Adobe's First Evangelist: Russell Preston Brown

It’s likely that everyone reading this has used, or at the very least heard of Adobe’s ubiquitous piece of software called Photoshop. But are you familiar with the very first—and perhaps the most eccentric—of the evangelists working behind that magic curtain?

Well, you’re about to meet him today, in our latest podcast featuring pioneers of photography and imaging. As Adobe employee number 38, graphic designer Russell Preston Brown was in the room when brothers Thomas and John Knoll showed up to demonstrate a new piece of software, in 1988. Suitably impressed with what he saw, Russell made a beeline to Adobe co-founder John Warnock and uttered the imperative “Buy it! Now!”

Thirty-five years later, Brown has not lost an ounce of passion for concocting magic with digital imaging tools, and for sharing his knowledge with other users during his outlandish workshops and events.

Join us for a rollicking chat with this shapeshifting impresario in cowboy attire. From Brown’s earliest training in darkroom photography to his current digital workflow syncing a mobile phone with Profoto lighting gear, we cover a lot of ground.

Throughout our discussion, we reflect on the revolutionary effects of technological advances, plus Brown’s uncanny luck to be there in the middle of the zeitgeist, which led him to a telling analogy:

“Yes, I was in the right place at the right time. I made my fair share of contributions, but it all comes back to—what if the Knoll brothers had not decided to make Photoshop? I want to see that Jimmy Stewart episode of “A Wonderful Life,” where Photoshop didn’t appear. Would we be using Letrasets?...”

Guest: Russell Preston Brown

For more information on our guests and the gear they use, see:

https://blogd7.bhphotovideo.com/explora/podcasts/photography/adobes-first-evangelist-russell-preston-brown

Above photograph © Russell Preston Brown

Episode Timeline:

2:47: A peak behind the scenes of Brown’s early experiences at Adobe and what constituted working as a graphic designer back in 1985.

10:24: Brown’s early training in darkroom photography, the type of photos he made and the tech transitions to the mobile phones that he works with today.

15:55: Thomas Knoll calls the iPhone a hallucination of what you are seeing in terms of colors, dynamic range, and quality of light. It gives us what we want to remember from that moment.

19:45: Brown’s workflow for shooting with an iPhone synched to Profoto strobes and other lighting modifiers, and his ability to carry everything around in one bag.

24:12: Comparing image captures from different brands of mobile phones: iPhone, Google Pixel 7 and Samsung 23. Plus, make sure to use a solar filter over the lens when photographing the eclipse.

31:27: Brown’s experiences working directly with programmers in the development of Photoshop, plus working one-on-one with a programmer to develop actions, scripts, and panels for his own Photoshop tools.

36:06: Episode Break

36:39: Brown reflects on his rapport with photographic purists during early presentations about Photoshop—from a photojournalism conference in Perpignan, France, to an early discussion about digital with Greg Gorman.

42:39: Adobe’s earliest dreams and goals about prepress and processing images to create CMYK output for print publication, and the subsequent ability to access Raw data.

47:15: Differentiating between generations of Adobe users and how they employ the software, plus distinguishing between Lightroom Classic and Lightroom Desktop.

51:46: Applications that have kept all the original tool sets, offering many routes to similar results, to serve the full range and successive generations of its user base.

54:00: The question of AI and differences between typing text and using AI prompts, or taking one’s original photographs and supplementing them with AI through Photoshop’s Generative Fill.

1:03:39: The dangers of using creative tools incorrectly, and Brown’s predictions about creative trends to come.

Guest Bio:

Russell Preston Brown is the Senior Creative Director at Adobe Systems Incorporated, as well as an Emmy Award-winning instructor. His ability to bring together the world of design and software development is a perfect match for Adobe products. In Brown 's 38 years of creative experience at Adobe, he has contributed to the evolution of Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator with feature enhancements, and advanced scripts. Most recently he has started to travel the world with a mobile phone camera to capture his adventures from a whole new creative perspective. This new age of mobile photography has sparked his creativity and has inspired a variety of new...