Photoshop World Expo Faces

During the time between classroom lectures at Photoshop World Expo, I would grab any opportunity to capture some of the "professionals" (that's an understatement) on camera.  Not only did the "pros" allow me to take their picture, but they answered photography questions, inspired me, and even allowed me to have my picture taken with them and/or received a hug or hand shake which made me feel a part of this pool of creativity.

Jay Maisel

Cliff Mautner

Frank Doorhof

David Ziser

Just before the Pre-Conference classes were to begin, Joe McNally was spotted in the hallway heading toward his classroom. A classmate was able to stop Joe and start a conversation. I happened to be there and I was able to "mingle" with Joe McNally for 3 minutes and 21.0032 seconds.  All I did was stare at him and try to engage in the conversation between Joe and the classmate. I decided if I can't talk, I have to at least touch his shoulder. I slowly reached out to his shoulder (to give him enough time to swat my hand or scream for security) and applied a small amount of pressure on his top right shoulder. Joe automatically assumed there was something on his shirt that needed to be removed. While Joe attempted to brush off something that wasn't even there, I finally opened my mouth and said, "I just had to touch you (with a smile)." We all laughed and Joe responded by saying, "Oh, we need a group hug!" We all laughed as Joe embraced us. I never did get a picture of Joe McNally during the week.  I held off since I will see him soon enough in Boston. I think it will be a better opportunity since it's a full day with Joe and Dave Hobby.

The view of Convention Center from my room.

I'm still on a high from the amazing opportunity attending the Photoshop World Expo in Orlando. Not only did I reflect on what I learned everyday while I was there, but since I've returned I think it and dream it. I actually woke myself from my sleep last night after calling out "ambient light!?!" I've been known to talk in my sleep, but that's just a little too much.

Photoshop World Expo

Oh my... I've had the time of my life this last week spending it with famous photographers: Dave Black, Joe McNally, Frank Doorhof, Cliff Mautner,  Jay Maisel, Scott Kelby, David Ziser, RC Concepcion, Joe Glyda, and many more! I didn't sleep much during the week.
Instead, in four days: I attended the Pre-Conference Workshop with David Ziser on Wedding Photography; I attended at least seven hours of classroom courses everyday; Listened to more great knowledge and experiences from professional photographers at the Expo; I window-shopped gear, materials for print, and software displayed on the Expo floor; In the evenings, I attended a couple of the scheduled events with instructors and classmates.

The first photograph you see here was taken when everyone was released from the opening ceremony.  I think there were about two thousand people who attended Project Photoshop. With this mass amount of people leaving the opening keynote, the Convention Center had four out of five escalators running... directing the crowd safely up and out. The center escalator was going the opposite direction. One attendee decided to run up the center escalator that was going the opposite direction to try and cut his wait time.  He ran up it with grace! A woman from the crowd said "I'm going to try it."  She tried, but as you see, she didn't quite make it with grace on her first attempt. She quickly got up and ran up it a second time. I have to give her credit for getting up before the escalator took her back to her starting point. The crowd awed and applauded as she made her way up. Embarrassed? I would think so. Camera? I doubt she had a working one after that fall.