Wow, what a week. I anticipated it for so long, and it is hard to believe that the week flew by that quickly! Doesn't it always?

I had the honor to be able to blog for Kelby One for the event - which was a ton of fun because I got to work with Stephen Bell and Ajna Adams at Kelby Media Group, and had the fortune of blogging with Kevin Stohlmeyer, who had some great insight and photos throughout the conference.

Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to put this event together. This was a great conference and is a huge amount of work to be able to coordinate attendees, instructors, classes, conference apps, signups and vendors. Running the classes in a timely manner and setting up for the instructors is always a huge task, but everything went smoothly to the attendees' eyes.

When I look back at the week, there are so many highlights, it's hard to choose one. So here are my top 10 moments:

My absolute favorite part of every PSW is being able to share the conference with my dad. As I have mentioned before, he was always supportive of my photography learning as a kid, and once I got into it as an adult, it turned into something we were able to do together. Because of him, I was introduced to the world of Photoshop, Lightroom, Scott Kelby and the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP- now Kelby One), through him, and it makes me happy to be able to share this with him. Why we rarely seem to get a picture together at this event, I'll never know.
Before the week even really started, I was walking down the hall of rooms at the Mandalay Bay (the host hotel) and ran into than none other than Bert Monroy (who I had also admired before I knew about Photoshop all of those years ago because of my dad). He was so very nice and humble- just a great guy. Later that evening at the Photoshop World kickoff party hosted by the Las Vegas Adober User Group , Bert celebrated his birthday with all of us there. It was just cool and really set the tone for the week to come.

I felt a sense of pride when my very talented friend Patrick LaMontagne won the Guru Award for Best in Show with his digital painting "One in Every Family". I became familiar with his work before PSW a few years ago, and befriended him during the conference one year. Since then, I have enjoyed watching his work, and seeing Patrick get recognized with the highest honor was a pretty cool moment.

Patrick LaMontagne next to his award winning work.

Seeing my friends Scott Valentine, Kevin Stohlmeyer, Patrick LaMontagne and Jake Peterson present on the Expo floor. I have talented friends and it is so great to see crowds of people (myself included) learning tips and tricks from them. I even won Scott Valentine's book (and had it autographed) at the PSW kickoff party. No- it wasn't fixed! I won it fair and square!

Learning from and meeting some of the best in the photography industry was a pretty great experience. Being able to sit in a room with Moose Peterson, Julieanne Kost, Peter Hurley, Matt Kloskowski and Joe McNally (just to name a few) makes this conference well worth it.
Making new friends, just by happening to stand or sit next to them is pretty fun. Everyone at Photoshop world has at least one thing in common: passion for creating images. Two friends that I made this week were Guru Award finalists and/or winners: Rocky Montez-Carr and Christine Pentecost It is a huge honor to even be a finalist, so I am proud to call such talented people friends. I was also able to meet social media friends in person - which was so fun! I think I shocked the daylights out of James Gordon Patterson during Moose Peterson's class - but it was such a fun experience!
Catching up with old friends that I only see each year at Photoshop World. Because of social media, I am able to keep up with them on a regular basis, but being able to chat with them in person is much more fun.
It is just impossible to attend PSW and not run into inspiration around every corner. Whether it's learning from instructors, seeing amazing images during presentations, learning new tips or just meeting other talented people, you leave with creative ideas bouncing around in your head.
The Art of Photography panel is a huge highlight every year. Being in the room with such creative and inspirational individuals as they show images from their career is a pretty great experience. You can read my recap of it here.
Looking forward to the next Photoshop World. By the end of PSW, my brain is fried, my feet hurt, and a good rest in my own bed is needed. But I look back on the week and all of these amazing moments, and I look forward to next year!

Thank you all for reading my posts here and on social media throughout the week. I look forward to Photoshop World in August 2015!