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Prime Times Weekly feature of the Mail Tribune , Medford, Oregon Computer software gives retired commercial photographer Preston Mitchell of Medford a better way of creating ... IMAGES in his MIND'S EYE Photo by Bob Pennell Retired commercial photographer Preston Mitchell has a photo editing room, above, and a darkroom in his Medford home. At 83, he's still working with images - only these days, it's with computer software called Photoshop. Mitchell was one of Los Angeles' leading photographers for 43 years. In his retirement, he lives in a Rogue Valley Manor condo. By JOHN DARLING Preston Mitchell spent a lifetime mastering the lighting, darkroom and photography techniques that made him one of the leading architectural and product photographers in the Los Angeles area for 43 years. That all changed in two days when, retired and 83 years old, he had someone teach him Adobe Photoshop software on his computer. Now, using scanned prints, the Rogue Valley Manor resident creates greeting cards, scenic shots and an occasional portrait with flourishes and leaps of imagination he never dreamed possible in the darkroom. Is it more fun than the old way? "Heck yes," Mitchell said with a trace of sadness. "I hardly touch the old darkroom anymore." Working on a huge enlargement of a photograph of a friend's farm, Mitchell's Photoshop simply made the annoying road and highway signs vanish, leaving an idyllic pre-automobile landscape. He assembled a collage of humorous images for a yule card and quickly removed big watermarks from the pioneer portraits of someone's great-grandparents. In his long career as a professional photographer, Mitchell worked for North American Aviation, the outdoor advertising giant Foster and Kleiser, and his own commercial photography business from 1955 to 1989. Mitchell was known for his skilled on-site lighting of chairs, drill bits, factories and many other buildings and products, he said. Mitchell's wife, Cora, died in 1992. But Mitchell has maintained multiple passions -- his other big interest is music -- and commits himself to serious exercise. Mitchell and 20 other Manor residents go on a hike every other Tuesday, exploring such sites as Union Creek, Roxy Ann Peak, Hyatt Lake and the Applegate Valley, he said. Taught to play clarinet by his Oberlin-trained parents, Mitchell was bandsman and bugler in the Army Air Corps during World War II, then graduated in music from Whittier College in California. "Music was my first love, but I didn't want to spend my life teaching little kids to play clarinet," Mitchell said. "Photography is different. It gives that satisfaction right away." Upon retirement, Mitchell returned to music. Now he plays tuba in the Dixie Fat Cats, Ashland City Band, the Rogue Valley Concert Band, the Recorder Consort at the Manor and the "Slowpokes," an oldies-background music group. In between concerts, Mitchell indulges his second love -- now rekindled with the magic of Photoshop. Prime Times Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA