Wednesday, November 28, 2007Home

ACDSee announces photo-sharing compatiblility with new updates


ACD Systems, makers of ACDSee Pro 2 and ACDSee 10 Photo Manager, both excellent applications for digital photographers, has released a suite of updates for these two new products. These updates are second in a series of web downloads designd to hlp photographers make the most of customization options on photo-sharing sites like Flickr and SmugMug, and selected features on a range of digital cameras, as well as file format support.

This includes ACDSee's Flickr Uploader Version 2.0. Many other uploaders automatically send images to online photo-sharing sites, and this one is no exception: the ability to easily resize large images and apply tags for individual photographs or for groups. ACDSee also utilizes metadata fields, and this information can be uploaded as well. Think all of the information about an image that can't actually be seen in the image itself: aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and other attributes are identified by ACDSee, and the oppportunity to organize images by these quantities should be very desirable to photographers in need of workflow solutions.

The user can do all of this without leaving the ACDSee program. Security, safety and content type can also be designated in this updated uploader. Click here to get the updates from ACDSee's website.

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Monday, November 26, 2007Home

Corbis offers bloggers free images

Corbis, the stock photography company, is offering photos for bloggers like me to use on their websites. The catch? Each image contains an embedded advertisement, either overlaid on part of the image, or in hidden "roll-over" format. This offer comes from a partnership between Corbis and PicScout, whose website PicApp.com will be the location at which bloggers can download their images. Ad revenue will also be generated, and bloggers will have the opportunity to earn their share with enough images through PicApp.

From Corbis Chief Executive Gary Shenk, via Reuters:

"We work with a partner so that those pictures are tracked, and if they're being used illegally, we can figure that out. But as long as they are downloaded through this application, you're legit and you're ready to go."

This is part of a growing trend amongst stock photography businesses that find they must grow and change with the times. Fast-growing online offers like these have been developed to deal with the ever-encroaching amateur market, with low-cost photo purchase sites and micro-payment sites. Snapvillage.com is another project that follows this vein: a site for user-submitted photos which allows photographers to sell their material for $1 to $50 each.

Click here to find out more about Corbis, or here for PicApp.

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Sunday, November 25, 2007Home

New Opportunity from Center for Fine Art Photography


Director Larry Padgett at The Center for Fine Art Photography has announced a new competition, Street Photography. The competition is designed to raise opportunities for discussion and examination of that unique perspective of the photographer that leads to the creation of moving and memorable street photography. Capturing the interactions of people with their environment and each other is part of the focus, as is the myriad elements that affect daily life “on the street.” The images can be in urban or rural settings, and elsewhere. Images can be from any country or culture in the world. Awards include a $300 Juror’s Selection award, a $200 Director's Selection award, a gallery exhibition at and a Feature presentation in Artists’s ShowCase, the feature section in CameraArts Magazine, and many more.

The deadline for entries is January 15, 2008.

The juror, Michelle Dunn Marsh, is the Deputy Director of Aperture Foundation. Michelle also specializes in freelance book design and education in the field of design and photographic history. Photographers of all mediums are invited to participate in this exhibition. Click here to find out more.

Image: What's Next? © Lloyd Greene

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Saturday, November 24, 2007Home

New award deadlines for Contact 2008

The Contact 2008 festival, to be held in Toronto during all of May 2008, has announced additional opportunities for photographers and arts organizations from Ontario and beyond. Ben Navaee Gallery will curate a show to be held as part of the festival's official schedule of events around town. The best source of information on this opportunity is contact@BenNavaeeGallery.com. The deadline is November 30, 2007.

From Contact 2008's press announcement:

"Please email your full proposal if you are aiming for a solo or a small group show along with low res jpgs and a statement on how your work relates to CONTACT’s theme “Between Memory and History.” We will also curate a show with the same theme for artists who would like to have a presence in the CONTACT 2008."

For more information on Ben Navaee Gallery, click here. Additionally, the Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography, host to a gallery space and resource center, including darkroom and production facilities, will host Proof On Site, the 2008 Artist in Residence Program for indigenous photographic artists. Submissions are due January 10, 2008. Go here for details.

A Canadian initiative, PhotoSensitive, is a rapidly growing campaign to raise cancer awareness. Photographers are invited to submit works. You can view a list of photographers who have already signed up, and read about their backgrounds, at www.photosensitive.com. Also, artists will have the opportunity to nominate a local artist or organization for the $100,000 Premier's Award for Excellence in the Arts until Decemeber 3, 2007.

Remember, the early registration deadline for Contact 2008 is fast approaching. Be sure to apply before December 3, 2007 to enjoy a discounted rate. Final registration closes December 21, 2007.

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Friday, November 23, 2007Home

Bielsko's second FotoArt Festival comes to a close


Fine art photographers from 12 European countries as well as the US, Argentina, and China kicked off the FotoArt Festival October 19, 2007, with 17 exhibitions and a multimedia presentation with a grand piano accompaniment by Bielsko composer Jausz Kohut. The following two days were devoted to the artists, with a Marathon of seminars and one-on-one meetings. Acclaimed French glamour artist (and renowned model) Sarah Moon was one of the headliners, showing an exhibition of her work, including the film "Circus."
Another keynote speaker was Naomi Rosenblum, author of A World Hisory of Photography and A History of Women Photographers, about the famous New York Photo League. Many of the featured photographers had never exhibited in Poland before.


Spain's Joan Fontcuberta presented "Landscape without Memory," a series of computer-generated landscapes made to look real. Witold Krassowski of Poland discussed the Union of Polish Artists Photographers, and British Photographer Mitra Tabrizian presented her exhibition "Beyond the Limits," and talked about living and creating photography in Iran. Hungarian photojournalists Judit Horvath and György Stalter provided glimpses into the world of the Romas, or Gypsies.

Etienne Tombeux, from Belgium, and Lukas Maximillian-Hüller from Austria, presented their exhibition "Seven Deadly Sins," which comprises elaborate, staged photographic dioramas.
Also included in the presentations were Latvian resident of the US Misha Gordin and his dark, abstract photomontages,and José Luis Raota of Argentina, talked about his works, as well as those of the late Pedro Luis Raota, his father and one of the most acclaimed photographers in the world.

Peter Marshall from Great Britain concluded the Marathon with a lecture about leading British street photographers.
The next FotoArt Festival will take place in 2009. For a complete list of exhibitors and sample images from each, go here.

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Tuesday, November 20, 2007Home

Aperture Events of the Holiday Season

Aperture Foundation has offered fine art photography books, travelling exhibitions and high-quality educational programs in New York and beyond since 1952, and this tradition continues well into the 21st century with new opportunities to engage in the world of photography both classic and cutting-edge. On November 28, 2007 at The Strand on Broadway, Richard Misrach will give a talk and sign copies of his landmark new work, On the Beach, which will be Aperture's largest book yet. On December 3, Sylvia Plachy, long-time photographer for The New Yorker, will discuss Goings On About Town: Photographs for The New Yorker. Never-before-seen images from the photographer's prolific career will be on display at the event.

From Aperture's announcement:

"Plachy, who is well known to New Yorkers for her long-standing photo column at the Village Voice entitled 'Unguided Tour,' explores the city’s dynamics from the inside out, revealing the vital and at times wacky creativity that energizes New York around the clock. The images are quintessentially Sylvia Plachy, and quintessentially New York. Plachy will also show and discuss other images from her illustrious 40-year career."

Plachy's photographic journey began in Budapest, where she was born, and she has taken pictures all over the world, though her New York images have achieved the most international acclaim and have been exhibited in locales around the globe. The talk on December 3 will take place in the Chelsea branch of Barnes & Noble.

Finally, on December 11, 2007, Aperture will present a special evening's seminar for young photography collectors. William Hunt of Hasted Hunt Gallery will guide participants through the first step of collecting fine art photographs. Hunt will examine the transition from being an occassional purchaser of photography to the attributes that define a true “collector.” Along the way, the ups and downs of collecting will be examined, as well as the things a collectors needs to know, and the question "why does it all matter?"

Click here to find out more about any of these fine events.

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Saturday, November 17, 2007Home

CALL FOR ENTRIES: Center's Singular Image and Project Competition

Center, sponsored by the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops, Calumet Photographic, CameraArts Magazine, and many others, is an organization dedicated to bringing photographic discourse and appreciation to New Mexico from all over the world. Every year, two competitions, The Singular Image and The Project Competition, are hosted in conjuction with Review Santa Fe, a one-of-a-kind juried portfolio event. The Project Competition promotes excellence and innovation in documentary projects and fine art series with a $5,000 cash award, $1,000 scholarships at the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops, complimentary participation in Review Santa Fe 2008 and more. The Singular Image awards single entries in both color and black & white and offers products from Singer Editions, Calumet, and Epson, to name a few.

The deadline for application to all three events is January 18, 2008.

From Center's announcement:

"Through the years of presenting these events, we have been pleased to honor many fine photographs and photographers. Now it's your turn; the time to plan your entries, research the outstanding jurors, and visit the website VISITCENTER.ORG to view the work of past honorees."


Announced jurors for The Project Competition include Charlotte Cotton, Curator of Photography at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Chris Pichler, Publisher of Nazraeli Press; and Susan Scandrett, Creative Director of Mother Jones Magazine. For the Singular Image, Anthony Lasala, Senior Editor of Photo District News (PDN), will jury the black and white category, while Jen Bekman, Director of Jen Bekman Gallery, will judge color entries. Reveiw Santa Fe is unique in that an esteemed board of jurors selects the photographers to be reviewed at the event, which takes place June 5 to 7, 2008. This is a fine opporunity to stand head-and-shoulders with the finest upcoming photographers the medium has to offer!

Click here for more information on how to register or enter either of these fine competitons.

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Friday, November 16, 2007Home

WORKSHOP: David Wells' gateway to India

From February 17 to 27, 2007, veteran photographer and instructor David Wells will take a group of photographers on a tour of Southern India. Offered through the Strabo International Tour Company, the class, "A Photo & Cultural Tour to Southern India" will take students to some of India's most visually exotic and amazing places, the Palace of Mysore among them. Expect to see many places hidden away from the flow of mainstream tourism, while riding via coach, rail, and train. The schedule is intended to maximize photographic contact with the everyday people and sights of India.

The tour starts in Mammalapuram, then proceeds to Coimbatore, from which the group will travel to Southern India. Outings to temples, palaces, gardens, and small villages, will fill out the itinerary. Wells will help students realize the best light times for their photography. Wells has had photo-essays published in numerous international publications such as Newsweek, covering locales as varied as India, Bangladesh, California, Israel and Gaza. Wells has taught semester length classes and short week-long workshops at the University of Pennsylvania, Syracuse University, the International Center for Photography in New York City, the Maine Photographic Workshops, and many more.

David encourages participants to bring a small number of images for critique. He will answer individual questions during the workshop, as well as provide group instruction on photography basics such as exposure, composition, fill-flash, and methods to approach people on location. See his work here at davidhwells.com.

To learn more about this workshop, and to view a complete schedule, click here.

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Wednesday, November 14, 2007Home

CameraArts Preview Portfolios: November 14, 2007

The CameraArts Preview Portfolios have returned once again! Click here to find out more on how to submit to our magazine. You might have your own preview portfolio online, or even a print feature in an upcoming issue of CameraArts! This week, we present "Window on the World," photographs by Kathryn Hollinrake, the black and white images of Steven Sagri, and "Down Under," a portfolio from the New York Subway by Joan Powers.

Don't forget to tell us what you think by leaving comments below the fold!

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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: Studio 304

Studio 304, a Brooklyn-based studio rental space, will participate with a slideshow of still imagery, video, film, and mixed-media works in the Bushwick Open Studios & Arts Festival, a one day art festival on December 2, 2007. Photographers and video artists are invited to contribute to the slideshow. The theme will be "What we talk about when we talk about love." Submissions can be in any medium, but must be less than 5 minutes in duration, saved in a projectible digital format. Image galleries of 25 images or less may be submitted. Requirements are negotiable for compelling projects.

The deadline is November 26, 2007.

The Bushwick Open Studios & Arts Festival has come to incorporate the contributions of 80 artists and community members. The aim of the festival is to encourage growth and collaboration in the industrial area of Bushwick, where hundreds of independent artists and performers work, oftentimes behind the scenes, to make a difference in their community. On December 2, these humble movements will be brought out into the open.

From the Bushwick Open Studios & Arts Festival website:

"The community organizers hope to inspire a diverse group of participants, such as local high school students, car art painters, and a variety of musical groups, to share their work in an open, welcoming and inclusive forum. Organizers are working with local businesses, nonprofits, and arts organizations, which may provide venues, create events, or offer funding. Some volunteers are planning interactive activities so artists and attendees can create art together."

For morew information on submitting to Studio 304, click here.

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Lensbabies Goes to the Movies

Lensbabies, creators of the one-of-a-kind Lensbaby 3G for digital and film cameras, have added to their catalog the PL Mount Lensbaby 3GPL selective focus lens for movie and video cameras. Announced at this year's PhotoPlus Expo, The Lensbaby 3GPL will work on any 16mm or 35mm PL camera. A PL adapter (for the 3GPL or SLR mount adapter (for the regular Lensbaby SLR 3G) is required for all video cameras. The current retail price for the 3GPL is $490.

From the Lensbabies web site:

"Dream sequence, hallucination, drunken reverie, fading memory—the creative possibilities are endless with the Lensbaby 3GPL...like its still camera predecessors, Lensbaby 3GPL allows filmmakers to bring one part of their frame into sharp focus; a ‘sweet spot’ surrounded by gradually increasing blur. You can move the sweet spot of sharp focus anywhere in the photo by bending the lens."


Lensbabies has some glossy film clips available as examples on their site. Many are advertisements for other organizations and services that utilize the Lensbaby in assembling transitional shots. Yet another example of a relatively simple piece of technology opening up new creative possibilities.

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Tuesday, November 13, 2007Home

The Arts in Marrakech Festival 2007

From November 23 to 29, 2007, the best in contemporary African Photography will be showcased at the Arts in Marrakech (AiM) Festival. Not only will there be photography exhibitions and film art screenings throughout the seven days, but also literary talks, readings, and a special screenwriters' forum. The event opens at the Museum of Marrakech, with an exhibition of South African Photography. With the expansion of worldwide cultural events such as these, it seems that appreciation is growing for not only the photographic image, but the unique ways in which a world of different perspectives can be expressed.

Marrakech is renowned for its exotic beauty, even among Native Morrocoans. Participating exhibition spaces include Riad El Fenn, a luxury hotel, and Kssour Agafay, a restored 16th-century townhouse turned member’s club, Dar Cherifa cultural center, the Royal Theater and the Marrakech museum. Participating art galleries include Rê, 127, and Light.

Access to all events is included with registration. Forms can be submitted via email, or you can register during the festival (if you just happen to be in that neck of the woods come late November). Registration is € 100 (or $146).

AiM's website advises early registration, since late November is a peak travel time for Morrocco. A list of recommended hotels can be viewed online. Click here to view and to download a registration form.

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Monday, November 12, 2007Home

FotoFest's International Discoveries

The annual International Discoveries exhibition, presented by FotoFest, the international bi-annual photography festival, will be on view until December 8, 2007, at FotoFest Headquarters in Houston, Texas. The creative directors of FotoFest, Founders Wendy Watriss and Fred Baldwin and Exhibitions Coordinator Jennifer Ward selected nine photographers from the touring of photography and art festivals around the world, including those from Uruguay, Mexico, England, Argentina, South Korea, and Poland. The exhibition was planned to help prepare for the upcoming FotoFest 2008 Festival, for which over 100 spaces throughout the city will participate.

From FotoFest's website:

"Chan-Hyo Bae's work reflects his feelings as an Asian immigrant in the West. Lydia Panas examines her family and community. Alessandra Sanguinetti profiles the relationship of two young children as they grow. Diego Ranea takes an unconventional view of landscapes. Kelly Flynn's ironic look at sexual iconography and gender roles is as serious as it is funny. Przemyslaw Pokrycki documents rituals from birth to death. John Chervinsky's scientific schemata reflect his career as a scientist and professor. Roberto Fernández Ibáñez addresses nature and the seasons through the pairing of haiku and equally poetic photographs. Jesús Jiménez plays for the camera. All of these artists shows serious attention to their subjects and a decidedly contemporary aesthetic."

FotoFest 2008 will take place March 7 to April 20, 2008, and the series of accompanying exhibitions, mixed media installations, and film and video programs have nearly been finalized.The theme for 2008 will be China, and the evolution of photography in the country from its origins to contemporary work being shown today. Regular FotoFest programs will return as well, such as the Fine Print Auction, the International Meeting Place Portfolio Review, and auctions.

Click here
for details.

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Saturday, November 10, 2007Home

CALL FOR ENTRIES: 28th Annual College Photography Contest

Presented by Photographer's Forum Magazine and Nikon, this competition has awarded over $200,000 in cash prizes since 1980, its first year. This time around, Photographer's Forum is presenting two ways to enter, by either uploading your images online via the official website, or by sending prints or slides along with a traditional entry form. Winning Photos will also be published in the magazine's May 2008 issue. What's more, all finalists will be published in The Best of College Photography Annual 2008.

The Final deadline is on November 19, 2007.

The entry fee is $3.95 per photograph. Awards for this year include $4,200 in cash grants, two Nikon cameras, and entrance into Nikon's Emerging Photographer's Hall of Fame.

Click here
to visit their official website.

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Thursday, November 08, 2007Home

Angkor Photography Festival offers educational opportunities to Asian photographers

This event often passes under the radar, due to the remoteness of the location that lies a world away. The temple pillars of Angkor Wat, with their legendary Bayon faces, recall to Western eyes the exotic otherness of the Far East. The Angkor Photography Festival will return for its third year in Siem Reap, Cambodia from November 17 to 28, 2007. The focus of the event is not only the appreciation and advancement of journalistic and commercial photography, but the education of key techniques to students of the region.

There is an open call for volunteers on their site, to help with the educational programs dedicated to enriching life for the local disadvantaged. These include beggar children who, after a sudden introduction to photography through free festival workshops, have gone through transformations both outward and inward. The kids look healthy, happy, and lively, not like a piece of scenery in the hard places of the developing world. You can learn more about the festival here.

From the 2006 Angkor Photo Festival Flickr gallery:

"Concurrently, choreographer Sangeeta Isvaran and art therapist Paula Holme focused on the relationship between photography, memory and dance. Associating sound and movement with their self-portraits and photos, the children developed stories that evolved into a vibrant performance of photo-projection, dance and poetry."

Access the 2006 gallery at Flickr here.

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Tuesday, November 06, 2007Home

Strictly No Photography

Looks like the pesky, pervasive nature of electronic imaging and information has found its most concrete expression online. The expression of personal liberty is touted as the website Strictly No Photography's mission statement, and photos of places where photography is forbidden is the subject. The emphasis is on official photography-prohibited areas: the search for "girl's locker room" provided a shot of a Bourbon Street bordello, but nothing else on the subject. Users are invited to submit their own images taken with digital camera or cell phone.

From Strictly No Photography's website:

"What you can capture in the shot that's not allowed is unique. It can be in the surreptitious nature of its blur taken at speed or on the move with a long exposure. It can be in the crooked framing, taken on the skew shot from the hip or over an onlooker's shoulder. Shoot first then aim. Intriguing things seem to happen without the overriding intervention of the logical mind. The best shots are the ones loaded with the kind of flair and spontaneity that might never have been caught if you had thought too hard about it, if you'd had longer, if you were allowed. Oh, and remember to turn off the flash."

Certainly this site is meant to be tongue-in-cheek with its call to disobey authority, made all the more appropriate by the website's symbol of a cell phone, which has already deposed the chewing gum, spitball, and fired rubber bands as the prime tool for troublemaking. However, the interior shots of museums, such as the Tate Modern in London or the Kremlin in Moscow, lend a fresh and understandably unusual perspective to artistic showing spaces.

Click here to find out how to submit.

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