Have you ever had a photo taken of yourself, only to end up with glowing red eyes or something stuck in your teeth?


Fortunately, there are programs available to take away imperfections in pictures. One way to improve quality and clarity of a photo is by using Photoshop, which is professional image editing software.


With the help of teacher and Web site designer Jon Marquardt, WCC students will be able to learn from a pro in a course planned for next fall. 


Marquardt will be sharing what he knows in a new digital image editing course, ICS 197A, to explore Photoshop’s vast toolbox.


Everyone from Web designers to x-ray technicians use Photoshop in a distinct way, and this class will teach everything that Photoshop has to offer.


“Now, more employers than ever expect applicants to have adequate Photoshop skills right alongside Microsoft Office skills,” says Marquardt. “ Just search any online job site for ‘Photoshop’ to see the wide variety of available jobs that involve Photoshop skills. 


“To compete for these jobs, all students should have some exposure to Photoshop listed on their resume. This course fulfills that expanding need.”


Marquardt says he has been following Photoshop’s development since version 1.0 came out in 1987. 


His interest in Photoshop started in his teenage years, but it didn’t stop there. After attending high school, Marquardt enrolled at the University of California to study art.


“While on a graphic design class trip to a San Francisco print-industry service bureau, we watched an enormous drum scanner digitize poster-sized, photographic transparencies. Then we entered a windowless, completely blackened room where a technician operated a super-high-end digital image editing workstation. 


“I was amazed how effortlessly he moved the sun’s glint off the lip of a drinking glass and placed it onto a supermodel’s pearly white smile. I was immediately hooked on digital image editing,”


After graduating from the University of California in 1995, Marquardt became a print graphic designer, did some freelance work and in 1997 opened a business with his wife near his hometown of Davis, California. Marquardt uses Photoshop daily with his business called Uberspann.


“’Uberspann’ is a German word describing a superior connection between two points, like the communication from business-to-business (or business-to-customer). Translated, it means ‘above stretch,’” says Marquardt.


“The business was originally conceived as an illustration studio with some graphic design work, but the overwhelming majority of projects available were Web design projects, so our emphasis shifted based on the projects coming through our doors.”


Some of his clients include Hawaiian Airlines, a Florida wholesaler and American Savings Bank, just to name a few. Marquardt also donated his talents to designing a micro site for the Ho‘olaule‘a at WCC.


Marquardt’s teaching experience started in Fall 2001 at Sacramento State University in California. But his third day as a teacher ended up being September 11, 2001.


“That day was very surreal and disjointed. Sacramento State University administrators decided to keep campus open, so I drove in as assigned, knowing we wouldn’t be learning any graphic design software that day,” he recalls.


“Within minutes, administration closed campus. Every student, faculty and staff member descended on the campus’s roadways simultaneously, causing unprecedented traffic snarls. 


“After seven mind-numbing hours in traffic, I was able to drive off campus and get home.”


That was an unsettling day for Marquardt as a teacher, but he didn’t let his early experience discourage him.


“I have found teaching to be vastly more rewarding than any other work that I’ve done,” he says.