May I rant?

Got further instructions about the official entry to the New Zealand show yesterday. Yes, I have to fill out a formal entry form, and send it along with money and a photo. Not a big deal, you say? Well, there were two pages, single spaced with instructions on how the photo is to be taken and processed through Photoshop Elements (PSE), so that it can be used to plan the layout of the show, to make sure that the right piece is attributed to the right artist, and on the internet for publicity etc. We were also told that if we don't have access to PSE, we are to download Picasa and use the tutorial that accompanies it to suitably finish the photo. I'm MAD! Two pages of , what is to me, a foreign language just to enter a show!!?

I try to learn new skills, but learning the computer is almost a full time job, and every time I conquer one thing, they raise the bar. Now it appears that, in order to be a fibre artist, I must become fully competent in photo processing/altering software. I didn't sign up for that!

I'm not a total Luddite, but I didn't grow up with computers, and I very much resent the time and effort needed to make them useful to me. Two years ago I signed up for a course in PSE, only to discover that it was a demonstration course. We, students, sat in the dark and watched the instructor play with the program. Mind you, he did give us a cd of pictures to play with at home, but since we were in the dark, note-taking was a problem, and no-one's memory is that good. To add to the problem, the course was given on WindowsXP, and my shiney new laptop had Vista. The commands etc within PSE were quite different to the ones I was seeing during classes. So I ended up totally confused and intimidated with the program, and many $$$ poorer

Then a friend steered me toward internet classes on PSE. Expensive, and also demonstration classes, and again not geared toward Vista.

Now I've finally found a woman who will teach a hands-on course on PSE. More $$$. The class doesn't start in time for me to make the show entry deadline, but maybe I'll be able to complete an entry for a future show.