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That’s right. It’s that time again. Another Photoshop World! I’ve stopped counting how many of these I’ve been to, but I’ll never get tired of this conference. I’ve said it before on this blog, but the energy there is simply amazing. There are a slew of excellent classes to take, but it’s really so much more than that. It’s about having fun, getting motivated and being inspired. Oh yeah… and you happen to learn a lot in the meantime! In fact, you learn so much that you feel as if all the excess information may start oozing out of your brain by the end of the event. There are classes for people of every level, and the instructors are all incredible (Heck, I’m marrying one of them!).  When I first started attending PSW, I got the added bonus of being able to hang out with a bunch of folks with the same passions as me. If you’re a photographer, and don’t have many photographer friends, then you know what a big deal this is. (I still get that bonus, but my world has changed since those first few PSWs, and now my circle of friends includes a lot of photographers.)

Ben teaches his class on Adjustment Layers in Washington D.C.

There were a lot of added bonuses at this event. First of all, it wasn’t in Orlando… yay! (There’s nothing wrong with Orlando, but the past several east coast PSWs were there, and it was getting a wee bit old for those of us regulars) This year we all converged in Washington D.C., which leads me to the next bonus. The cherry blossoms were in bloom! We were so lucky here, because they only bloom for a few short days of the year. The day before the event, a bunch of us headed down to the Tidal Basin, where much of the “pinkage” was happening. I might not be into the color pink, but in this context it was just beautiful! The city looked like a painting. The third bonus was that my best friend of over 20 years, Amanda, attended the conference! She’s been dabbling in photography and I knew she’d have a good time. I was excited for her to see how different this was from most conferences.

The capital was painted pink when the cherry blossoms were in bloom

The whole event went great, as usual. I attended several classes, and Ben taught three. Adobe always does a big presentation in the keynote, and this year’s announcement was the launch of Photoshop CS6 and the release of the beta version.  In the evenings we’d meet up with friends for dinner and cocktails. These days, I look forward to PSW because of the friends I see there in addition to the conference events. It’s always like a little reunion and I just love being in a hotel where you know half the people staying there! We were in D.C. from Thursday until Tuesday, March 27 when we flew back to the bus in Las Vegas. From there… we headed to Joshua Tree National Park. More to come…