And lots of new products announcing as we start to slowly creep into the fall, and get closer to the holiday buying season. I know, right? HOLIDAY? Well rust never sleeps and neither to those in the photo industry, who are all getting ready to bring you the new, updated, improved, revolutionary products that you may need. Or want.
We’ll try to keep them straight and selective for you.

Here’s some current photo news:

*Nikon officially throws in with Flickr for a dedicated site.
*WACOM introduces and updated Cintiq tablet.
*Delkin announces 305x Compact Flash Card using UDMA technology
*Canon additionally introduces 40D DSLR.

And just wanted to give a shout out to a classic mag: Popular Photography.[photopress:phot_cover.jpg,full,alignright]

Every month they put out a bundle of good useful stuff, that make it one of the best values out there. Look around and you can get it for about $14. USD a year.12 issues. I guarantee you can get some nugget from every issue.

Yes, still subscribe to a range of photo magazines and each one rounds out the picture, so to speak.

But don’t forget about this one. Lots of bang for the buck.
And hey, that’s less than 4 Starbucks for a year.

By the way, I just love the fact that Starbucks has become a currency. How many products have you been told about that draw an analogy between product cost and Starbucks cost?

And we have winners for the Weekly Giveaway:
Congratulations to David M. of Silver Spring, Maryland who will receive “Let Your Motto Be Resistance” and to Lynda S. of Phoenix Arizona who will be sent the Jo Babcock book ” The Invented Camera-Low Tech Photography & Sculpture”

We would like to thank everyone who had submitted entries to this competition. The amount of work and thought in each piece was laudable. After much deliberation and discussion, the winner is……

Kate McKenna of Chelmsford MA. for her piece “Solace”
Take a look:

When we gave Kate the news, she told us ” I am actually in Ireland right now. I am researching the roots of this same Grandfather and hope to make another video. Maybe one that looks back and celebrates him, as opposed to this rather melancholy (but necessary) one.”

A higher resolution version (coming soon) will also live on the VIDEO Page.

Once again, we applaud the entries we did receive. Take a look at them here.(disregard the ones that we made for the site which say damonwebster )

The next competition will be announced shortly, with the top prize being an APPLE iPHONE.

This just in:
[photopress:canon_front.jpg,full,centered]
So now 21.1 megapixels, total choice compression, uses the UDMA faster cards (had to happen), “live” view.
Check out this video for what was, improve upon that, and read on for what is coming.
Not for the weak of heart or casual user, this is the real deal. Get some bigger servers.

And so the race for the top new gear for the year end begins.

LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y., August 20, 2007 – The new 21.1-megapixel, full-frame Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III Digital SLR* camera brings the power of Canon U.S.A., Inc.’s professional imaging excellence and innovation into sharper focus than ever before. While Canon’s EOS-1D series has dominated the 35mm-based professional Digital SLR market for the past six years, the new EOS-1Ds Mark III Digital SLR takes Canon’s pro-digital prowess into and the realm of high-fashion and commercial photo studios where bulkier, medium-format cameras previously reigned. Continue Reading »

If you have any room left that is. I always find that a nice stack showing the edge titles can also work.

Well before we get into the NEW giveaway, Congratulations to Bob H. of Honolulu, Hawaii (ahhh to be there now…or anytime for that matter) winner of “The Decisive Moment” DVD and to Michael B. of Columbia, Sc who’ll be studying lighting via the Dean Collins DVD. Yep, that was the extra this week in the NEWSLETTER.

For this week, we have a very powerful collection from a recent exhibit at ICP in NYC.
Let Your Motto be Resistance: African American Portraits[photopress:letyourmotto.jpg,full,alignright]

When I see an exhibit of this depth, it is overwhelming and requires multiple viewings. But as it’s been stated before: the first time it washes over me and is a very gut reaction; the second time I look at the images instead of just feeling them.

What’s the difference?

Your first kiss, the time you saw your soul mate and were moved, that song that once you heard you knew would never leave you, your first bite of that incredible food.

And then it becomes more familiar. Not less, but perhaps you can delve into the complexities, once the rush of the unknown has passed.

In this case the stand out image, weeks later, is a carte de visite, a small print.The photograph is of a man who was enslaved and beaten. The scars are shown to the world. This image is from the 1860’s.
So strong was this image then, that politicians used it to turn the populace against slavery.Or try to.

Well, the power is still there. The triumphant portraits of the exhibit (on view til Sept. 9th) are made even stronger by their thread to this image. Continue Reading »

[photopress:buscemi.jpg,full,centered] Peace Arch Releasing

So declares Steve Buscemi’s character every time someone calls him a paparazzi. As if they called him a serial killer. And even in his own perception, he feels the near shame in the truth. Cup of self loathing anyone? With extra foam?
What?, like the profession leaves bit to be desired? You may not want to fully admit the fact of BEING a paparazzi?

Once again an amazing performance by Mr. Buscemi, as Les Galatine ,who can illustrate a struggling, skeevy, bottom rung player in the entertainment food chain, with the depth that slowly gives you the peek inside.
What made this guy who he is.
As we first meet him, he is part of a small group of paps, waiting for the shot. All tough, all staking their turf on the sidewalk.The tough guy then does some incredibly nice things.

It’s here that you must begin to suspend some belief.Not that there is a humanity in Les, but the lengths in which it goes.

Bringing a homeless kid into your home to live in your closet?

But you lose yourself in the story. And the peek into the photographers who are struggling for a scrap to sell to the rags. Glory days embedded in the odd image of a celebrity NOT wearing a hat, when they usually did. And the papers and websites that need to be fed with the latest shot. Continue Reading »