This year’s Los Angeles PhotoshopWorld conference may not have had as much lead time as its east coast Tampa Florida sibling, but that didn’t necessarily hamper its success.
Attendance, according to show producer Jeff Kelby, came in at around 1,350 conference-goers. The expo hall was only open for 2 rather than 3 days this year. The exposition side of the conference was only open to conference attendees, but that may change in the future, conference officials said. “We may go back to a 3-day expo next year, as long as the vendors ask for it. And next time the expo hall will be open to the public as well.”
Photoshop world is the annual convention of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals. During the three-day conference, registrants can attend over 60 training sessions, including a creative track covering retouching techniques, interface and tool instruction, and most of the so-called “Wow” techniques in digital imaging.
This year introduces a new Business track as well. These sessions deal with the business side of Photoshop, from how to copy protect images, to marketing strategies, and how to make your Photoshop skills a viable and long-term business.
Brain Braff, a Los Angeles-based photographer attending the show found the conference valuable and informative. “I was surprised at the vast array of information I don’t know. And I think it may be the same for most of the people here.”
Other attendees echoed this sentiment, while some wished for longer sessions than those provided. Conference attendees receive an instruction book of nearly 300 pages for each day of the pro-sessions. The book covers each session’s tricks, tips and tutorials in greater depth than the live sessions could. Freelance graphic designer Ellen Price, comments that “the wealth of information in each session makes you want even more.” Her colleague, Janet Bothne concurred. “What they teach here will shave hours off my work. And what they don’t get to in the session I’ll have to review in the conference book later on when I get home.”
Experts manned several booths outside the conference rooms, in the main hall, ready to answer questions about software techniques or Wacom tablet uses. Well-known author Peter Bauer sat in one such booth near the show’s entrance, gathering a good crowd, giving an impromptu session on the finer points of Photoshop.
Attendees MacCentral spoke with unanimously declared the show a hit. And even though this is not a Mac-only show, the popularity of the Mac for digital imaging professionals was evident everywhere. Janet Bothne recalls, “One guy behind me was using a Toshiba something or other, and you could tell he was itching for an excuse to diss the Mac. But every teacher of every session was Mac-based, so he never had the chance.”
Photoshop world ran from February 19 thorough the 21 at the L.A. Convention Center.