Saturday, March 27th, 2010...9:19 am
Where the heck is Firgs?
Hey all!
This week I have been at the Photoshop World conference and let me tell you, it was a BLAST!
Here are a few highlights:
-Keynote ROCKED! Literally! I don’t want to spoil the surprise for those waiting to go to Vegas, but I will say this – TAKE A CAMERA!!! I’m pretty sure that you will NEVER see what was on stage again!
-Adobe announced that the official release date* for the long awaited Photoshop CS5 will be April 12th of this year! They also made sure to show us some of the upcoming features that have just been added. Can you say Content Aware Fill?! SO AWESOME!! *I have been corrected on this. This is the date of information release on the new program. 
-New instructor Zack Arias was the hit of the conference. His classes were fresh, fun, innovative, held lots of great information and he made a huge impact on a lot of people. If you get the chance take one of his classes DO IT!
-Video video and more video was shot as Erik Bernskiold and I hit the Expo floor talking to anyone that agreed to our persuasions. Pretty soon we will be uploading what we managed to capture, and it just might come with a giveaway from one of the more popular vendors – so stay tuned!
-People from all over the world were there, including one gentleman from Iran! Right now it is super hard for anyone from Iran to leave the country, but when he spoke to the American embassy and told them he wanted to attend PSW, he was greeted with “Oh, you mean NAPP? That’s awesome!” and after talking HDR for a bit, approved him on the spot! How cool is that story?!
-Some of my more personal highlights were getting to hang out with my NAPP forum friends again, meeting Justin Seeley for the first time, chatting it up with Lesa Snider who now feels like my sister, learning tons of info that I can’t wait to put into play, and after introducing myself to Rich Harrington having him respond with “I know who you are. I love your website!” – yeah, I’m still shocked over that one. Also, the ride home from the PSW After Hours Party – six of us crammed into one tiny cart and were then pulled back to the hotel by one really awesome guy on a bike. That ROCKED!
All in all it was a fantastic conference and just a whole lot of fun! 
My adventure is about to continue though because I am now off to hang out with Vanelli for a few days and I have been told that I just may need a passport in order to do this.
I’ll see you all when I get back on Tuesday! (I hope.)
~Firgs
I thought that April 12th was the date they were going to release information about CS5 and not the actual release date of it… Did I hear that wrong?
It has been corrected! Thanks!
Hey Firgs,
Real pleased to hear that you all had a great time out at PSW; but then that was guaranteed I guess
)
Great also to hear that those who we look up to are recognising you and your work; how cool is that with Rich Harrington..way to go!
Looking forward to hearing more news & gossip,
Take care out there, Glyn
ps> And remember…Do NOT lend Vanelli your mobile phone…lol
OMG! You met Justin Seeley?!?!? THAT dude is awesome. :^)
Glad you could hang with the rockstars at PSW.
Terry – You’re correct, 4/12 is an announcement, not the release date.
Meeting you was just as awesome! But you already knew that.
PS – MJ says Hi to AJ.
It was so awesome to finally meet you!!
It was so good to meet you too finally!
[...] by Firgs did a post-conference wrap up right here: http://designbyfirgs.com/blog/2010/03/where-the-heck-is-firgs/ Click here to cancel [...]
See… I do read your site from time to time… (albeit with 2 small kids and book deadlines that’s limited). I’m just a normal guy with a bad publishing habit.
Keep up the good work for the community.
Ha! Thank you Rich.
And thanks again for the interview. I’m still feeling a bit starstruck. You rock! 
Personally, the bike taxi and the arm wrestling were the highlights
I’m going to beef up! I want a rematch with you April!!
I missed the arm wrestling? Damn… I’m pretty good at that, even left-handed. :^)
You had left for your flight by then.
It was great meeting you Firgs! I’m finally getting to digest everything that was PSW – so much crammed into 3+ days!
Josh! Good to know you made it home!
We’ll have to hang out more next time. I felt like I was just starting to get to know you as everything was ending.
I’ve been telling everyone at NAPP HQ the story about how, during the liveblog, you got so caught up in the stage show that you stood up and started clapping and cheering!
Hee hee! That was funny and awesome!
Thanks again to both you and Erik for the killer coverage during the keynote. I never could have done it without you two!
Meep!
LOL! I couldn’t help it! I’m a huge Rock&Roll fan, and that was the best keynote ever!!!
We had a blast didn’t we! It was soo great to finally meet you too in person!
Nice recap.
I believe I met you with Nancy on the expo floor at one point, but was never formally introduced.
Love the website and the interview series is great.
Alan
Thanks Alan!
So nice of you to stop by. I remember meeting you but so much was happening on that expo floor it was hard to even hear people. I hope we get to meet again someday. I need to collect more of your awesome business cards.. lol!