Screen Shot 2016-03-31 at 12.19.22 PMPhotoshop World is coming up again this summer and is being held in Las Vegas from July 19-21st. There are so many great reasons to go to Photoshop World. I know you are thinking Las Vegas in July should be at the top of the list, but it doesn’t even make my top 5 reasons list. Heck, even my own teaching doesn’t make the list, but you can find my classes up on the Photoshop World site.

1. Amazing People

There are so many amazing people who attend Photoshop World. Sure there are a ton of amazing instructors like Moose Peterson, Gregory Heisler, Stacy Pearsall, and dozens more. However, for me, it is the attendees that make the show worthwhile. When I attended my first Photoshop World year ago, I didn’t know a soul. No one, not a single person.
Everyone there was so great and friendly. Everyone was willing to introduce themselves to each other, and the Kelby team had all sorts of events setup to help you meet people. I did Dinner with a Stranger. I did first-time orientation and pretty much everything else that they had setup to meet people.
After all these years, some of my closet friends were people that I met at Photoshop World. We might not see each other during the rest of the year except for online, but we always get together in Las Vegas to catchup, laugh, and share. You really can’t beat the people who go.

2. Amazing Classes

Like I said, they have some of the best classes at Photoshop World. No matter what you are interested in there is something to learn. This year you can see Corey Barker go all free-form in his design class. You can learn off the top lighting from Joel Grimes, Lindsay Adler, Joe McNally and Frank Doorhof. You can see Katrin Eisman drop some serious knowledge on photo restoration and workflows.
If you are Lightroom person, there is so much for you here. Matt is back. I am teaching two classes on Lightroom. Julieanne Kost will be in the house. Katrin is going to go crazy in the Develop module. There are just too many classes to list unless you check out the PSW website.
I am also excited because there are so many new classes and instructors. It is like a whole new breath of fresh air. Kaylee Greer is going to show how to get the best dog photos ever. Kristina Sherk is going to show you magazine-quality retouching. Dave Clayton is going to show you all sorts of amazing things for InDesign. Stacy is showing some amazing work from her time in combat. I am also excited because there are so many video classes, and now that I have a camera that does video, I am ready to jump into some classes.

3. Conference Events

There are a ton of activities this year. There are so many ways to fill your time when you are there. There is a partner pavilion where some of the leading vendors are there to give you hands-on time with their products and services. There are peer-to-peer roundtable discussions where a small group of you can get together and share insights, questions and comments around your specific type of photography. Oh and there is a Pub Crawl this year. Enough said.

4. Midnight Madness

Ok, this is technically an event, but what a fun event. This is the only time that you can hang out, learn nothing about photoshop, watch your peers make fools out of themselves for prizes, eat doughnuts, get t-shirts and have a hell of a good time. Sure it starts at ten rather than midnight, but it ends at midnight and they we all head out to In-and-Out burger to make sure we have plenty of food before bed. The photo above is from last year’s midnight madness where I got to shoot Alex Shogren with a water gun. How much fun is that.

5. Refuel your creative energy

I think on of the hardest parts about working as an artist sometimes is keeping motivated. It is hard to sit at home and labour when you feel off. There are times when you feel like you are the only one struggling. Every where you look, there are amazing photos being posted, shared, sold and collected. For me, getting to spend a week around some crazy talented, creative and high-energy people is just what the doctored ordered to refill the creativity tank. So if you are feeling a little low in the creative department, spend a week with me in Las Vegas. We will have a very good time, and you will go home with a revived passion and commitment to your work.