Following Photoshop World's Online Coverage

Photoshop World Las Vegas 2008 marked our first foray into broadcasting events as they unfolded via social media. Since then, coverage of PSW has grown and expanded to offer plenty of news, fun and surprises for both our attendees and those following from home.

Here’s a breakdown on what to expect from us this year and how to follow along:

• PSW Keynote Liveblog – The PSW keynote is the event that sets the tone for Photoshop World. It’s also the place to hear the latest announcements from NAPP and Adobe. Follow every second of the PSW keynote right here on this blog.

  We will launch the liveblog right here on Wednesday, March 24 a little before the event kicks off at 9am EST. Just go to the main blog page. It will be at the very top. You can also follow along via RSS feed or via the “News” section of your PSW iPhone App.

  One of the most highly-anticipated aspects of our keynote (next to the announcements) is to see what the Photoshop Guys have cooked up for this year’s theme. All I can say is that you do NOT want to miss this one! Please note: We can’t broadcast the video portions of the Keynote until the Las Vegas event but believe me, the pictures will be worth tuning in!

• Photoshop World Tweetup – This is our third Photoshop World Tweetup and they just seem to be getting better every time. A Tweetup is the same thing as a Meetup, it’s just organized through Twitter. It’s a great way for fellow NAPP members who use Twitter to meet each other, put a face with the avatar and make new friends to pal around with at Photoshop World.

  Plus, this year, we are being joined by some special guests. Representatives from Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom (including Lightroom Product Manager, Tom Hogarty) will be present to socialize and answer your questions.

  In addition, expect a bevvy of PSW instructors to make appearances as well along with representatives from APC, AdoramaPix, Peachpit, Mpix and more!

  The Tweetup takes place on The night before PSW officially kicks off (Tues. March 23) around 7:30. Want to know the location? Follow us on Twitter. =)

• PSW Hashtag – Speaking of Twitter. You can follow everything taking place as it happens by following the #PSW Hashtag on Twitter or via your PSW iPhone App. Also, be sure to add the #PSW hashtag to all your tweets so you can be a part of the collective report.
• Flickr – There is also an official PSW Flickr Group for 2010. Join and share your pics and videos from Orlando or join in preparation for PSW Vegas in September.
• Blogging – There will be plenty of blog reports and photos going up here from our guest bloggers – fellow PSW attendees, special guest blogger (and PSW instructor) Alan Hess, and myself.
• Videos – Last fall, we started a little experiment where we gave a handful of attendees little hand-held video recorders and asked them to capture their PSW experience to share with everyone else. We are continuing to fine-tune this idea so look for videos from this effort (along with the outstanding work done by our video team) on our YouTube Channel. Be sure to subscribe for notifications on all our latest videos.

See one of last year’s NAPP member-submitted videos: What is your take on Photoshop World?

• Facebook – We plan to link to just about everything taking place online via our NAPP Facebook Fan Page. Join us there and track it all. =)
Posted in Events, Fun, Keynote, Live Blog, Show Coverage, Social Media

What I learned at PSW

I have had a few days now to let my first Photoshop World trip settle in, and I am glad to say PSW exceeded my expectations. This is only my third photography convention, but I had a pretty good idea of what to expect from reading posts from the last PSW. What I didn’t expect was the professional quality of the keynote production. It was better than anything I have seen at any convention, and other organizations should study what made this one so successful.

There were two really big reasons for Allison (my wife and business partner) and I to go out to PSW this year. The first and most important was to meet the great Scott Bourne of Photofocus.  The second reason was to see one of my long time photography heroes, Joe McNally .

I met Scott Bourne online 8 months ago and struck up a friendship. He has been very gracious with his knowledge and wisdom. Allison and I have been looking for a reason to meet him in person, and Vegas PSW seemed like a great place to do it. Scott is truly one of the wisest businessmen I have ever met. You would do well to listen to what he has to say. My favorite Scott saying: “Never let your opinion of your circumstances dictate your actions.” Thank you, Scott.

Joe McNally was everything I wanted him to be. My only regret is that I didn’t get a chance to actually meet him. I enjoyed listening to him talk about his body of work from National Geographic, LIFE and Sports Illustrated. Here are a few nuggets of wisdom he was throwing out.

“The best thing about being in the field. You have to make a decision. There is no time for a committee decision.”
“Go and shoot the picture. Because if you don’t go you won’t have a picture.”
“Embrace the problem. You said YES to the assignment and once you do, it’s your problem now.”
“You are never really working for anyone. You are working for yourself and you have to be happy with what you’re doing.”
“National Geographic pays $600-$750 a day.”
“Far too many people want to put you in a box. Express yourself to avoid this. Shoot different things. Even if it’s just for you”
“Be alert. You just never know where the next frame will be.”
“Next to imagination, tenacity is the next important tool in a photographers tool belt.”
“Be prepared to hear NO 100 times from editors.”
“A career in photography is about risk. There are lots of people telling you what not to do.”
“Get a voice . Create a blog. Stick with that voice. Feed that voice.”

A special thank you to Nancy (@NAPP_News) for allowing me to guest blog.

Jeff and Allison run Allison Rodgers Photography, a portrait studio in Olive Branch, MS. They will be speaking at PPA’s  Imaging USA in Nashville, TN Januay 2010. Jeff and Allison are contributing writers for Professional Photographers Magazine. Follow Jeff‘ on twitter. Follow Allison on twitter.

Late Night Photowalk

Las Vegas is the city that never sleeps (at least during the night time). On Friday evening after the Midnight Madness event, almost 30 photographers went out to capture the sights of the Vegas strip in the wee hours of the night. It was a perfect night for a walk, temperatures were in the 70s and the sky was clear. They were treated to some fantastic sights and sounds, and the only major thing they had to endure was me leading the bunch. Thanks folks for your patience and your good humor. I had a really good time and hope you did too.

Below are some of the images I captured, and all of the walkers are encouraged to share their images on the Photoshop World Vegas Photowalk group on Flickr. As a special thank you,Terry Reinart and I will be choosing one image from all those submitted from the PreCon walk and the Late Night walk to receive a free canvas print from Artistic Photo Canvas! Submission deadline is October 18th to be considered!

Walkers in front of the New York, New York Casino. (Lots of funny looks).

View of the strip from the walkway by MGM.

One of our many willing models that night.

John Horn, creator of many Photoshop Actions on the walk.

Richard Harrington - Photoshop and Video guru, Photoshop World instructor on the walk, trying out some new equipment. (Photo courtesy of Cathy Killebrew)

View of New York, New York from the Tropicana walkway.

- Ed Pflager is an IT Professional working in Business Intelligence, an MBA student, and an amateur photographer and Photoshop user. You can see more of his ramblings and some of his work at www.edpflager.com

IStock Dollhouse Party Video

The iStock Dollhouse party was such a fun event that our video team cobbled together a quick edit of all the footage they shot, just to give you an idea of what it was like.

A great big thanks to RC and our awesome video crew… and of course, everyone at iStock for holding such an amazing event for our NAPP members at Photoshop World!

It's Martini Time!

One of the things I noticed from last year to this is that Photoshop World continues to evolve and new things are added to the mix. This year Deke McClelland and the lovely Colleen Wheeler brought the taping of their Martini Time podcast out of the super secret lounge location to a series of live tapings at the EyeCandy Lounge in the Mandalay Bay Casino. For those not familiar with the format, Deke and Colleen host different computer graphics and digital imaging related guests in an informal, martini fuelled interview show. Completely unscripted, guests are invited to take their shoes off and relax with a cocktail. After the free wheeling discussions the show wraps up with a toast from the guests.

For the PSW sessions, 6 episodes of Martini time were taped in two seatings of three. I sat through the first one, and was treated to Julianne Kost and Dr. Russell Brown, RC Concepcion and Terry White (the multi-tasking phenomenon) in taping 2, and Jack Davis and Ben Willmore in the wild hair episode (a holdover I think from Dr. Brown’s portion of the keynote).

Julianne and Russell talked jokingly about possible new features in development, and the Jeckyll and Hyde relationship Russell has with Dr. Brown, and about the various blogs available from Adobe staff members. Search for various people like John Nack and Julianne Kost to see what is going on at Adobe and in digital imaging and graphic design. Julianne also has her own website where she features some of her awesome photography and artwork.

During their taping, RC talked about the changing face of developing in Flash and Dreamweaver and the enormous amount of free resources for code and actions on the web, that increases productivity.  Meanwhile, Terry was multitasking, rendering the keynote address on his laptop while Deke and Colleen interviewed him. (I wouldn’t doubt that he was twittering during the session too!) The video was linked to on a previous blog from NAPP_NEWS.

The final taping was the Wild Hair episode with Ben Willmore and Jack Davis. I’d say WOW about the hair, but then I would need to pay Jack a royalty.) The discussion ranged from Ben’s renovating a vintage bus to travel the country (documented on his website WhereIsBen.com to Jack and Deke’s long history making Photoshop easier for us casual users.

All in all, an enjoyable time and one I hope they bring to future Photoshop Worlds. Great job to Colleen and Deke and all the support staff from Martini Hour.

Pictures from PSW Vegas '09

Joe McNally’s assistant Drew Gurian took some amazing photos for us of Joe & Moose’s pre-con and the Keynote presentation. Hover over the pictures for captions… Enjoy!

What the heck is a Tweetup?

What the heck is a Tweetup?
A Tweetup is an in-person gathering of people who follow each other on Twitter. The informal part of Photoshop kicked off on Wednesday night with the NAPP forums/Twitter party, at the House of Blues in Mandalay Bay. Organized by Nancy Masse of NAPP and Kris Siam (@ksaim on Twitter), more than 150 people jammed the bar area to put names to faces, talk Photoshop, and just generally have a good time.

The discussions I was part of ranged from color calibration tools, to how bad the Buffalo Sabers are doing, to the networking benefits of a new iPhone app called BUMP that makes sharing contact information as easy as doing a fist bump. Gotta love technology!

At one point during the evening we were even trying to convince Nancy to get a tattoo of RC’s Twitter avatar (a picture of him when he was very young, with a Photoshop added mustache and goatee). She wasn’t going for it though. (There is a tattoo convention going on at the conference center along with Photoshop World, so the intermingling of the various participants at times is pretty funny.)

Capping off the evening, some of the NAPP personnel dropped in to join the festivities, including appearances by Terry White, RC, Larry Becker, Rod Harlan, Matt Kloskowski and Scott Kelby himself. Rumors abounded that NAPPS video guru Jason Scrivner was even spotted. And I would have to say that Scott Bourne summed it up well when he twittered that the evening felt more like a family reunion, than a conference. Completely agree! Great job Nancy and Kris!
- Ed Pflager is an IT Professional working in Business Intelligence, an MBA student, and an amateur photographer and Photoshop user. You can see more of his ramblings and some of his work at www.edpflager.com

Wednesday Afternoon Photowalk

Today marked the first of many photowalks taking place during the Photoshop World conference. I wasn’t sure how many people would show up since Wednesday was a day of pre-conference workshops for some and travel for many others. We started out with 8 photographers and picked up a few along the way. The weather was perfect and as with any great photowalk, it seemed like there was a lot more socializing and having fun than actual taking photos! Don’t get me wrong there, there was a whole lot of shooting going on too! I am also happy to report that no one was harassed for using tripods or long lens!!

At the Start of the Photowalk

I’d like to thank Artistic Photo Canvas, HDRSoft, and PTGUI for sponsoring the photowalk and donating prizes to give out to attendees. Make sure to stop by Artistic Photo Canvas booth to see the cool stuff that they do!

Walking near Mandalay Bay

Taking Photos in front of New York, New York

Terry Reinert is a software engineer, photographer, and martial artist living in Melbourne, Florida. His engineering experience spans across the avionics and military sectors and he is currently focusing on portrait and high dynamic range photography. You can find him on twitter at @tkrphoto and on his blog Where Art & Engineering Collide.

What's Going On at PSW

Hi everyone! I’d like to thank NAPP for giving me this opportunity to be one of the guest
bloggers for Photoshop World Vegas. Hopefully I can share some interesting information for all of you. So let’s get started!

For first time Photoshop World attendees, I have some bad news: You will not be able to attend everything at Photoshop World. Painful to hear I know, but true. The folks at NAPP pack an incredible amount of events into three days, and trying to go to everything just isn’t possible. Sorry. ? (But the good news is that doesn’t mean you can’t do an awful lot!)

The best advice I can give you to have the best time possible is talk to people. Trust me, you’ve got a lot in common with the people at Photoshop World and there are more people attending by themselves than those who came with someone. But if you are open to meeting new folks and trying new things you will have a great time!
Here’s a few tips:

• Sign up for Dinner with a Stranger You can meet a lot of very nice people who are flying solo in Vegas and have a great dinner in the process. Make connections, trade business cards, and keep in contact during the convention and during the year, especially when you need a little creative boost.

• Want to see the Vegas sights but don’t know anyone, don’t no where to go or don’t want to go alone? There are several photowalks going on throughout the conference where you can see the sunset, the casinos and the people. NAPP_NEWS (Nancy) blogged about it previously here.

• Keep your eyes and ears open for added events! If you are on Twitter set up a saved search for #PSW (the conference hashtag) for added events. If you aren’t a regular Tweet, you can still follow what’s going on by going to http://search.twitter.com and entering #PSW in the search field. Just in the past few days on Twitter, David DuChemin and Chris Orwig announced the Neon In Your Neighborhood contest, Deke McClellan posted an invite to be part of the tapings of his Martini Hour podcast , Fotolia announced two new photowalks and Peachpit Books posted a link to their presenters schedule at their tech expo booth.

• Want to have a fun-filled two hours and not learn a thing about Photoshop? Grab a ticket to Midnight Madness! Silliness abounds, and the time flies by! But you have to get up early because there is only 200 tickets given out and once they are gone, they are gone! A word of caution though – avoid volunteering for anything at Midnight Madness until you know what it is they want you to do!

• Lastly, make sure you go to the Tech Expo! I know you are saying “But I lost all my cash at the craps table last night with Matt and Scott.” Doesn’t matter. The tech expo is where you can go to attend bonus classes put on by NAPP and this year B&H Photo. Plus a lot of vendors at the expo have exciting stuff going on as well as opportunities to win fabulous prizes. One vendor last year even set up a trampoline and had models on hand for acrobatic photo shoots. But if you don’t go, you won’t get to see all of that!

So there you have it. All kinds of fun stuff outside of the normal sessions where you can meet new people, have some great photo opportunities, and experience the other side of Photoshop World. Have a good time!

- Ed Pflager is an IT Professional working in Business Intelligence, an MBA student, and an amateur photographer and Photoshop user. You can see more of my ramblings and some of my work at www.edpflager.com

Posted in After hours, Events, Fun, Guest Post

PSW Photowalk Updates

If you’re into Photowalking, there are three awesome Photo Walks being planned for Photoshop World Vegas. Here are the details:

Peachpit’s ‘Neon in your Neighborhood’

Win a chance to go on a special Photowalk on October 2 with a bevvy of Peachpit authors (including our own Matt Kloskowski!) Just upload a photo of some “Neon in your Neighborhood” to the contest Flickr group and you could be whisked away to Vegas’ famous Neon Museum Boneyard for a special photo walk!

Full details here.

Late Night Photowalk in Vegas

Photoshop World Guest Blogger, Ed Pflager will be leading a late-night walk on Friday night. Here’s what he had to say:

Vegas is the city that never sleeps, and we’re going to prove it with a late night Photowalk at Photoshop World in Vegas. We’ll start at the Tram station on the Casino level of the Mandalay Bay, near the House of Blues at 12:15AM right after Midnight Madness on Friday evening/Saturday morning and (hopefully) finishing up back in the lobby around 3AM. Be sure to wear your walking shoes and bring a monopod or tripod if you have one.

We’ll be walking the strip, seeing the some of the most famous casinos in the world and the people out and about in the wee hours. We’ll check out the MGM Grand’s Lion statue, the Paris Casino’s Eiffel Tower and Arch de Triumphe, the Statue of Liberty and Brooklyn Bridge at New York, New York, and the Sphinx at the Luxor and much more.

Background Info:
I led the Toledo, Ohio walk as part of Scott Kelby’s Worldwide Photowalk in July and Melanie Alexander who lead the Vegas leg of the WWPW should be joining us as well. If you’re attending PSW and would like to come be a part of the walk, just tweet me on Twitter (@edpflager) or send an email to ‘me[at]edpflager[dot]com’. Updates and more information will be posted on my website.

Photocredit: Las Vegas News Bureau/LVCVA

Pre-Con Photo Walk

For those of you who will be arriving in Vegas on Pre-con Day (September 30th) but are not scheduled for a Photoshop World Pre-con, Terry Reinert (another Photoshop World Guest Blogger) is holding a Photowalk at 4pm.

This walk will meet in the lobby at Mandalay Bay and it looks like there’s even some prizes involved. All the details to sign up can be found on Terry’s blog.

Photocredit: Las Vegas News Bureau/LVCVA

If you do the Pre-con day photo walk, you should be back in plenty of time to join us for the Photoshop World TweetUp at the House of Blues at 8pm too. =)

See you in Vegas!!