Image Manipulation and Picnik

It is like the heavens are opening up, behind one door is another and so I keep finding more and more toys to play with on the internet :) Wow I thought these programs were kept secret for the professionals. What am I talking about its official I am now a professional photographer. I can actually turn any photo into a creative work of art. Gone are the days of cutting peoples heads off, 'Hey I will just go to Picnik and find one'. Oh and who needs a facelift? I will just erase the wrinkles at the click of my mouse, could it be that simple? Well my friends I am here to inform you it is.
Picnik is a team of entrepreneurs and software developers who are dedicated to produce 'real software for real people'. Upon entering the Picnik site this is obvious as it is very user friendly and the graphics are very nice on the eye. You instantly feel creative and as long as you know how to upload a photo you are in business.
Creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson challenges the way we're educating our children. He wants a radical rethink of our school systems, to cultivate creativity and acknowledge multiple types of intelligence. He argues that it's because we've been educated to become good workers, rather than creative thinkers (TED, 2006). Using tools like this in the classroom or encouraging our students to use these at home can unleash creativity and create an exciting learning environment.
I uploaded a photo that I took of my children on NYE from the NSW Parliament. I turned it into a Polaroid style photo and smudged out the edges to make it all that like bit more crazy. After changing the photo I felt instantly creative and felt the need to get out the camera and take some more to see how I could manipulate them on this site.
Check it out at www.picnik.com

References
TED Conferences (nd). Sir Ken Robinson: Creativity expert. Retrieved 11 August, 2009 from http://www.ted.com/speakers/sir_ken_robinson.html