New Members Introductions, Biographical Ramblings Etc

[Doug Nelson]

By Doug Nelson (doug) on Friday, June 01, 2001 - 08:52 am:

Since I'm your host, I guess I'm obligated to go first:

My name is Doug Nelson. I'm 41 and live in St. Louis, MO

I've been involved with photography since 1968 (yes, that's right), with computers since 1974, and with DTP and image editing since 1988.

In real life I'm a marketing communications specialist (although I prefer the title "Minister of Propaganda").

There...your turn


By Ed Ladendorf (ed) on Friday, June 01, 2001 - 02:55 pm:

O.K. Doug. Good possibility I'm the youngest one on the site . I'm 63, had the same girlfriend (wife) for 43 years plus. We had 9 children, 5 boys and 4 girls. I've been interested in photography since the late 70's. My computer skills are almost up to number one, with zero being the worst on a scale on one to ten. I still have many things to learn about Photoshop 5 including working with paths, channels, etc. With the help on one of my boys, I built a 16' X 27' addition on our home, one and a half years ago. We did all the work except pouring the footing and doing the heating/air conditioning. Kinda proud of that, since it came out so well. We live in northwest Indiana, where it is a cold 55 degrees on June 1! I'm a firm believer that counting your blessings is the way to live life.


By Whimsey aka Christine on Saturday, June 02, 2001 - 05:49 pm:

Okay, here it goes:
I'm 29 years old and a wife and mom which as everyone knows is a full time job I work at my local church and got my puter last year (was supposed to be family item, I confiscated it, another little known power of MOM)Since then I've become a computer addict and spend lots of time writing my own html (boy is it hard figuring it out on your own) and doing restoration work with PSP 7 for people in my local area, which I almost forgot is in Sunny Florida. I love to learn, have an odd sense of humor (sometimes gets me in trouble, sometimes gets me out of it) and am a TAMPA BAY BUCS FAN!!!
My online nickname is whimsey and my real life name is Christine.

Ohh. look at that, now my soul's hanging out!!!!


By LindaJ on Saturday, June 02, 2001 - 09:26 pm:

Linda J. signing in from Texas. I've always been interested in photography, but no formal courses. I am semi-retired, but seems like there's lots on my plate. I help my daughter-in-law manage her retail store - mostly the computer stuff. I also refinish furniture and paint fun finishes on furniture for her store (it's a children's furniture store). I spend lots of time in front of the computer...mostly with Photoshop. I am especially interested in the archival aspects of inkjet printing and have done a lot of research on the subject.

I am so grateful to have this forum as a resource - haven't yet tackled one of the challenges but it's gonna happen soooon. The talent boggles my mind.

Pleased to meet y'all....I won't give my age...but my son is 35...

Ed - I agree about counting your blessings. I worked awful hours for years - was quite successful but then woke up one day and decided I never had time to do what I wanted to do. So I quit the job and started collecting so many blessings that I've never looked back! About the same time, my husband quit his long-time job and went back to college so he can teach high school math. He has a year left.

LJ


By Sharon Brunson on Sunday, June 03, 2001 - 01:05 am:

Another entry from Texas. Hello everyone. I'm with Linda on the age thing but I would rather say it now (I have a birthday in August). I'm 49 (eek). Married 31 years and have one son who is 24. My husband teaches high school and my son is a recent college graduate and a margins analyst. I have no idea what that is.

I'll never make a dime off of Photoshop, but I love it. Even the simple act of scanning a picture and seeing all the things you can't see with your bare, nekked eye. And that one captured feeling, that one instant of emotion that you see and know was gone as soon as the shutter clicked. I was surprised at how much empathy is needed to really see a photo.

I spend the majority of my time writing. In my free time I like a lot of things others have mentioned. I read a lot.

Thanks for the forum Doug, and for putting up with someone who will never be great at this but who will love it anyway.

Sharon


By paulette conlan on Sunday, June 03, 2001 - 06:51 pm:

Hello everyone-although orginally from New York State,my husband and I have been living in a golf course community on the east coast of Florida for almost four years now.My background in photography goes back to my childhood. My Dad was a very serious amateur photographer and I grew up with a darkroom in the house.He did alot of wedding and portrait photography and I was always the assistant.Anyway although I have a background in computers I never knew what digital photography was about until I discovered a Photoshop course at our local community college. The teacher was excellent and now I'm totally hooked. I really enjoy the opportunity to go online and learn new techniques -especially portraiture.. Thank you Doug for the site.


By Char Covelesky on Saturday, June 09, 2001 - 01:57 pm:

Hello from little Connecticut, on the shores of Long Island Sound. I have 2 married sons and a 30th anniversary coming up soon. Time sure does fly, my body may be getting old, but in my head I'm still a teenager. (Hate those mirrors) Anyway, after my kids graduated and the company I was working for relocated out of state, I went back to school myself, and that was a really positive experience, exposing me to all kinds of new interests and ideas, and motivating me to uprade from the Commodore 64 to a "real" computer. I had always gravitated toward art, so graphics quickly became my passion. I have also always loved photos, and then photography, but I feel most at home in front of the computer. Photo restoration and manipulation combines all the above, and I find it totally satisfying and Zen, I just fall into the zone, its like a drug for me. I started at school with PS, but not being able to afford it myself, I downloaded PSP and found to my amazement that it could do about anything PS could, and for a fraction of the $$$, which was in very tight supply. I found it more intuitive and user friendly, so it is still my weapon of choice.
I love this forum because it expands on the self-taught skills with such a great variety of approaches, it's really an education, and the challenges encourage refining what I've learned, or need to learn. Thanks Doug and all of you talented individuals.


By BamaCutie on Friday, June 15, 2001 - 12:31 pm:

Hi Y'all! Maya Goodson from central Alabama. I'm 30 years old, married with three children. My interests are reading, writing poetry/prose, anything computer related, collecting King Ludwig items, and of course, photography. I'm half Bavarian, half Alabamian... European Redneck! I tend to be a perfectionist, which leads me to anywhere - like here - that I can learn, learn, LEARN. I want to know it all (and sometimes act like I already do!) and I give 110% in whatever I do. Hope to be able to contribute to this forum! Appears to be a very competent group here.


By BamaCutie on Friday, June 15, 2001 - 12:45 pm:

I want to add that I am heavily into geneology. Also that I have plans to start my own business in portable portrait photography using digital equipment. Just a few major things I left out in my previous introduction!


By kathleen crimm (kathleen) on Friday, July 13, 2001 - 12:06 am:

hmmm

i think i hear an echo in here.

i came to photoshop about 1.5 yrs. ago, about the same time i came to computers (mine's a mac)

most of my working life has been as an rn, the last 4 years as a hospice nurse. but i always wanted to grow up to be an artist. (still do, @ 51)

after taking a class in ad. design @ a local c.c. (as local as anything gets here in the country - deep south mississippi), i felt like ps was learnable and perhaps even a potential source of income - which has yet to come to fruition, but that is my hope/plan.

i would like to hear re the experiences of others who are doing ps as a business, but i am too sleepy right this minute to think of what i want to ask.

i was struck recently by the fact that the gratitude i encountered from a friend, whose father's senior portrait i restored, ( he died when she was 8, 30+ yrs ago ) was very similar in poignancy to the responses of families i served as a hospice nurse. it was so "real". grateful to be able to do this. and it's easier on the back than nursing. : )


By G Mantero on Friday, July 13, 2001 - 10:25 am:

Hello, everybody!

I'm a semi-frequent poster on a few other design/software forums, and in real life I'm a marketing coordinator for an engineering firm. My love, however, is photo restoration and retouching, at which I moonlight.

My hubby and I live in Dallas, Texas, which is far too hot (!!!) for our tastes (we hail from Ohio).

This forum has been really great for me--I've taken a couple of the challenges but haven't posted them yet for lack of time. I enjoy the tips and bouncing around of ideas. My favorite thing about PS is that there are five different ways to do almost anything, so you can use whatever method seems the most logical at the time and get very similar results.


By Alan Rubin (airubin) on Tuesday, July 24, 2001 - 03:15 pm:

Hi All,

I see that we are going to be a very diverse group.

I live and work in Manhattan, NYC, and it is also my place of birth. I have also lived in PA, NJ and CT as a result of college and other jobs.

I was a Metallurgical engineer for ten years before I went into the family retail appliance business thirty-six years ago.

I became an active 35mm photographer at the age of ten in 1945. I got hooked the first time I saw an image emerge on a blank white paper in my father’s darkroom.

I lost my darkroom when we sold our home and moved into a NYC apartment. I am now also working with digital photography, so my darkroom is a computer and a printer.

I have taken many Photoshop and related courses these past three years on ZDU and SmartPlanet. The best part of the courses was the interaction among the students in the classes and their forums. These no longer exist in their original format and are not worth the time.

I’ve started the process of building upon all my course work and to learn Photoshop by working with my own images. I use several books to supplement my textbooks while I work.

I found the link to Doug’s site on Katrin’s web site for her “Restoration” book.

This forum has the same feel that I liked in the forums that I mentioned above. It seems as if everyone, regardless of their experience, is willing to help each other.

I am looking forward to many hours of pleasure working with all of you, even when you comment on all my mistakes.

Alan


By Christie Williams on Friday, July 27, 2001 - 07:17 am:

Oh my Gosh....just stumbled into this salon and figured I'd better introduce myself. I live in the hill country in Texas on a ranch, literally in the middle of nowhere..lol. The photo developing place in the nearest town about 20 miles away has asked me to take a shot at doing photo restorations, colorization, manipulation, etc. Well as an avid computer and graphics aholic I agreed. I am thoroughly enjoying this site and am so thankful it's here. I've been messing with phoptoshop for about 4 years now and recently bit the bullet and upgraded to version 6...a wise decision as there are many additional features which are very helpful. As time permits I hope to complete some challenges and look forward to any tips, critiques etc. as I do love the work. I also enjoy photography and when I'm not riding horses or working on pictures I take them. Good luck to all and stay safe and happy.


By Amanda K Jones AKJ on Tuesday, July 31, 2001 - 05:02 am:

Hello All . . .

As you can see my name is Amanda K Jones, a.k.a. "AKJ." Where to begin? I'm 25 years old and have just discovered my passion!

I graduated from college with a degree in forestry--couldn't find a job--so I began to explore other options. . . I told my husband (a network engineer) that I was interested in designing web pages and he tossed an HTML book in my lap and my life has never been the same since!

When you design web pages it's usually a good idea to have graphics so I signed up for a Photoshop course offered by the HTML Writer's Guild. There I learned about color correction, curves, levels, restoration, etc. and something inside me just clicked. I bought Katrin Eismann's book, followed her link to this site and here I am! Can't wait to learn all I can and look forward to burning the midnight oil trying to get everything to look just right.

My background mainly deals with HTML, have been hand-coding web pages for three years now. I have only been working in Photoshop for about 6 months. My first computer was a Commodore 64 and I remember putting in cassette tapes to play different games.

For now, my "real job" is working as a veterinary assistant at our local vet--since my other passion is dogs.

Nice meeting all of you! : )

akj

P.S. I live amongst the Great Lakes in the great state of Michigan.


By Dave on Tuesday, July 31, 2001 - 04:16 pm:

Hi.. my name is David but I prefer to go by my online nickname which is "Vogonpoet" (or ~Vp~ ).

I am a designer working in the autmotive industry in Detroit, Michigan and am originally from England.

Photo Manipulation, Graphic design, Web Design, and anything graphical in nature is my major distraction outside of designing cars! I love to learn and help when I can, so I hope to be able to become an active part of this community.

From what I have seen so far, Doug and you all have made a great website and I am proud to be here

Pleasure to meet everyone

rgds

Dave (~Vp~)


By Alan Rubin on Tuesday, July 31, 2001 - 09:01 pm:

Amanda,

Was the Writer’s Guild’s Photoshop course offered online or locally?

As for discovering your passion at 25, I think that you are limiting yourself with images, HTML and Photoshop. I’ll be married 40 years this December and my wife is still my only passion. My kids and there families come next and everything else is a hobby.

I’m just having a little fun at your expense, as I know how you feel. I’ve been working with HTML, Photoshop and related topics for the past three years. It is very exhilarating, as well as time consuming.

My major “passions” are digital photography and the ability to obtain the best images possible.

I am also developing and American History site that will cover the period between 1750-1870. The major emphasis will be upon people who started and developed our country.

Other than me, my wife has no interest in any of my other “passions”. Your husband tossed you a HTML book. My wife would have thrown it at me. (Ha)

I’ve only been on this site for a few weeks, but I believe that it is on the right track.

Alan


By Amanda K Jones on Wednesday, August 01, 2001 - 06:16 am:

Hi Alan!

You are right about that--if I had to take one or the other I would definitely choose my husband and kids (actually we have a dog and a cat but we consider them our kids) over Photoshop and computers any day--but I'm glad you got my drift. : ) Just feels good to have something that I can call "mine."

Anyway, on to your question . . . the HTML Writer's Guild offers courses online. They offer some great courses and they are all really affordable. You get a discount if you're a member of the Guild but you can still take classes if you are a non-member. The Photoshop class lasts for six weeks and they keep you busy! For more info you can visit their site at www.hwg.org and follow the link to "classes." For now they just offer Photoshop Level I but I think they're working on developing a Level II course. You may be interested in taking some of their other courses too while you are developing your site.

I'm new to this place too but I think I'm going to be spending a lot of time here. Once I learn more about restoration and retouching I'm going to dive right into those challenges.

Your site sounds real nifty--something my husband would get into cause one of his "passions" is American history. ; )

Amanda


By Amanda K Jones on Wednesday, August 01, 2001 - 06:24 am:

Hi Alan it's me again--I forgot to mention something in my previous post. The Photoshop course at the Guild is highly interactive both with the instructors and students. I learned a lot from what some of the other students asked--it was a great experience. I've even exchanged some emails with people so we can keep in touch and continue to learn PShop together. You also work with all your own images so that's kinda neat too.

HTH

Amanda


By DJ Dubovsky on Friday, August 03, 2001 - 03:35 pm:

Hi All,

I'm DJ (Debbie actually but I mostly use DJ when I'm on the net, it's easier) and I have been living in south Florida for about 22 years with my husband and teenage son. We're originally from Upper Michigan and also lived 2 years in the suburbs of Chicago. Too much snow for too many years, so we headed to Florida and stayed.

I bought photoshop about 4 years ago and started reading everything I could find to teach myself how to use it. For 20 years I worked as an electronic tech but decided I wanted to give photohop a try and started a small photo restoration business. So far it's a hobby more than a business but I am having fun with it.

I found this site researching Katrin Eismanns book and loved it. (Loved the book too.) The challenges were fun and informative and the people on the forums were so nice and helpful. I'm not sure what it is exactly but I feel comfortable posting and answering messages here. We all seem to be stuggling to learn and have a good time with digital restoration and are all eager to share what we know and ask about what we don't. It's really all about the people. I look forward to getting to know you all.

DJ

[thomasgeorge]

Howdy folks, I'm Tom Pinnock (thomasgeorge) a retired Firefighter ALS paramedic who moved from the bright lights and rat race of the Northwest coast to a peaceful and wonderfully unpopulated area of Northcentral Montana where the nearest Mall is 220 miles away and there isnt a stop light in the entire 5200 sq mile county I reside in. Lots of cows and other critters though. My hobbies are digital astrophotography, hunting(thats how we fill our freezer) and trying to avoid anything even remotely connected to meaningful and gainful activity. I started playing around with computers and graphics in the dark ages of the RadioShack TRS 80 and Commador 64 color computer( with a whopping 4k memory!!!) when pixels were the size of postage stamps and to stack them into a stick figure that could move in a most abnormal manner was state of the art. Been playing with Photoshop since version 4 and Photopaint since it came on floppies. One of these days I'm even going to learn how to run them correctly!!! I do a lot of restores on photos from the 1890 thru 1930 era as most of the Ranchers and town folk here are at least 3d generation and consequently have kept all their family and misc photos intact in collections mostly stored in shoeboxes. Anyhow, its good to meet you all. Tom

[Doug Nelson]

By Holly Marie on Thursday, August 09, 2001 - 09:26 pm:

Hi Everyone,

I am 44, and live in the NW suburbs of Chicago, near the Wisconsin border. Still in college and deciding what I will be when I grow up. I have gone from medical studies back to art and writing. : )

I have been interested in photography and art since I was very young. Some of my first daring pictures were from a tourist helicopter ride with no doors, while flying/hovering over rapids and rivers near Wisconsin Dells when I was 11. I was leaning out the opening to get the shots. (the pilot looked pale when we landed and he said he would remember me and not take me up again.) The pictures came out great, and are on slides somewhere with my mom and dad.

I am really interested in all sorts of graphic arts, photography, print graphics, and web design. I specialize also in Accessible web design, and have done some contract work for a professor that teaches marketing and ebusiness on the web who is also blind. I am a freelancer, student, artist, and designer -- that loves having my own hours to just pick up and chase a storm or cloud, or take pictures for the next client web site.

I took photoshop in college a year ago or so, and have also taken digital audio and sound, as well as other web, internet and web design courses. I will be teaching a special topics college credit course on accessibility soon. I am very interested also in multimedia work and music.

I love using Paint Shop Pro, and do also use Photoshop, Fireworks, Illustrator, Freehand, PhotoImpact, and a few others.

I am married 24 years, have two children, A son in college studying to be a LAN networking Administrator(who has been building my computers for the last several years), and a Daughter who is 21 and has Cerebral Palsy.

My love for art(fine printmaking, watercolor, and drawing) and photography has me working alongside Nature and Seasons, mostly, but most everything is interesting.

Glad to be here and looking forward to joining in, getting to know everyone, and learning as time permits.


sorry this is so long - : )
holly

[Marni]

Hello everyone, my name is Marni. I live in Boynton Beach, Florida and am new to Photoshop, only about a year. I got into this out of necessity, 60 damaged wedding pictures of my own to be restored!! I was fortunate enough to find Katrin's book and then found my way to this site. Doug was a real doll and took one of my wedding photo's via the net to be used as a challenge#2. I am AWED at the talent in this group and have learned more in the last week than I did in a year and I sure appreciate how everyone gives of their talents and shares information. Due to living in Florida photo's go through a terrible trial and I will have enough restoring of my old photo's to do for a lifetime I think!!! A little about me, I am a musician who sings and plays keyboards with my own 5 piece band doing Weddings/BarMitzvah's and corporate events. My husband is a professional videographer doing the same type of events. I have a 19 year old daughter who is the Dance Captain/dancer on the Monarch of the Seas, one of Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines ships. I enjoy computers, sewing, and now photo restoration. My husband is about to divorce me, I am glued!!!! to the computer trying out new things. This board is terriffic!!!!

[Anne]

Hi! My name is Anne, we live in Nova Scotia, Canada except for a little bit of the winter when we get down to Florida

I'm married, two grownup children who are rather nice people and two wonderful grandchildren (it's all true, grandchildren are best LOL) I play some golf, read a lot and do 'stuff' on my computer. Got a digital camera last year and have had some fun with that but sometimes still like the oldie for some things. I do graphic work in PSP7.02 as the mood strikes :p started with old photos when I found some of my parent's wedding, little itty bitty pics in B/W, that started a whole new learning thing for me and it's been kinda fun too!

Great forums here
Anne

[Ed_L]

Come on folks! Step right up! This thread has been buried, so I brought it back to the top. We have a lot of newcomers to the site. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where you're from, family life, interests, etc. Join the fun.

Ed

[CJ Swartz]

When I was first able to buy a copy of Photoshop (academic copy - lower cost via the community college bookstore), I knew this was the perfect marriage of two loves - computers and photography. I am self-taught, and have been using PShop since version 3, but have learned so much more this year that it almost seems like I'm brand new at it. I've worked on family photo restoration for several years, but used only a few tools and filters. Now I am beginning to better understand how to make useful changes in Channels, and am LOVING the chance to LEARN new methods and strategies. Katrin's book and this Forum are really being helpful.

[Bob Walden]

9/10/01

Hi all. I'm Bob Walden. I live far northern subs of Chicago. My wife and I have been married 32yrs. Or is it 33? We have a son 24 yrs old. He is moving to Mn. this weekend to live and start a new job as an IT administrator for a law firm. Going to miss him.

I have spent most of my working yrs in darkrooms. I am a photo lab manager. We are just starting to get into digital.

My interest in PS begain when I was working with my mother-in -law on her family history. That was about 4 yrs ago with PS 3.0. That also led me to become interested in genealogy.I belong to two genealogical societies.(a good source for restoration work). I get great pleasure in trying to save peoples memories by restoring their pictures.

I really enjoy this forum. Lots of nice considerate people.

[chris h]

Well I suppose I must throw my hat into the ring sooner or later !

I’m Chris and I’m an ‘over the ponder’ from Lancashire in the UK. I’ve never been in gainful employment but have been lucky enough to do work where people actually paid me to enjoy myself. These pastimes have included industrial photography, doing various research work in the UK and ‘artistic films’. I did a degree course in creative photography in Nottingham in the seventies and that helped me to get into industrial stuff. Moved on to other things in the eighties but the coming of digital photography rekindled my interest in the medium.

Other hobbies include books (1000’s all over the place) Maps(ditto) naval architecture and generally wandering about this little island of ours. I visit Istanbul as often as possible it’s eyeball deep in history and antiquity.

I do have some distant relatives in Philadelphia and had to contact them a few years ago on the death of a relative over this side. To my horror it turned out they were fire breathing , hell and damnation bible punchers who wanted to come over and save my soul. I managed to dissuade them from this alarming course of action by methods best not mentioned on this site ! However I’ve no doubt they burn me in effigy every year in Philadelphia !!!

That’s It !

[Koonmac]

Hi to everyone
I am new here. I have been lurking in the forum for awhile now. Lots of great info and a nice easygoing atmosphere. I am not one who generally jumps into forums like this or another form of conversing with others via the internet.
So here goes. I live in beautiful Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. I have been married to the same lady for 27 years. I have a daughter 22 and a son 19, both great kids (I think it was their mom).
I have been drawing with pencil for a number of years. Then this computer ended up in my house. Now I play with all sorts of software to do all sorts of things. Some make money others well, call it a labor of love.
I have done a few touchups and alterations. This is what I like doing the best. Paint programs are the tools of choice here. PhotoShop is a great program, and is my main tool.
I would just like to say again I think this is a great forum, and I look forward to learning more.
Garrett A.K.A koonmac

[Roger Roberts]

Hello everyone,
Another Texan here from Dallas,59 years old,married,a spoiled dog and a noisy African Grey Parrot. I have been interested in photography off and on since I was 18 and very much into Nature Photography for the last 12 years. I have been using Photoshop for about four years for contrast and color corrections for my nature images. I have just started trying to learn restoration and retouching in the last three months and find it very addictive. I upgraded to PS 6 and like it a lot,it seems a little more intuitive to use and learn.
I am looking forward to participating and learning here and think this is a special site. Thanks to Doug and the moderators for their time and effort in making it special. Roger

[ingridmluke]

my name is Ingrid

Age 54 - married for 30 years – after years in the corporate world, my husband and I now own a small market here on the Oregon Coast. We have two wonderful daughters age 22 (just graduated from college and now a physical fitness trainer) and 24 (in her third year of a six-year dual Naturopathic and Oriental Medicine program in Portland.) Sierra (Siberian Malamute) and Nicky (tuxedo cat) round out our immediate family. That’s “me” three days a week and full-time during the summer. The other four days a week, I’m a full-time college student living in Portland (get to visit with daughters as an added bonus) - a social science major in my senior year - although I’m still not sure what I want to be when I grow up.
About six years ago I volunteered to become the family historian. This summer while experimenting with how to best record the collected stories/info, I started playing with old photos, maps. I had the educational version of photoshop 5.5 on my computer from a desktop publishing class, but never learned more than the most rudimentary basics since most of the class focused on the Quark Express publishing end.
I dove in blindly and before I knew it, I was hooked – this is so much fun! (I’m lucky my husband is a very understanding man!) Soon realized I was in over my head though and totally unprepared. There is SO-O-O much to learn and never enough time. Spent the last month backtracking and trying to learn about scanning, color calibration (the more I learn, the more confused I get), archival inks/papers, etc., but think (hope?) I finally have a scan/monitor/print workflow that works for me.
Anyway . . . I’m a total photoshop beginner, using on-line tutorials and Eismann’s Restoration and Retouching, whenever I can find/make/steal some time. This is a wonderful forum. Unfortunately, with classes (and my dual-life commuting schedule) starting again this week, I’ll only be able to check in now and again. Thanks in advance for all of the wonderful information!

Ingrid Melissa

[hawkaye]

Guess I might as well join in this party. Food is quite good, I must say (informationally speaking).

My name is Donald Hill, usually go by Don or Hawkaye. Currently living about as far northwest as you can get in the sunny state of Florida. Got tired of the "cold" winters up around Chattanooga, TN. Currently self-(un)employed, but looking into making a go of image enhancement/manipulation/restoration. LOVE PS, but alas, currently using 5.5 (educational version). Would love to upgrade (get a new car while I'm at it) to 6.0, but might wait for 6.5 :-) Two dogs and a cat and a couple of parents make up the immediate family. Have found this group to be a singularly friendly and informative group (please, don't hold my spelling against me, batteries are dead in the spelling ace). Look forward to share with everyone here, and learning as I go. Hopefully I'll be able to give something back to the group. Looking forward to getting to know everyone!

Cheers!
Donald

[Sanda]

My name is Sandra, I live in beautiful Sydney Australia. I'm self taught in photoshop, or should I say am still learning. I started playing around with manipulation of graphics years ago with my old commodore 64. I did a lot of dtp for my children's school manipulating graphics to suit the topics in the school magazines and the children's writings. I started restoring photos about 2 years ago when I was shown a family tree being compiled by a friend. Some of her photos were badly damaged, one with moth holes eaten right through. I was sure there must be a way that I could improve these photos so I began playing with photoshop. It became a passion and I started my small restoration business a few months ago. My main problem is that I'm a perfeconist, which is good for the customer but it makes it hard to make a profit on the jobs. I would love to learn how to be both a perfectionst and a quick restorer, lol. I have a lot to learn about photo restoration and am grateful for any help I receive. I've already discovered quite a few helpful tips on these forums and am looking forward to one day being good enough to offer my own, till then I'll just read and learn. :-)

[NJPatRN]

My name is Pat Griffiths. I signed on nearly a month ago but never drifted through this board before. Skimming through, I see quite a few threads common to mine.
I've been an RN for more than thirty years---most recently in hospice nursing. Since my last patient died about 10 months ago, I haven't worked outside the home; my youngest son is disabled and that complicates life at times. I'm down to two teenagers at home with my oldest four children out (except for semster breaks)
I have only the LE edition of PS...and PS Elements. Switching between programs with different hotkeys is a real nuisance.
My first pc was a hand-me-down from my sister about four years ago. I've always been one who wants to know how stuff works, and that PC with Win3.1 and DOS 4 was just the ticket! Now I build what I want.
Photography has long been a hobby, and genealogy another. Marrying the two is a natural. When my Dad died a couple of years ago I did a memorial collage in his honor. With the photo albums long in our family, but not improving with age, restoration is another natural.
Soooooooooooo much to learn!!! but not enough hours in a day.

[cdaught]

My name is Christine. This is my first time visiting this site and I thought I would introduce myself! I'm 26 and I live in Vancouver, BC, Canada. I started out as an artist (when I was about 4) and have been creating art ever since then. I've been interested in photography since I was in high school when I started taking photos for the school yearbook and learning how to develop my own photos in the darkroom. I have also been interested in computers since around the same time. My interest in photo retouching started in 1995 when I first tried Photoshop. Over the years I've taught myself the program.

I was introduced to photo retouching as a profession when I was hired to retouch digital photos using Photoshop for a company that produced Virtual Tours for the internet using a technology called IPIX. The work basically consisted of taking two 180-degree fisheye photos and matching the colours and tones so that they would fit together seamlessly. After that I was hired on at a different company as a retoucher, or as they called it "image technician". It was another company that produced Virtual Tours photography for the net, but instead of IPIX we used a program called MGI Photovista to build panoramic photos by taking 12-14 individual photos and then merging or stitching them into one long panoramic image. This is where I really learned a lot as a result of 10-12 hour work days doing nothing but retouching photos, 5-6 days a week for 6 months. The images we were producing were travel photos and the look the company wanted for every image was that of a glossy travel brochure, so even if the original images were not technically very good, taken on cloudy days, or even if the real location didn't look very appealing our job was to make it look bright, sunny, so that when people would see the images they would say "I'd love to go there". Sometimes it took a lot of manipulation to make a place look nice when it really wasn't at all. And everything had to have absolutely no trace of ever being tampered with or it would not be up to the company's standard, so it had to always look realistic. So I learned how to get the best possible results in the quickest possible amount of time. It was a valuable learning experience. If you're interested I have some samples of the kind of images I'm describing check out http://www.daughtry.ca/portfolio/6/retouch.htm

For the last year I've worked independantly as a freelance graphic artist, doing retouching, photography, web design, illustration, and basically whatever else looks interesting to me! I'm looking forward to joining in on the forum and trying out some of the challenges. Happy Holidays!

[Dolby]

Hello, my name is Phil. This is also my first time here.
I'm 35 and live in the mountains (little ones) near Melbourne, Australia.
I've been into photography for a long time......was doing a commercial and fine art degree in photography but stopped as being partially colorblind, color processing was just doing my head in. I was being too much of a perfectionist and became really frustrated at my inability to produce the colors that everyone else did. Looking back I'd now call it artistic licence..
Be prepared for some interesting interpretations......hehe.
Anyway, learnt hand touching with inks back then.
Been into computer graphics for a few years now as well as .html and flash. Most graphic work has been either for the web, logo's or bits and pieces of graphic design. I love to just open up PS6 when I've got time and just let go.........usually produces a wallpaper or something. I've digitally retouched only a few photo's for family and friends and find it quite a challenge.
Photo manipulation has been a bit of a habit for a while.
Thought I was doing OK until I got onto Katrin Eismanns' site.
WOW.
So I consider myself a newbie to digital retoughing and am waiting for Amazon to send me Katrin's book.
Ummmm what else.........oh yeah, I spend far too much time in other design forums as an admin/moderator/spammer......hehe.

Nice to meet you all *shakes hands all 'round*

Dolby

[Jim Conway]

Am I the oldest one here? I started in photography in '47 in the ad department of a firm in downtown Chicago ...continued my education courtesy of the USAF at the photography school at Lowery Field in Denver ...and opened the my first studio in Fairfield Ca. in 1952. I bought Bruno's in Portland Oregon in the mid 70's and finally "retired in business" in the mid 90's.

My interest in photography has never dulled and, from the moment I saw that first print coming up in the developer to my most recent attempts at retouching on my newest tool, a Wacom Cintiq, every day in my half century plus career has introduced new wonders.

I have truly enjoyed being able to become a part of forums like this where I can share some of my experiences with others with similar interests at all levels ...and although I can often shed some light on handling the older processes and alternatives, I'm also learning a lot about digital here from the younger generations!

If I have any strong points to offer others in this field, it would probably be in business promotion. I've so often heard that it's difficult to make money in the arts but that certainly doesn't need to be the case! For anyone interested, additional information on my current Photo Conservation business is available in the "About Us" section of the Timemark Netscape Business Card at. http://card.netscape.com/timemark

Jim Conway

[Kristen Lindsey]

Hello Everyone,
I my name is Kristen Lindsey. I am 27 years old and I live in Sandusky, Ohio on the shores of Lake Erie. I am artist, but I have only recently discovered the joys of digital artwork, thanks to Photoshop 6. I am currently working on becoming a certified web designer. I have been using Photoshop since October of last year, and I have taken classes to improve my skills. What can I say? I am hooked! I am very interested in photo retouching, and I came accross this site by the way of a Yahoo search for tutorials. I think that I will really enjoy the challenges. I have submitted my first one today, the one titled "back to work". Please tell me what you think. I am not sure if it has been posted yet.
-Kristen

[d_kendal]

Hi everybody,
My name is David Kendal, I'm 15, Home schooled (grade 10, favorite subjects: art, computers) and I live in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
I've been messing around on computers since my Dad got his first one in '92 (when the only thing I knew how to do was play solitaire) and I've always been very interested in the arts. I started getting more seriously into computers when I was about 11 or 12, when I started using email and learning HTML etc. to create websites.
Last year I got a job at Mcdonalds ( yeah I know its a lame job but hey.. at least its money) and in december I finally had enough pay from my job to get my own computer. Since I was kind of broke after buying it, I've been looking for as much freeware as I can find. One of the programs I found, called "the GIMP" (Its a lot like photoshop but its free), I was really happy to find because I was annoyed by the limitations of most regular photo programs. I've been learning the program mostly by tutorials, and one day my Dad brought me some tutorial files which included some pics and text files from RetouchPro. It looked interesting so I checked out the site. I thought the challenges were a cool Idea so I tried a few, and now I'm totally addicted to these things!
anyway, thats who I am and how I ended up here.

- David

[tje]

Hi all,

First post here, so thought it was appropriate I introduced myself. I am 35, single and a total 'geek' (I think that is the right word )

I started in photography when I was 6 and my parents bought me a Kodak 126 camera to take on a school trip. (They put a black and white film in it cos it was cheaper than colour at the time!) Since then I have progressed slightly, but I still prefer B&W.

I started in Computers when my Gran bought me a VIC20 - little did she know what she was starting! Now the PC's are taking over the house and I am considering getting a MAC just to find out if they are as good as my friends say they are. My fav toy at present is my IPAQ - since I read constantly the ebook reader on there is the best bit of software yet! I started Photoshop'ing with a copy of version 3 a friend (with way too much money) bought then couldn't be bothered to use. Of course a scanner etc followed very shortly.

So that is the history.... I live with my dogs,( some of which I know are more intelligent than I am,) and my parents ( who I am not sure about intelligence wise ) I am based in Poole Dorset in the UK.

Nice to meet you all!

[Stephen M]

Hello, my name is Stephen Marsh. I am based in Sydney, Australia and have been working in prepress since 1988. I originlly apprenticed as a compositor/typesetter and then moved into desktop systems full time around 1993.

Although I have been involved in general prepress and production art duties for print, I am currently employed as a full time 'imaging specialsist' for a magazine publisher - which entails the colour correction and retouching for around ten monthly publications which cover a wide range of subjects - all of which are image intensive.

I have just found the site and the community spirit is the best that I have seen on any Photoshop or graphics list - this is quite an achievement.

I am looking forward to learning and sharing my experience with all of you.

Regards,

Stephen Marsh.

[Brandee]

Hiya... found this site linked on another forum that I am a part of.

I've been lurking for a day or so and decided I should register... looks like this is as good of a place as any to make my first post. (: I'm from Michigan, and I'm 23. I attended college at the Art Institute of Pittsbugh where I majored in photography, but due to some personal circumstances I never finished and got my degree. Since then, I've shot a few weddings, worked for child photography studios most professionals would laugh at and flashed my 3-year-old with a camera so many times he'll probably have eye problems. Heh. I've also been working at getting comfortable with Photoshop for a few years now, and I'm shooting digital these days because most of my images end up on the computer anyway... not to mention that the budget is a little tight and digital is so much cheaper for me than film. You can see some of my stuff at my personal site. Unfortunately I've been too lazy to scan in some of the better stuff I did while I was at college, and some of the stuff I have posted is pretty scary. But I'm still learning...

I've never seen a site or forum that discusses retouching and image enhancement in such detail! I have only done a few in the past as my family was always good about storing and taking care of older prints, but I love the challenges section and have already worked on a couple of the images there and hopefully they'll be added soon.

[Jakaleena]

Hey All!

I'm Jackie Wilson (yeah, it's my REAL name... ) and I'm, ummmm.....

<mumbles to self and counts on fingers>

43 years old, yeah that's it....

I've been into photography since I was a little girl. I got a Brownie Hawkeye camera in about the 4th grade and annoyed my family and everyone at 4H camp with it. Then, when I was old enough, Mom gave me the old Ansco 35mm that was my dad's (he died when I was 2). My current "significant other" is a wonderful guy named Cannon Elan 7e...

As an extension of my love for photography, I learned to use a darkroom, and in about 1980 or so I was hired by a local minilab chain as a printer. I was eventually promoted, and was a district manager for them for a while, but being in the lab or behind a camera was what I really loved. From there, I graduated to bigger pro labs and have been a lab technician/manager pretty much all of my life now. As a lab technician I was introduced early to traditional retouching and restoration and ultimately to digital as well. It was a fine fit for me, since my childhood school days were spent listening to teachers say, "Jackie! Quit drawing and PAY ATTENTION!" Black and white art is what I really love to shoot, and I've done a lot of traditional hand coloring. I also developed a technique for painting on 35mm negatives with dyes and then printing the neg. on color paper. It's quite different looking, and I have not been able to reproduce the same effect with Photoshop yet - I'm trying though! I've had a few gallery shows and had a few things published over the years, which has been kind of fun.

In 1994 I decided that I wanted a college education since I never got around to getting one, so I started college almost 20 years to the day after I graduated from high school. My major was English (I also write), but as soon as I was done with my studies I went right back to photography and being a lab tech.

I was born in Kentucky and currently live in central Ohio, which is where we lived when I was a little girl. Right now I'm in a little place with one stop sign, about 10 houses and and endless supply of COWS - about 12 miles to the closest "convenience" store and 20 miles to the nearest "real" town. But in between my childhood and now, I lived for 18 years in Phoenix, AZ and 10 years in Portland, OR.

I'm currently taking a leave from lab work to try and build my own retouching/restoration business.

[Flora]

By Flora Meletti (Flora) on Sunday, May 26, 2002


Hi everyone!
I really should browse around more!

I am Flora (my real name too!).

I am 50, married since 33 years and have two grown children: Claudio, 32 and Lara, 27.

I am Italian and live in Milan, Italy, but I have lived in different other countries (European and not) for over 25 years, (my husband, now retired, worked for an international pharmaceutical company).

I started out as a teacher, but decided later, to become a translator.

I'm probably the exception here, because I'd never been interested in photography at all... I started photo "manipulation" as a joke, (I wanted to make something funny for a friend's birthday); about 3 years ago, using PhotoDeLuxe which came with the scanner I had just bought...I enjoyed it very much so, occasionally, I repeated the experience...until I got hooked ...I passed to Photoshop about 1 and a half years ago, and finding it very difficult to use, I started looking for and reading everything I could get my eyes on, trying to learn how to use it!....During one of my searches, I found "Il Paradiso" (RetouchPro ).....and the rest is history....

[fugitive]

I'm surprised you didn't discover PSP, as it's much friendlier than PS and a fraction of the price $99 vs. $600 us. Most folks don't need PS even when they think they want it. They just like the statis it has. PSP can do almost anything it can do.

[Flora]

Hi Fugitive!

I'm sure you are absolutely right...but at the time I knew nothing about the variety in "image elaboration" software....and, obviously, I found a very clever salesman!!!....

[ravenmd]

Hello everyone. Well I feel like coming into a movie late. Let's see what can I say about me...

I'm 104 (always lie higher, not lower, that way people will think you look great for your age!)
I work freelance as a web designer and general graphics manipulator including photo restorations. I am fairly new at it and just dove in. One day I woke up and realized I had just been laid off and had worked all my life for the financial security rather than joy and still had no financial security anyways. I decided I would do what I love. I had nothing to lose.

I did take a quickie 2 month DTP course but mostly I am self-taught. I love Photoshop. No, I mean I am seriously addicted to it. I dream about it. I saw a ding on my new car the other day and thought I can just use my lasso tool and..... I wish.

Also... just for the joy of it I make extremely wild photoshop artwork which I have gotten much encouragement about. People seem to love them. I am working on my new website right now where they will soon be posted again.

Photo restoration and retouch is definitely an art I am still learning and I see some exciting talent on this site. I'm sure I can learn plenty here. Thank you all for being here.

oh yeah.. almost forgot. My name is Marie and I'm from Montreal

you can message me on yahoo as ravenmd
my url is: www.mariedubois.com

[Hydia]

Now it is time to jump in and join the fun. I have been a registered member for a while, but I haven't participated in any of the challenges. I would visit the board daily and read and look at the work being presented. I must say, there are many talented people here and to look back at early entries to the present, I really see the growth in skills.

Now about me I have been interested in photography since the youthful age of 8. I attended high school and also college to study the fine arts of photography. I have worked at various labs doing commercial printing.

I have always had an intrest in photo restoration, and creating collages. Using Katrin's book, I have learned a lot and, I have also learned a lot from you all.

Also, the sense of friendship and warmth I get from reading your responses to each other is something to behold - being the peson on the outside looking in.

[Jakaleena]

Originally posted by Hydia
Now it is time to jump in and join the fun.

I'm so glad you did! It really IS a lot of fun. I sure hope you don't go back into hiding...