Okay...It's Time to FLASH the World!

This IS a blog about Photoshop and Photography. It's going to stay that way. But I wanted to let you all know why I may occasionally break down into sudden fits of Inarticulate Sounds of Complete Suffering.

I am told that the world is using FLASH. And it's time for me to set aside significant misgivings and actually learn this Adobe program.

Most of my professional life has been spent avoiding anything to do with coding or the mega-geek stuff that makes this old brain ache at the very notion of yet another learning curve.

You may or may not know that I am (in addition making a chunk of my income working with Photoshop and PowerPoint) a professional magician. I work with corporations doing trade shows and I do stage shows for kids. I like it all.

My first coding avoidance technique had be the design my website (http://theseriouslyfunnymagicguy.com/) which I took from a Dreamweaver template (for a SPA!) and created with great fear and trembling.

But more and more clients are demanding Flash in addition to Photoshop and PowerPoint. I created my own logo (the guy in the upper left corner) from a picture my wife took of me one evening in Rome. I decided against anything showy and decided to go with the photo and a plain text.

I've designed a few logos in my time (which pre-dates the dinosaurs) and, while clients often want something really flashy, the intent of a logo is to communicate an idea clearly.

Have you noticed that I am even avoiding dealing with Flash in this blog?

**sigh**

So the other day I took the plunge, spent money on Adobe Flash CS3, downloaded a couple of courses and got a library book on Flash CS3 (I used to buy TONS of books but noticed that I read them once and pretty much forgot about them) and started learning.

**sigh**

You know what I felt when I looked at the Flash desktop for the first time? It was very similar to the feeling I had when I looked at Photoshop for the first time. Only the toolbar was familiar. But there were TONS of things I didn't recognize. It was sort of like being in a country where you sort of speak the language -- but not really. It was an "Oh my God" moment. So I have an acute sympathy for those of you approaching Photoshop for the first time.

So here I go. Don't worry. I won't file endless updates on the learning of a new program. But I might mention it now and then. It will most likely be an inarticulate sound of human suffering as my brain stretches into uncomfortable horizons.

I understand that the above logo (developed in Photoshop of course) can be made to do some very cool things once I understand Flash. So that's what I am going to do.

Prepare to be Flashed, World.

Eventually.