The number of photographers who now use Photoshop has boomed. Even cynics who regarded digital imaging as the end of photography as we know it, revised their opinions once they saw how much one can remain in creative control of the imaging process. It was a combination of things really, such as my involvement in the UK Digital Imaging Group, plus experience gained writing for magazines like 'MacUser' and the 'British Journal of Photography', which led me to the idea of writing a book about Photoshop specifically for photographers.

Adobe Photoshop 5.0 for Photographers, was first published in August 1998. Adobe Photoshop 6.0 for Photographers has already sold over 50,000 copies worldwide and gained a COOL 2 Award from PEI magazine. It has also been given an Editor's Choice Award by The Designer's Bookshelf (www.design-bookshelf.com).

As a consequence of writing these books, I often get invited to present seminars on Photoshop around the world. I will usually be at the Thunder Lizard Photoshop conferences and am an alpha tester for Photoshop. I am also a member of 'Pixel Genius' helping to develop Photoshop plug-ins and is the result of a collaboration between Jeff Schewe, Bruce Fraser, Andrew Rodney, Mike Skurski and myself. Pixel Genius will enable Photoshop users to do really neat things with Photoshop

Before all this, I was a London-based professional photographer working freelance, mainly for fashion and beauty clients. I still consider myself to be a working photographer first and foremost. Digital imaging has extended the number of skills I am able to offer to clients and greatly increased my annual turnover. Today, I enjoy being able to manipulate the pictures I shoot. Because I am a working photographer, I like to think that the advice and the photography examples I provide in the book have some relevance to fellow photographers -- amateurs and professionals alike.

For those who are interested in biographical details, I was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire and studied photography at the local Salisbury College of Art. I moved to London in the early eighties, where I full-time assisted photographers, Serge Krouglikoff, Kenneth Bieber, Bill Ling and James Wedge. Working with James was a particularly rewarding experience and provided lots of opportunities for foreign travel. After leaving James's studio, I built up my own freelance career working as a photographer. Today, I live in the London borough of Islington and work from a studio in nearby Stoke Newington. Clients include: Anita Cox, Bausch and Lomb, Clipso, Hitachi, Pierre Balmain, Red or Dead, Schwarzkopf, Tresemme and Wella. I am also a regular contributor to the following magazines: 'MacUser', 'PEI' and 'Image'.

These days, the Digital Imaging Group rarely holds any meetings, but the spirit of DIG lives on in the Prodig mailing list, co-owned by Ed Horwich and myself. If you would like to find out how to join this mail list, visit the Prodig web site www.prodig.org.

My interests outside of photography and computers include outdoor activities like hiking and running. I like reading modern novels and listening to all types of contemporary music, but especially indie, dance, ambient, jazz, soul and R&B. Whenever I get the opportunity to visit the United States, I love to take time out to drive around, explore small towns and investigate the local music scene.

It is hard to say which photographers have influenced me most. With so many good photographers out there providing inspiration, I am inclined to think first of pictures I've recently seen in magazines, exhibitions, books or posters. It is the unsung heroes who through organisations like the Association of Photographers, have helped defend photographers' rights and championed their cause. People like Janet Ibbotson, Gwen Thomas, Mike Laye, Martin Beckett, Adam Woolfitt and Jonathan Trapman. In this intensely competitive business, the contribution these people (and many others) have made to protecting the rights of UK and European photographers is sometimes easily forgotten.

The photographic industry has gone through many changes. The advent of digital imaging has made high-quality digital imaging an affordable reality for many. It has also brought about less welcome changes, such as the way clients are able to purchase and commission original photography. Such changes are inevitable, yet I believe there are also many ways in which photographers are able to adapt and take advantage of new technologies and thrive from this digital revolution. Never before has it been so easy to communicate with so many people across the world through visual images.

Martin Evening 2002