to you guys for all the work you put into making such a fun, informative event.
Thanks so much for sharing these pictures. It looks like a fun and informative time was had by all. I hope to get to next year’s event.