Think You Can Teach Photoshop? Show Us!

CATEGORIES: Living In Layers | RC | October 18, 2009

Do You Think You Can Teach Photoshop?
The National Association of Photoshop Professionals is running a contest called ‘So You Think You Can Teach Photoshop” from now until October 31, 2009. The premise is pretty simple: You sign in and submit a video tutorial to NAPP showing you teaching something in Photoshop. (You can submit up to three video tutorials). The person who is chosen will get an incredible amount of prizes, in addition to the chance to see your name in lights – teaching at Photoshop World, Photoshop User TV, Layers TV, something in Layers Magazine and Photoshop User Magazine.

The contest is very near and dear to my heart because had it not been for the previous “So You Think You Can Teach Photoshop”, I would not be writing to you from where I am now. You see, I was the winner of the last Photoshop Teaching contest and that instant exposure carved a path that would invariably bring me into actually working for Kelby Media Group. Want to know how I got here? It’s a very cool story.. and I’ll share that with you, and this week’s contest after the jump.

How I Went From There To Here
Before I consider myself anything else, i’ve always considered myself a teacher. Prior to coming on board, I used to manage a Software company in NY. I used to also moonlight teaching classes on Adobe/Macromedia/Microsoft/Net+/A+/CIW stuff at a technical school (the IT department here at work makes fun that I have more certifications after my name than mose IT departments as a whole). While I was -techy- my heart was always into teaching in front of students (My degree is in Education – English at that.. but you couldn’t tell from the lazy grammar errors). That’s where I really felt the buzz, that’s where I felt the most excitement. I love the concept of teaching in front of others.

To break the monotony of doing software, and to keep current with my skills in Graphic Design, Web Design, and Photography (I did all three actively), I would go to the Photoshop World conventions as much as possible. It was a great place to network with others, learn different things, and look at problems from a different point of view. In fact, once chance meeting with someone familiar with scripting in Photoshop helped me save THOUSANDS on a project I was working on.. a testament to what you can learn at them!

Anyway, I used to go often, and I became good friends with my buddy Stacy. Now, Stacy loved going to PSW as much as I did, and she was particularly excited to go to this one, as she had registered for a “So You Think You Can Teach Photoshop” precon class. I was registered for a class I had done 6 months prior. As much as she was excited, she was very nervous of teaching in front of judges.

I told her, “Look.. how about I do this. How about I switch my precon to yours? If you get nervous doing your thing, find me in the crowd. Teach looking directly at me, and that way you can get through your presentation without a problem because you’re doing it for me.” Stacy thought that the idea was awesome.. so off we went with it.

The Most Nervous Presentation
I walked into the class, and the moderator for the class started asking everyone if they had their coursefiles and lesson outlines ready.. and going over the specifics for the presentation. Three things came to me immediately: 1. I had no coursefiles. 2. I had no outline. 3. They expected everyone to give it a shot. Top all of that – they announced that the judges for the pre-con would be the Photoshop Guys themselves!

As a fan I thought, “They’re teachers.. i’m a teacher. I should at least give this a shot. At the very least, I can get some good feedback on how to present, and how to talk about something from people who do this live in very big settings. What do I have to lose?”

I furiously started writing down some notes about Automation, Batch, Droplets, and scripting in Photoshop wondering where I was going to be able to get images for any kind of examples. Next to me was a guy named Bill (now a buddy) who had a CD of images with him- the dimensions/resolution/content I had no idea of.

“Hey Bill, are those a CD of images” I asked

“Yes”

“Can I borrow that for a second?” I pleaded?

“Sure!”

As soon as he gave me the images, I put my hand up to volunteer and off I went. Quite a few people had already presented by then, so I figured there was no harm now.

My pacing went well, I thought I did well explaining the topic.. and even when something went awry on my demo, I still turned it into a ‘teaching’ moment. Now, it was time for the critiques.

One of the best critiques I’ve ever got was from Matt. He asked me if I -intended- that process to break, so I can talk about it. I told him no.. but that was me rolling with it. He was convinced that it was planned.. which was a testament to being calm under pressure.

To this day, I remember exactly what Scott said: “RC, what do you do for a living?”

“I manage a software company in NY”

Scott said, “You should be teaching.” Deep down.. I knew he was right.

You Mean I Won WHAT?!?!
The presentations were over, and it was time to vote on the best performance- which I had no idea was going to happen. As it turned out, I won – not knowing what it meant to win. I asked what it was that I won? Oh, i was to teach the following day for 1 hour on the tradeshow floor.

Now.. I had no idea that I needed to teach for 10 minutes.. let alone planned to ‘win’ something and have to teach for 1 hour. That night I spent it furiously going over an outline I was working on to get ready for the following day.

The tradeshow floor class went well and I was on such a high after that. I left Photoshop World the following day feeling vindicated and validated as a teacher. I was good enough to teach on one of the biggest stages of something that I love very dearly – photography and Photoshop. To me, that was an incredible capping to a wonderful conference, and I went back to working on my projects with a renewed fire, happy to leave it be right there.

A couple of months later, I am working on an account in Portland, OR when I get a phone call…

“Is this RC?” said the voice..

“Hi.. this is Scott Kelby. Do you have a minute?”

.. about a year and change later I was packing my bags from New York getting ready to move to the hottest place i’ve ever lived in.

I’m doing a job that I love more than many things in my life… teaching with all of you. I get to write for Layers and Photoshop User. I get to work on the Layers TV Podcast. I get to write to you guys some of my thoughts on this daily blog. Most important, I get to bounce into work day in and day out to a job where I am consistently surrounded by the most talented individuals in this industry. Getting to share that with all of you brings an incredible amount of joy.. and had it not been for those crazy set of events.. I would not be here.

For that, I am very grateful..

(note: Results are not typical. Winning the “So You Think You Can Teach Photoshop” contest does not mean that you will invariably wind up working for NAPP. The prizes in the contest are clearly stated and there should be no inference made on winning the competition. It’s a ton of exposure.. but how that translates to you can be a completely different story entirely. Just making sure its clear..)

Contest Time
Go to the Contact page, select the Layers Blog drop-down, then fill in your name, email address and answer to this week’s following question. Remember, the contest will end Thursday 5PM,. and the winner will be announced Friday morning.

The Contest Question:
Who is the author of the Event Poster in Indesign tutorial?

The Prize:
A copy of Adobe® Photoshop® CS4 Mastering Camera Raw
with Scott Kelby !

So now you know a little bit more about me. Have a wonderful week everyone!

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