…..commercial photographer, Photoshop User magazine columnist, Photoshop World Instructor, and master of the montage, my friend Jim DiVitale (I always just call him, “Jimmy D” for short).

I’m particularly honored to have Jim as a guest blogger because he’s had such an impact on my career. Jim was an attendee at the first Photoshop World Conference ever, and a few months after that, I ran into him at an Atlanta tradeshow (I had never met Jim, but I saw someone walking by with a Photoshop World t-shirt on, and I went up and introduced myself). An incredibly lucky break for me, for as it turned out Jim had been teaching courses for PPA for a while, and he told me (in as kind a way as possible), what we needed to do to offer real photography training at Photoshop World, and he even offered to teach a class. Well, he’s been a fixture at Photoshop World ever since, as one of our key instructors, and for years now Jimmy has penned Photoshop User magazine’s digital photography column.

Beyond that, Jim (along with Kevin Ames) was a big help to me when I was developing the concept for my first “Photoshop Book for Digital Photographers,” and Jim is the reason why I include a tear-out gray card in the book to this very day. Jim and Kevin also flew down from Atlanta to NAPP headquarters a few years ago to help us set up a product-shoot studio for the magazine, and Jim and his talented wife Helene, flew down on another occasion just to spend the day with me, teaching me how Helene lights and poses her subjects.

Jim’s given me an awful lot during the years, and it truly is an honor to have him here on my blog tomorrow, so please make sure you stop by and check his guest post out. Also, in the meantime, check out Jim’s own blog by clicking here.