Ruth Knoll, The Original Photoshop Widow delivered this overview on January 10, 2006.

Welcome to the announcement of the beneficiaries of the 4th annual Photoshop Soup2Nuts conference.

Photoshop Soup2Nuts is the bleeding edge of big business and philanthropy using the tools and assets I have as leverage to create an educational extrava­ganza that, in addition to being a first rate, profession­al and fantastic photographic conference that raises funds for educational organizations.

Why is Photoshop Soup2Nuts at Washtenaw Community College and not a big fancy event in Las Vegas, Boston, or Silicon Valley? Because Ann Arbor, Michigan, nestled here in the heart of the third coast of the USA is the birthplace of Photoshop. Freshwater is just as capable of spawning excellent software as is salt water.

Who am I and what is my role in all of this?

That will become clear with the telling of the history.

Long, Long ago in a galaxy far, far away,

Tom was working on his PhD in the engineering college here at U of M. He had finished the research, the good stuff, and had started writing the dissertation. While he was working on chapter three, his younger brother John was home for Christmas and saw the software Tom had written for part of his research gathering. John thought that with a few modifications he could use it to add a special effect to a movie he was working on.

Well, writing software was much better than writing Chapter 3, so Tom obliged. John was thrilled. So thrilled that he wanted another change for another movie. Much better than writing chapter 3 - the change went in. John was thrilled. This iteration went on for a while. I thought chapter 3 was just a real challenge to write for it was taking a long time. Finally, John said, I bet if we put a front end on all these changes, we can sell it. This was way better than chapter three and the front end went on. Two highly educated kids, with great education in a graduate student apartment living room created what would become Photoshop, the biggest piece of revolutionary software since sliced bread.

And as is often said, the rest is history.

Just look at what Photoshop has done in a few dif­ferent industries

The Digital camera industry has boomed: Cam­eras have gone from highly expensive novelties to disposable digital cameras. Digital cameras for pro­fessionals have more computer power in the cam­era than was on the Saturn V rocket to the moon. Digital cameras fit in the pocket. Digital cameras go incognito as credit cards and cell phones.

Printers have boomed from the old teletype and type setting machines the size of this room to publication quality printers that sit on the kitchen counter. The first laser printer at the U of M was the IBM 6670 - about the size of 4 washing machines, cost $500,000 and the only folks who could touch it were senior administrators. Now we have laser printers for everything from old-fashioned paper to blocks of wood and we can almost purchase with box tops.

Scanners have gone from a bottom of the line rock bottom prices of $8,000 in the mid to late 80s to give-aways with software purchases.

Photoshop has enhanced desktop publishing, graphic design and web site building.

Photoshop has become a verb in common everyday use. I’ve heard it used in the movies, the news reports and by 3rd graders figuring out ways to remove pacifiers from pictures so as not to cause embarrass­ment for the younger sibling

And this list is just a brief look at the legitimate industries!!

One of the less obvious industries created by Photoshop is the Widow. That group of wives, husbands and significant others who have been abandoned by their loved one who is helplessly addicted to the capture and manipulation of photons.

I am the Original Photoshop Widow. Created out of my husband’s pro­crastination writing his dissertation.

In my new capacity as the Original Photoshop Widow, that my husband unknowingly bestowed on me, I was looking around for things to do. Talking about Photoshop with other young mothers in the early 1990s about what our husbands did was a great way to end a conversation in dead, mouth open silence.

Education and educational opportunities that meet the needs of all students had become a passion of mine since the pre-school days of my children. Out of that passion, my new state of Widowhood, and the financial success of Photoshop, came the genesis of Summers-Knoll School. A small, private elementary school here in Ann Arbor created to meet the specific needs of the bright creative and gifted students.

After many years of passionate devotion to the creation of Summers-Knoll School, it became ob­vious to me that fund raising was a necessity for good educational institutions to thrive.

I was looking around and thinking about what to do to create a really good fund raising effort that would be sustainable and marketable.

Where did my eyes land? On Thomas - and then it dawned on me - “Honey you’re marketable!!”

Through the ah-ha moment, came the birth of the first conference:

Knoll Knows - A small, modest one night stand with Thomas Knoll presenting his newest creation of Camera Raw - the new hot feature of Photoshop. And of course, I did not have a camera!

WCC College was willing to join efforts and make the evening a suc­cess. And it was a success.

Year Two - brought us a larger and much more developed Photoshop Soup2Nuts: an evening with Russell Brown and a Saturday full of sessions and workshops featuring Thomas Knoll presenting Camera Raw and three world class photographers and Photoshop trainers: Katrin Eismann, Russell Brown and Jeff Schewe. It was a success. Everyone was pleased. And we had a camera with a photographer!!

Year Three -Photoshop Soup2Nuts had grown again to a full two-day conference again featuring Thomas Knoll and Camera Raw along with and an even larger and more impressive with a cast of photographic Who’s Who: Dan Burkholder, Michael Britt, Bruce Fraser, Michael Grecco, Scott Kelby, Richard Newman, Jeff Schewe, Maggie Taylor and Jerry Uelsmann!

 Year Four -Will take place this coming June and again will be featuring - can we guess who it is: Thomas Knoll. In my position as the Original Photo­shop Widow with a marketable husband who has lots of really great photographer friends, the line up of presenters is staggering: Scott Kelby, Bruce Fraser, Katrin Eismann and this is just the beginning of another great story.

WCC Host of Photoshop Soup2Nuts and educator of thousands of Michigan students

Michigan Women’s Foundation an organization devoted to the education of women

Michigan Center for the Photographic Arts a photographic event centered on education and children

Michigan Theater an organization centered on the performing arts and education.

I am proud to be working for these organizations and supporting them in their drive for education and making the world a better place. Please join me in a round of applause for them.

I would also like to thank the Ypsilanti Rotary and the Ann Arbor Conven­tion and Visitor’s Bureau for also stepping up to the plate and helping Photoshop Soup2Nuts in organizing the “premiere digital imaging confer­ence in the Midwest”... Your help and commitment also deserves a round of applause.

By the way:

Chapter 3 is still un-finished

The movie John was working on when Photoshop was first in creation was The Abyss.

John was the special effects supervisor on the recent three Star Wars movies and both of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

I’ll have a camera at Photoshop Soup2Nuts 2.006

With all this said I’d like to introduce to you a well known character around Ann Arbor, and the MC of Photoshop Soup2Nuts 2.006: He is the Executive Director of the Michigan Theater, comedian, an Italian Knight and supporter of education: Sir Russell Collins.