(Originally Published on January 16, 2014 – Updated June 23, 2023)
Photoshop-Haven’s Mission Statement (Plus a bit of History)
Hi, I’m Roz Fruchtman. I’m thrilled you are here ~REALLY!
MY MISSION
Interestingly enough… My mission is the same today as it was back in August of 2001. My goal remains, to create a SAFE HAVEN for those with a strong desire to learn Photoshop, no matter what their level of expertise, whether wannabee or expert. The only criteria is the desire to learn.
We have built a sanctuary for learning, sharing our work and resources, with no hesitation to ask for opinions, or be afraid of criticism or ridicule, and generally to have fun and get excited when our visions comes true.
On a personal note: I love to go out and find new resources (mostly free), classes (mostly free), learn new ways of doing things and more importantly I love to share what I’ve found with my members/with the Photoshop-Haven Community on Facebook.
Come check us out. Join us. Let’s create together.
JOIN US On Photoshop at:
Photoshop-Haven (Facebook)
http://www.Facebook.com/groups/PhotoshopHaven
JOIN US On Twitter at:
Photoshop-Haven (Twitter)
http://www.Twitter.com/PhotoshopHaven
A BRIEF HISTORY (Who is Roz and How Did Photoshop-Haven come to be!)
I am a self-taught Digital Artist and the Owner/Manager of Photoshop-Haven. It took me years to consider myself an artist. In my day, artists were those who were born with paint brushes and sketch pads in their hands. In other words, they showed artistic abilities from birth, then generally went on to Art Schools and some created careers for themselves, others went on to other things. Keep in mind, we DID NOT have an Internet back in THAT day! 😉 Not me though ~my creativity WAS NOT in the area of drawing or image design. I’ve learned a lot since then and found my true passion! Who would have thought!!!
When I came to the web everything changed, it might have been like the Wild Wild West, however… with copyright infringement one had to be careful not to use something belonging to others. The rules were sketchy at best back then, but we knew enough to NOT take what did not belong to us ~at least most of us did. 😉
GRAPHICS I COULD NOT USE
I bought package after package of clip art and digital images “in a box” and then found, after spending good money after bad, after reading their Terms of Service (TOS), I could not use them, and if I could, it was very limiting. It became increasingly obvious… The best way to get the images you needed was to create them yourself…BUT HOW?
I found a few kind souls who took me under their wings and taught me Paint Shop Pro ~at least enough to be dangerous and then let me fly on my own! 😉
However… Photoshop was the Industry Standard. The problem remained: HOW was I going to learn Adobe Photoshop ~This BIG BAD SCARY Program that everyone wanted you to know? Back then the program’s interface’s did not look-alike as they do today, so you can go from program to program and at least figure what what’s what, even if you don’t know how to really use the program itself.
PHOTOSHOP-HAVEN IS BORN
Fast Forward to August 2001. I knew I needed help, I also knew I was not alone in this area and quite honestly it was a little frustrating, bewildering and scary (Maybe a lot!) At that time… I had successfully run a Web Development Group on OneList.com (which is now YahooGroups.com) for a few years prior, so decided to open one for Photoshop.
PHOTOSHOP-HAVEN OPENS ITS VIRTUAL DOORS
On August 2001 I opened Photoshop-Haven on OneList.com. Back then… It was the place to be if you wanted to build Groups of like-minded individuals.
We kept growing. Through the years our membership remained consistent at over 8,000 members. Many came and went and returned and were helped through the years. It was really quite fun most of the time. However, it became increasingly difficult with the anonymity of it all. Back then you could join a group with a username and password and no real name or identify. You had no idea who you were talking to and this could be problematic when people wanted to act out and be mean. Fortunately this was not often, but I ran a tight ship in the way of NO FIGHTING and NO INSULTS.
As I implied earlier… The greatest fault with OneList.com, which became Egroups.com and now YahooGroups.com, was the anonymity of it all. People joined with usernames and if they did not want to share their name you had no idea who you were talking to. Back then we didn’t know much better ;), however, in today’s world of authenticity and openness via Social Media and Social Networking… there is no place for anonymity.
Today we’ve moved to Facebook Groups where it’s much more personal and we now call ourselves a COMMUNITY, like a family of like-minded individuals with a common love for Photoshop, Photography and Design.
Roz Fruchtman aka @RozSpirations