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NAPP-Canada Facebook Page


Having been a member of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals for the past six years, it should be pretty clear by now that I’m a fan.

There are only a couple of organizations I belong to, and this is the one I’d hate to be without. From weekly video tutorials, the latest news and info about the digital image industry, not to mention that these are the folks that put on Photoshop World twice a year, NAPP has almost everything I need to stay at the top of my game.

I consider many of the people I’ve met through NAPP to be good friends, and I’ve yet to meet a more helpful bunch of talented people. While many of the forums you’ll find online often degrade into squabbling playgrounds, the NAPP forum is well moderated, very civil and supportive, and is one of my most valuable resources. I can’t count how many times over the years I’ve had a problem that was solved instantly by posting it on the forums, whether it was specific to Photoshop or just freelancing in general.

Since social media is obviously not a passing fad, NAPP has recently expanded their already active online presence to include localized Facebook pages. In the U.S., they’re focusing on cities and states. Here are the links to the NAPP-Chicago page and the NAPP-Arizona page to give you an example.

Internationally, there are national Facebook pages for different countries. I was asked to run the NAPP-Canada page and I’m happy to do it. While much of the information I post will be related to NAPP events and releases that aren’t region specific, I intend to put a Canadian spin on things wherever I can, which will hopefully involve more than references to Tim Hortons and hockey.

You don’t need to be Canadian to ‘Like’ the page. You don’t even need to be a NAPP member, although when you see all of the great benefits, you’ll probably want to become one. Become a NAPP member, I mean. Not Canadian.

Here’s the link. Hope to see you on the Facebook version of the Great White North. Cheers!

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Photoshop World Guru Awards


Photo Courtesy of Doug Zeliff

Back from an exhausting week at Photoshop World in Las Vegas. Without going into every little detail of the week, I’ll just say that it was well worth the trip. Took some great classes, hung out with some incredibly talented people, and went with very little sleep. Just like last year.

As posted here before, I was fortunate to be up for the Illustration category and Best of Show for The Guru Awards. I was very pleased (and surprised) to win both categories. This really was the best part of the week, especially when you consider the wealth of talent I was competing with. I am very honoured to have won these awards.


Photo Link from www.photoshopworld.com

Big thanks to all of my friends and family who posted a LOT of comments on Facebook, Twitter and the NAPP forum, not to mention all of the emails I got after the win. It was very overwhelming and appreciated.

As much as the awards themselves are great, they came with a couple of very nice prizes. For the Illustration category, I won a Wacom Intuos 4 tablet, and for the Best Of Show, I won a Wacom Cintiq 12wx.

Photo Link from Wacom.com

To quote a friend this week, “Monty finally got his Cintiq.” While I brought the Intuos4 home with me, thankfully they’re shipping the Cintiq. Couldn’t imagine how I’d get all that through customs, otherwise.

Nothing quite compares with hanging out with other creatives for a week. Everybody I met wanted to be there, and there was no shortage of inspiring experiences. Would have liked to have seen a bit more of Vegas this time around, but that’s not why I was there, so it’ll have to wait for another time. Funny thing, I didn’t take any photos, so fortunately I have a few photographer friends who were willing to share.

Back to work tomorrow, but taking it easy today.