I Want To Marry PhotoShop

All I can say is Holy Crap! Do I ever love PhotoShop! Even more than I thought I ever could! I got it for Christmas from Mr. Handsome. What a guy, eh? He shouldn't have. He really shouldn't have, because now I have to choose between him and my new love, and PS is winning, I'm afraid. Sorry, Mr. Handsome. It was great while it lasted.

I don't know how to use my new PhotoShop yet, but I still love it. I'm like a kid in a candy store, except I'm just sitting on the couch on my ever-growing ass playing with photos on my laptop, and oohing and aahhing when I push a button and cool things happen. Not only did Mr. Handsome get me PS, he got me the newest extended version, PhotoShop CS4 Extended, which apparently allows me to create a new world and control it with the click of a finger. I am omnipotent. Hear me roar.

For instance, take a gander at the photo below. Isn't that the most amazing thing you've ever seen? And I did that. Not sure how, but I did. And I know, for all those out there who have had the chance to learn PhotoShop for even a day longer than me, that this is really nothing big in the grand scheme of the PhotoShop universe,but it's pretty freakin' amazing to me! This photo below is a photo of a tulip I took at last spring's tulip festival in town. The original shot is underneath this one.

All I did was click on "Glowing Edges" in PhotoShop, and voila! It's as if you were transported to a whole new world of glowing neon and beautiful quiet, harmonious, velvet colours. I feel rested already, like a new woman, ready to play with some more photos in PhotoShop!

I have so much to learn, and no time, so I will probably be learning PhotoShop for the rest of my life, which is fine by me. I have no other life. Do you feel sorry for me? Didn't think so.

PS makes me drool with glee because it opens up a whole new world of creativity for me, something I've been craving for a very long time. I used to be a photographer, back in the days when digital was not even a word, let alone a concept or reality. I did it as a creative outlet, but also put my abilities to use when I worked for various newspapers. Not only would I take the photos, I would also develop them in darkrooms, and get creative with them in there. Digital photography gives photography a whole new meaning, one I am just starting to discover. I already know it is a world I desperately want and need in my life, one I have been lacking for many years.

When I became a journalist, I ended my so-called creative life to a great degree because I was so sick of constantly writingwritingwriting and taking photos that when I had time off, writing and taking creative photos of anything was the last thing I wanted to do. That feeling was detrimental, however, because I stopped doing what I loved doing most in the world. I lost a big chunk of myself. Then I got married, had children, dealt with one child having cancer, and god knows where most of "me" is.

I'm now in my 40s, my kids are not that old, but old enough to be allowed some independence, and are relatively healthy and happy, and so I feel it's time to get back a little more of myself, and I feel it will be in the form of photography and writing. I started this blog because of that, thanks to Pick, my bestest friend, who wouldn't stop bothering me about starting a blog. Are you happy now, Pick? And now I can add photography to the list, and who knows where that will lead me? Maybe I'll put up a photo of Pick, glowing. Wouldn't that be a hoot?

Next on my "to do" list is to learn PhotoShop, and earn some money to buy myself a really nice digital SLR camera. And then groceries.

So, bear with me while I learn the ins and outs of this amazing program. I feel like there's a newborn in the house again, and all my attention is being spent nursing its needs (or, I guess, my needs in this case). I almost feel like I'm having an affair right in front of my husband, and not only that, but he condones it! Because, after all, he gave it to me as a gift!