Some days I think I could live without it. Somedays I know and do live without it. But then there are the days that I know I’m going to use it, and I’m going to enjoy the utility it provides. Photoshop is officially 20 years old!

Just think of all the terrain this revolutionary software application has seen in the past two decades! Think of all the controversy it has caused (or perhaps we should say the user has caused), how many people should be thankful for its inception, all the images that get processed on a daily basis using this single application. The list could go on! Above is a short documentary that unites the creators and earliest Adobe adopters in a conversation about Photoshop!

Although long for Internet video standards, it’s worth a watch. No matter how you feel about Photoshop, this is fairly insightful, and if you walk away with anything from it, just imagine how amazing it is that this software is the root of many, many things (minute 15:00 of the video states this fact in more eloquent terms). It is useless to beg the question, “What would it be like if it had not been created?” because it would have inevitably happened, potentially later and under a different moniker. The question to ask is “What are we using it for now, and why, and how?”

After you watch the documentary, visit PhotoshopUserTV for live coverage of an event held in honor of the software package that changed and created a lot of what the technical end, as well as the conceptual and perceptual ends, of photography has, in some ways, transformed in to.

***DISCLAIMER: No matter where you’re at in terms of photographic/philosophical/ethical perspective on the very existence of Photoshop, this is just part of the conversation that will continue to take place in the arena of images, photographic or other. I think my first few sentences pretty much sum up my satisfaction AND frustration with the software, feelings I think we as photographers all experience!