In the early part of 1996 a group of twenty or so photographers with a shared interest in digital imaging, met at Ian McKinnell's studio in Holborn. Out of that inaugural gathering was born the UK Digital Imaging Group. Before long we had attracted a sizable number of fellow digital photographers and retouchers. Looking back, it is interesting to note how much excited interest there was in DIG at that time. Although programs like Photoshop had already been around for a number of years and before that the more exclusive high-end digital editing systems, there was clearly a lot of shared interest among our specialist group to share ideas and thrash out solutions to common problems.

The physical aspect of DIG meeting once every month gradually died down. Inititially, digital imaging was still something of a pioneer sport. Over the more recent years, it has become commonplace. There is another aspect to this as well, in the early days we often had to improvise in order to get the maximum performance out of our limited computers and limited budgets. Today, newcomers take it for granted that even a budget priced modern desktop computer will be able to run Photoshop.

Over the years I gained experience gained writing for magazines like MacUser and the British Journal of Photography, which led to me producing the synopsis of Adobe Photoshop for Photographers. The first edition (for version 4.0), was never published, because by the completion of the first manuscript, Photoshop 5.0 was at the Beta testing stage. Adobe Photoshop 5.0 for Photographers, was therefore a rewritten version of that first unpublished manuscript. The current edition of the book, Adobe Photoshop CS3 for Photographers has been updated to include all the new features in Photoshop CS3.

Before all this, I was a London-based professional photographer working freelance, mainly for fashion and beauty clients. And these days I am busier than ever with studio photo shoots. Digital imaging has extended the number of skills I can offer to clients. Today, I enjoy being able to manipulate and craft the pictures I shoot and this gives me not only enormous creative satisfaction, but a good living. In a competitive (and some would say declining) market, this is a welcome bonus. Because I am a working photographer, I like to think that the advice and the work through examples I provide have some relevance to the wants of fellow photographers - amateurs and professionals alike.

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