What is your title, and can you explain what your daily responsibilities are?
My official title is Staff Author. My responsibilities are to develop and record online training courses for the lynda.com online training library.

What inspired you most to become a Photographer/photo artist? Why did you pursue this as a career?
I’ve always been enamored with digital imaging. I think design, photography, and art are all very influential pieces of our lives. They can change the way we think about just about anything, and alter our mood or state of mind without us really even realizing it, and that’s a powerful thing. I wanted to be around an environment where I’d constantly be exposed to that kind of stuff, so choosing a career at lynda.com was a no-brainer, really. We have some of the most talented artists and photographers in the world that do courses for us, and I get to interact with them on a daily basis. It’s very rewarding.

What do you think is the biggest obstacle to pursuing a career in the creative fields?
The biggest obstacle for a creative nowadays is the saturation of the market and the overall perception of what it actually means to be a professional in your field. Anybody with a camera and a subscription to Creative Cloud can claim that they’re a photographer these days, and because the market is now flooded with people doing things like that, it really detracts from the true artists that are busting their butt trying to make it.

With all the new versions of Photoshop what changes do you personally feel are the most exciting or brilliant?
Wow, that’s a tough question. For me the features that matter the most are ones that people probably take for granted on a daily basis. For instance, Smart Objects and Smart Filters. These two features alone save people a ton of time and disk space, but they’re not really heralded as an amazing feature of the application. While I’m happy Adobe continues to innovate with things like Content Aware Fill and things like that, I feel like the little things matter the most in terms of what impacts the everyday workflow of a professional.

What Photoshop artists/creatives do you follow, and why do they stand out from others in your opinion?
I have several people that I follow and look up to in this business, some of whom I’ve actually had the pleasure of meeting and working with. My inspirations include Bert Monroy, Deke McClelland, James White, Ben Long, and Mordy Golding.

What social networks do you like most? Which present good examples of Photoshop and Photography the best?
Twitter is my primary social network, with Facebook being a close second. Since I’m mainly focused on the teaching aspect of the business these days, I don’t have much use for portfolio sites or showcase platforms, but I think Google+ is a great place for photographers to share work and cultivate a community around their brand. Behance is another great network for sharing your work as well. It’ll be interesting to see what Adobe does with it in the future and how well it’s adopted by the creative community.

What is your prediction of the evolution of social networks? How do you think these networks will showcase artists and Photographers better in the future?
I think social is still very much in its infancy. We’ve only begun to scratch the surface of the media aspect of it too, I think. Where it goes, I’m not quite sure, but I think it’s an exciting time for everyone. The main thing to remember as a creative is that you must pay attention to digital trends and go where the new things are and try them out. Never be afraid to try something new and grow as an artist, person, or business for that matter.

What predictions do you have for the future of Photoshop and Photography?
Aside from the digital revolution of the past few years, photography and digital imaging haven’t really changed all that much in the last decade or so. Sure, we’ve had some changes to the way we do business, but the principles all remain the same. I think that is going to continue, honestly, and as long as you stay on top of the latest technology and adapt to it, you’ll be just fine.

Follow Justin here: http://justinseeley.com/ & on lynda.com: http://www.lynda.com/Justin-Seeley/933963-1.html & on Twitter: twitter.com/justinseeley

What is your title, and can you explain what your daily responsibilities are?
I have a few titles I guess. I’m the guy behind TipSquirrel, something I’m very proud of. Its an incredible team and I’m proud to have bought them together. I handle all the social media, email etc which I absolutely love! I’m a lecturer at the Media and Journalism Centre here in Peterborough. It’s a great place to work, photo studio, TV studio, recording studio ans three radio studios! Its an aladin’s cave of loveliness. My background’s in editing moving images so I was taken on by the MJC to teach Premier Pro. I’ve filtered through the different departments and have taught a range of subjects, from Ident Design to Photography.

Then there’s private work. I do some portrait photography as well as retouching and restoration. Occasionally I’ll edit a video or two too.

What inspired you most to become a Photographer/photo artist? Why did you pursue this as a career?
I didn’t really pursue it, it was a natural progression from Premier Pro. I was taken ill some time ago and a friend had upgraded his Photoshop and asked if, while I was housebound if I’d like his old copy to learn something new. I fell instantly in love with it! Photography allows me to be creative. Working on an image in Photoshop gives me the same pleasure as I get from playing music. I wish I was better at both, but that drives me on I guess.

What do you think is the biggest obstacle to pursuing a career in the creative fields?
Self-belief.  I wish I was more able to sell myself and work, but there’s that constant fear that someone’s going to find me out one day! As a teacher of creative subjects I see this all the time, but I can empathize , and hopefully I can be encouraging and positive.

With all the new versions of Photoshop what changes do you personally feel are the most exciting or brilliant?
Content aware takes my breath away every time I use or demonstrate it and now the advances in the Camera Shake stun me! I had saved a lovely photo of my dad taken a few years ago despite it being blurred, Camera Shake bought it back, that was a lovely moment when it ‘popped’ back all sharp.

Video editing is a great gain. CC  has it as standard and its coming on in leaps and bounds. Being able to colour correct, mask and all that Photoshop has to offer is amazing. What I really love is running Camera Raw on video!

What Photoshop artists/creatives do you follow, and why do they stand out from others in your opinion?
Of course I follow and admire all the Photoshop Nuts, past and present, I approached them to be a part of the site because I was a fan.
I get lost in Pinterest and 500px for hours as I go from artist to artist.

What social networks do you like most? Which present good examples of Photoshop and Photography the best?
I love Twitter. Others I fall in and out of love with depending on my mood. I complain about Facebook the most, but you’ll still find me there! G+ is amazing for sharing images and the communities work very well. With Google teetering on the edge of image editing I’m sure G+ and Google will become a major player in the very near future, watch out Photoshop?

What is your prediction of the evolution of social networks? How do you think these networks will showcase artists and Photographers better in the future?
Image sharing is and will be a major part of any social network, where would we be without an ‘Oh no it’s Monday’ kitten? Adobe are edging their way in with Behance and, the underrated in my opinion, Revel.

What predictions do you have for the future of Photoshop and Photography?
I’ve ranted on about this already but mobile apps for sure. Tablets are becoming the new laptop and generations are being bought up with touchscreen technology. Personally I still want a stylus in my hand but that’s probably showing my age. I worry too that in general people are becoming too complacent about their photography. I’m not talking photographers, but people in general. It seems ok to share 100 photos in an album, of which 70 are the same, 60 are blurred and 20 need rotating.

In the days of film every shot counted, you didn’t want to run out of film before the end of the day and beside that, every shot had a monetary value. Don’t get me wrong, I have a tone of terrible photos, I just don’t share them….. often.

Follow Eric here: http://www.tipsquirrel.com/ & on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/TipSquirrel/71635051061

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