Who the heck is Lesa Snider?

Official bio

Lesa is on a mission to teach the world to create--and use!--better graphics. She’s a stock photographer and chief evangelist for iStockphoto, and founder of the creative tutorial site GraphicReporter.com. Lesa is the author of Photoshop CS5: The Missing Manual and Photoshop CS4: The Missing Manual (O'Reilly) and many video training titles including From Photo to Graphic Art, Practical Photoshop Elements, and Photoshop Elements 8 for Photographers (all at KelbyTraining.com), plus Graphic Secrets for Business Professionals (Lynda.com). She writes a regular column for Photoshop User, Elements Techniques, and Macworld magazines, and contributes frequently to CreativePro.com and Layers. Lesa is also a member of the Photoshop World Dream Team of instructors and can be spotted teaching at other conferences such as Macworld Expo, UCDA Design Conference, Geek Girl Boot Camp, Graphics of the Americas, Santa Fe Workshops and many more.

During free time, you'll find her carving the twisties on her sportbike or hanging with fellow Apple Mac enthusiasts. Lesa is a proud member of the BMWMOA, F800 Riders Club, CoMUG and NCMUG.

Short and sweet bio

Lesa Snider, founder of GraphicReporter.com, is the chief evangelist of iStockphoto.com, author of Photoshop CS5: The Missing Manual and Photoshop CS4: The Missing Manual (Pogue Press/O'Reilly), and several video training titles for both KelbyTraining.com and Lynda.com. You can catch her writings in Photoshop User, Elements Techniques, and Macworld magazines, and spot her teaching at Photoshop World, MacWorld Expo, and more.

Photo downloads

Click here to download a print version headshot (832 kb zip file)

Click here to download the Web version headshot (120 kb zip file)

Please list photo credit as: Kevin Ames (www.amesphoto.com).

And even more geeky goodness

While teaching a "Tips & Tricks for Getting Your Web Site Found" session at the MacDesign Conference in 2003, I got reacquainted with one of my idols, David Pogue. When I bought my first Mac in 1995, I read Macs for Dummies cover to cover, and had never laughed so hard while reading a technical manual.

Long story short, I was David's assistant for more than six years. I used to create custom graphics for his New York Times columns and videos, and serve as production editor/graphics goddess of the Missing Manual series (I still help him with his books from time to time). I built his web site, which I still manage, and researched/acquired the gadgets he reviews in his weekly Times columns. One year, David and I put on a unique technology show to benefit the Discovery Science Museum in his home town of Bridgeport, CT. It was tons of fun.

The most rewarding thing I do is teaching people how to create better graphics. To that end, I created this web site and try to get in front of as many crowds as possible whether it's a conference class, a photography club or Mac User Group, and so on.

In January 2006 something very exciting happened: I became the chief evangelist for the world's most diverse and affordable stock image provider ever, iStockphoto. I had been using their images in my tutorials for years and they'd seen me at several conferences. It's so easy to evangelize such a wonderful resource, so this past January we decided to make it official. I could not be happier. I'm now on a mission to get in front of as many groups as possible, teach them some wonderful graphic techniques and enlighten them about iStockphoto. I love my job!