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5/1/12

Always Learning

Growth occurs in sporadic unexpected moments...

On producing mediocre work while learning new techniques.

The freeware editing programs I was using to create visual art were not really working for me anymore and had limitations and I felt as if I'd gone as far as I could with them. After thinking about what to do I decided to purchase Photoshop Elements 10 and Lightroom 4 for several reasons, mostly recommendations and fortunately I also had an opportunity to buy them at a good discount. Photoshop CS6 was also an option but more expensive and since I figured I needed to learn at least basic Photoshop I would go with the products I did.

I'm reminded of when I started learning to edit video with Sony Vegas Platinum and was frustrated with learning the mechanics while wanting to achieve some reasonably good results. It takes time to do both and when you're used to getting at least some decent quality work done it's hard to put out mediocre work. My theory has always been not to stop though and keep going since growth happens in sudden sporadic moments when you least expect it. Fortunately with video editing I went and visited a friend in California several times who in spite of both of our frustrations taught me some basics and got me past some fears. 

I'm operating on that experience currently since I learn a new tiny little trick every day with Photoshop Elements but the resulting artwork is not what I'd like it to be at all. These pieces are an example of knowing what I wanted to achieve, arrived somewhere around it but they are full of flaws that are enough to cause me not to be satisfied with them but even so here they are. For the moment I've stopped working with Lightroom 4 since it is not intuitive to me and I figure it is best to learn one thing at a time since I am learning on my own. I'm taking this philosophically since it is causing me to stretch myself and learn new things to ultimately achieve a higher level of skill and artistry. 

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