photoshop convention was a success!

The Photoshop convention was a success yesterday. At least, as far as I could tell.

Photographer Jens Haugen was first up with 2 sessions. His photography is quite impressive, and it´s always exciting to learn tips and tricks from other photographers. Afterwards came Martin Evening, photographer and Photoshop guru. He has written books about Photoshop for several years, so watching him show us tricks was exciting, and not to mention the brand new goodies from the just released CS5 version!

Then finally it was my turn to talk, for about 40 minutes. I had been pretty anxious this whole week, and not slept at all the night before. But it seemed to go well. No glitches, and even got a few laughs from the 80 or so people watching. After my solo performance I was joined by Stig and the 2 of us had an hour together with "tips and tricks" as our theme. It all seemed to go really well, but it´s hard not to be biased when you´re in the middle of it.
Afterwards we went to a bar in Aker Brygge to have a beer. I was SO releaved it was all over, and incredibly exhausted.
I can feel it today even... my body feels like a big hangover. And it was not from the beer.
I have posted more photos on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=223117&id=567466062

final preparations: butterflies big time!

This week has been hectic as I have been preparing for the Photoshop convention on Thursday. I will be speaking for about 35-40 minutes alone about Photoshop and then together with Stig for another full hour. To add on to the pressure, I will follow Martin Evening who is a Photoshop guru and has been a part of the Photoshop team since the beginning.
I am really looking forward to his speach though.
You can find more info on the conference here http://www.igm.no/
But for tonight I´m having butterflies big time, and I´m sure I won´t sleep very well... again.

6 am and I really want to go to bed now

Theres about 6-8 people in sleeping bags now, scattered around in different offices, trying to get in a power nap.
The others are still working diligently on their websites, high on Red Bull and pizza.
And I am in serious need of sleep.
I still have an hour left though... guess I´ll get some more coffee.

3 am and all is well

With the exception of 2 people who have bundled up in their sleeping bags, everybody is still up designing their websites for the competition.
I still have 4 hours left before someone relieves me from my shift, so I´ve taken a few photos of the competitors to help the time go by.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=205529&id=567466062&ref=mf

night shift: web design competition

It´s 10 pm and I just started my night shift at IGM. We are having a 24 hour web design competition. It started at 12 noon today and they have until 12 tomorrow to turn it in.
I will be here until 7 am.
Yawn...
Sort of a strange atmosphere here. There´s about 15 teams of 2-3 people, and they´ve all found different corners/offices to work in.
There´s a stack of pizzas in the kitchen and cases of Red Bull in the fridge, plus bowls with fruit... so I think we´ll be fine.
Unfortunately the season premiere of True Blood is tonight... in fact it starts in 5 minutes I think. So I´ll have to watch that later.
For info and updates on the web design competition go to this link:
http://norway.partners.webdesign-festival.com/

a long day at work - trains planes and automobiles

It`s 9 pm and I`m finally home.
Had to get up at 5 this morning in order to take the subway downtown, the train up to the airport, then fly to Stavanger and land at 9 am. The class lasted from 10-4. I was lucky though, and only had Photoshop for 1.5 hours. Merethe had both Illustrator and InDesign to teach.
At 4:15 pm we took a cab back to the airport, flew back to Oslo, train downtown and subway home.
I`ve got a frozen pizza in the oven and I think I`ll enjoy a glass of red wine.
Time to relax :)

business trip

I`m on my way to Stavanger with one of my colleagues. I will be talking about the Photoshop CS4 to a group of people, and as always, I`m a little nervous. I always am before I teach a new class.

It will be a quick trip, unfortunately, and we fly back already right after class. So I don`t get to really see Stavanger... a city I have never been to before.
Oh well... need to leave now.

first day of school

No, not for the kids (which I dont have anyway) but for me :-)
For the first time in 4 years I am finally employed full time. And I still get to do what I like to do, namely teach... and in Photoshop.
I feel lucky.
So today was my first day of teaching. I slept horribly last night, and woke up at 5 am this morning. Idiot.
But everything went fine.
I should know by now that once I am in class that things will be fine.
So now I can look forward to tomorrows class as I cycle home in the rain.