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I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again – I love RC! If you ever get the opportunity to see this man teach live, drop everything you are doing and take it! His classes are loaded with unstoppable passion and energy and by the time you walk out, you yourself feel unstoppable. It’s an amazing rush and I speak from experience. It is a great honor to have RC here with us today. And with that, I give you the next installment of the NAPP Interview Series…

Rafael “RC” Concepcion

(click the pic to learn more about RC)

1. What’s a typical day like for you at NAPP HQ?

I usually start my day, coffee in hand around 7am.  That gives me some time to sit and draw up some ideas for what I’d like to work on for the day, tackle the email, setup any meetings and chats with people I need to, and finalize any blogging stuff I need to get done for LayersMagazine.com.  It’s a great time to sit and pace out what I want to cover from a technology standpoint.  I bounce into the office around 9am, and from there – it really is a lot like a regular job.

You have an office, and the typical office routine that comes with a corporate job.  The difference is twofold:  You never really lose sight of the fact that just outside of my office, within line of sight (we have glass fronts in our offices) sits Scott Kelby- probably planning the next “big thing”. You share walls with some of the most talented people in the industry, and you get to play as part of the team.  It’s a big responsibility – and a big privilege.  You sit with these computer monitors facing you staring blankly saying “OK.. do something cool.. Impress me”, and while that usually is really easy for the first couple of months, Imagine if someone told you that you had to come up with 300 awesome ways to cook ham and cheese.  After 40, you’d really feel like you need to dig deep to find that next one.

What makes me excited to go to the challenge full steam is that at the very core, I am a teacher.  I have a degree in Education, so helping others through teaching has ALWAYS been something I’ve wanted to do.  When I go through my email and find a specific problem someone is having, it gives you that spark to pull out something.  Instead of thinking of the next cool thing, It then becomes a job of service.  I go to work to be able to serve the people that come to our properties.  They need solutions, and are looking for the best people to teach them.  In that, we get to help.. and that makes it the most rewarding part of it all.

2. How did you come to work for NAPP?

A very interesting story!  It actually came as a little bit of a fluke truth be told.  That fluke would have never happened had I not decided to go to Photoshop World and actually spend time asking questions and talking to instructors.  It’s also a great story on how sometimes the planets can align for a very brief moment and get you the things you want.

Scott made a cool post about it way back: http://www.scottkelby.com/blog/2007/archives/219
And I highlighted the story in some detail here tool: http://bit.ly/3sOHq3

3.  If you could attend classes rather than teach at PSW – whose class would be on your “do not miss” list? Why?

Zack Arias! We just announced that he’s coming to Photoshop World and I think Zack is an amazing photographer and instructor.  I’d camp in his classroom and just soak it all in.  I’m telling you – Zack is the real deal!

4. What’s your favorite thing to do at PSW?

Above everything – my favorite part of it all is to be able to teach live.  That’s where my heart truly is.  There’s just something about getting on stage and being able to share what you know with a bunch of people and really see that they are making a connection with what you are saying.  I swear sometimes I think I could do it for hours!

Other than that, I love walking the Expo floor and talking to the attendees and vendors.  Photoshop World is about Camraderie.  It’s a huge multi day love fest where you get to completely geek out about Photoshop.  To be able to do that and share an instant connection with several thousand people is something that I get such a big buzz about.  I’m always talking about Photoshop World to people because of that.  You learn a ton, and you get to socialize about the things you are truly passionate about.

5. Who are some of your favorite photographers/designers to learn from and why?

I have an affinity for two things.  The Artist side of me is completely into Photography, and the geek side of me is really into getting Photographers to the web.  So, in the end its about the Photography.  To that, I am grateful to learn from a steady diet of the best.  I get an invaluable amount of education and inspiration from Moose Peterson. The man can take a series of images and move you to tears with them!  I’m an unabashed fan of Katrin Eismann – I think that she is the consummate mix of entertainer, teacher, and photographer – and widely considered to be one of the best experts on the field.  Last, but certainly not least for me is Joe Mcnally. For longer than I care to say, i’ve been a fan of Joe for his ability to work on an image and a tenacity to make the frame.  That combination of fearlessness, science, and sheer passion has made him someone that I am grateful to know and work with as a colleague, but idolize for his sheer skill.

That’s just a small list.  Whoa – I’ve learned speed and science from Ziser, Clarity from Ben Wilmore, Intensity and Intelligence from Deke, and there isn’t a time I don’t like to go and sit and watch Scott.  As a teacher – I love watching a master teacher work the crowd, and I believe Scott’s one of those few people who posess that magical mix that makes him the force to be reckoned with.

6. If you had to choose between web design or photography to do that and only that for the rest of your life – which would you choose and why?

Neither of those.  If I had to do one thing for the rest of my life – that’d be to teach.  I believe at the very core, I am a teacher first and a Photographer second.  I think web design is one of the most pressing things that a Photographer needs to know to show their passion to the masses.  As someone who -needs- to share his passion of teaching with the masses, I -get- the necessity the photographer has to learn it.  That’s why I teach it.  I know it’s not the sexiest thing in the world to teach- but I’m usually considered the Photoshop Guy that does the least sexiest things.  Doesn’t matter.. I’m the guy that gets you to the web.. and you need to know that. That’s why I’d do that and only that.

7. If you could fix/improve one feature in any of the Adobe programs, what feature would it be, what program, and why?

Flash.  I wish they would understand that not everyone that buys it wants to go back to school to become a programmer.  There are creatives that want to do cool animation and interaction things and don’t want to get another degree.  Flash used to do that.  I can’t accept that it doesn’t anymore because we need to program it in a specific way.  We can figure out how to take 10 images and blend them into a mesh of tones that we can’t see, but can make sliders map them to tones that can – and we don’t need a rocket science degree to do that.  They should be able to take a series of things in flash and make them dialogs or behaviors and let people create with it.. program in the background – not on the screen.

I’ve run into programmers that say “Wow.. in Flash I just go into one keyframe, and start writing code that the entire application will do – draw, erase, stack layers, manipulate, animate and interact.  All of that I can do in one frame writing hundreds of lines of code”  I don’t see that as an accomplishment – I see that as part of a failure.  The rest of the 80% of the population is scratching their head wondering why that cant happen under the hood.

8. What’s one class that you would love to teach but haven’t yet?

I’d love to do a “Let’s build an Online Presence from Start To Finish”  Think of it like an 8 hour class that talks about -everything- you need.  From incorporating a new logo deign to developing PDF collateral for the business, the website, the email, the backend, how to manage the photography- the whole kit and caboodle.  And have people take the class over 2 days where everyone gets to do it!  At that point -everyone- walks out with their site all done..  That be sweet!

9. If you could trade places with any other NAPP or Layers staff member for a day, who would it be and why?

I’d probably trade places with Corey Barker. Corey looks at Photoshop in a way that very very very few people do.  His understanding of the tools that I look at on a day to day basis is just so deep and incredible.  He is an amazingly talented individual – to be in his place would be intense!

10. If you could force everyone at HQ to have one totally crazy item on their desk what would it be and how long would you make them keep it there?

An Espresso machine.  There are a bunch of us at work that are seriously consumed with coffee.  To be able to go from office to office knowing they have coffee there would rock.  At the very least Caribou Coffee Fireside.  That stuff is amazing!

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My heartfelt gratitude and adoration goes out to RC. Thank you so much for being a part of this!!

Next week there will be not one but two interviews! Dave Cross and Terry White! Don’t miss it!

Also, I have BIG NEWS! Just this week a new person has joined the Interview List – Corey Barker! So if you have questions for Corey, send them to me via Twitter, Facebook, email, or here in the comments.