Photoshop World in Washington DC

Hello everybody!
You probably thought that I will never write another post again but that is not the case! I am back after a very busy period (I wasn't just too lazy to write...) and I do apologize that I have abandoned this blog for a while, I will try to write more often from now on.
So today I got back from a very important annual event (for photographers anyway) - Photoshop World Conference and Expo. I wanted to go for a few years now but it was always held in Las Vegas and that's too far for me. This year it was held in DC so I just drove there and stayed for 3 days. Why would you care? Well first let me tell you how this event came to be and why. There is a fantastic organisation called NAPP - National Association of Photoshop Professionals. It was founded by Scott Kelby (http://scottkelby.com/) who is a writer, photographer, publisher and great teacher among other things. He is the reason I know Photoshop and mostly he is the reason I know photography. when I was starting out, I tried reading guide books about these topics but I personally think that learning a program like Photoshop from books is very difficult. Don't get me wrong, he has many great books but in my opinion, the most important thing he did was Kelby Training http://kelbytraining.com/
He assembled a team of world class teachers, photographers and Photoshop masters and told them to give out their secrets to whoever wants to learn. Think of it as a cool university for Photoshop and photography where you sit in front of the computer in your own home and every time you want to learn something, you have an array of the best teachers on demand who can show you exactly how to do whaever you need to do. Yes you need to pay like $25 a month but you get unlimited access to any video class you want and I think it's worth the money.
So anyway, Every year, Scott and all the instructors assemble for a three day conference full of classes and presentations and teach you all the newest techniques live right in front of you. It was a blast! I learned a lot of new cool stuff and was inspired by all the great teachers that gave out their tips and tricks.
So if you really want to learn Photoshop, I highly recommend getting into this world of NAPP and Kelby Training. 
After a full day of classes I obviously couldn't resist taking my camera and going out to the major tourist attractions DC has to offer. In this photo below I just want to emphasize that a tourist attraction that was photographed a million times can still be photographed from a different and more interesting angle.

Washington Monument shot at night, hand held!
1/40 sec at f 2.8 ISO 2500 

Yes I was lucky enough to have fog and I shot at night but still, all I'm saying is if you see a group of people shooting the same statue or a building, get as far away from this group and go look for a different angle to shoot. Maybe try to tell a story or try to take a photo from a bug's point of view (you may have to lay on the ground and get dirty for this one) but whatever you do, don't shoot like everybody else. Trust me, when you show those photos to people, they will be amazed and every time they look at a photo or actually visit the attraction, it will be your photo they will remember.
As you may or may not know, I like to create compositions from different images I take. I am always on the lookout for an interesting texture, subject or location. Sometimes, people look at me very strange when I shoot a close up of a rock or a leaf instead of the gorgeous landscape behind it. But I know that I am gathering material for my next composite drawing and if I see something that I think I will use in the future, I will take a few shots no matter how strange that looks. during the expo, I was lucky enough to photograph a model that was hired by one of the exhibitors.

A model at Westcott's Lighting booth

She is a perfect mach for my next drawing and as soon as I finish, I will post the result in this blog.
In my drawings, I always use photos that I took and not from the web because of copyrights and because I feel that if I use someone else's photo, the final image will not be completely created by me. Yes you can buy stock photography but it just doesn't feel wright.
Another tip that I can give you, is always try to have the camera ready. Example below:

1/60 sec at f2.8 ISO 3200

I understand that I used settings that will create a lot of noise but hey, I had to get that split second in complete darkness so I didn't care. Life happens pretty fast and to catch an interesting moment, you have to be quick.

Ok so we learned 3 things today:
1- Look at things from a different angle and stay away from popular "postcard" photos.
2- Shoot a lot! One day, you might need it.
3- Always have the camera ready to catch an unexpected moment.

That's all for today folks! Hope you enjoyed it and please leave a comment or two and share this blog with your friends and I promise, I will try to write much more often :)