A photographic exhibition entitled ‘Emergence’ will be held in the Custard Factory, Birmingham, from 5 to 13 June. The exhibition showcases the finest works of students on the HND2 and HNC2 courses at Sandwell College. The photos span a wide range of genres, including fashion, portraiture, social documentary and wildlife. The exhibition is open 10am-7pm every day - except Sunday when it closes at 3pm.

PicStop.co.uk has announced the BIG PicStop Sale, which runs until 15 May. The BIG PicStop Sale includes reductions of up to 50% on items such as cameras, camera bags, flash guns, tripods, memory cards, digital photo frames, batteries, chargers, scanners, laptop bags, ink cartridges, storage devices, binoculars etc.

Website: PicStop

Tom Mackie Images has announced a four-day landscape photography event event that will take place in the Lake District from 18th October - 22nd October 2009. Visiting places such as Grasmere, Derwentwater and The Langdales the group of just five photographers will explore the magnificient mountainous landscape, stunning autumnal woodland colours and the water that spectacularly shapes the region. Contact +44 (0)1603 465 292 / www.tommackie.com to book your place.

A collection of very early colour photographs, some of which are more than 100 years old, will be on display at Exbury Gardens for five months, opening this Friday. Louis Lumiére invented and patented the first commercially viable colour photography process - the autochrome - in 1903, and mass production of the autochrome plates began in 1907. The fabulously rich banker Lionel de Rothschild, who was also an enthusiastic and expert amateur photographer, probably received some plates before commercialisation, and started to experiment with them. The above photo of a tiger at London Zoo is believed to have been taken as early as 1906. It is part of a huge collection of autochromes, which will be exhibited at Exbury Gardens. The photos show the Edwardian world, which we tend to think of as a “black-and-white age”, in full colour. The exhibition opens this Friday, and admission is free to all who buy a ticket into the Gardens.

Aaduki Multimedia Insurance has announced a new Amateur Scheme, targeted at amateur photographers who wish to insure their equipment on a bespoke policy basis. This product is to be underwritten by Amlin, one of the leading insurers based at Lloyds of London. The amateur policy will automatically include for travel abroad and cover will be provided for theft from unattended vehicles subject to the policy terms. The product is available from Aaduki offices and to purchase online 24 hours a day at www.aaduki.com.

Photo Iconic is offering a number of image workshops at Intrepid Travel and Jacobs Digital Photo & Video, London. Two of these, Shooting People & Places (23 April) and Shooting Landscapes & Wildlife (30 April) will take place at Intrepid Travel, 76 Upper St, Islington; whereas two others - Shooting Travel: The Perfect Kit and Shooting Travel Images That Sell - will be held at Jacobs Digital Photo & Video in May. Each course costs £40 - and all participants will receive a £25 discount voucher for future selected Photo Iconic photography courses plus either £50 worth of discount vouchers from Intrepid Travel or special discount vouchers from Jacobs Digital Photo & Video, depending on the course venue.

Website: Shooting People & Places Booking Form
Website: Shooting Landscapes & Wildlife Booking Form

Rankin Live! is a radical twist on the traditional exhibition format featuring two shows in one. These include Shoot Me Rankin, the ongoing photo shoot of 1000 Britons, whose portraits will be immediately included in the exhibition, and Rankin Retrospective, a collection of 600 images selected from a vast portfolio of work. Both Shoot Me Rankin and Rankin Retrospective will be hosted by Old Truman Brewery, Brick Lane, London, between 31 July – 18 September.

Jessops has revamped its New Oxford Street branch in London, and will be offering substantial discounts to accompany the grand re-opening. The opening offers are available in-store from Friday 17th through to Sunday 19th April. Some items and bundles are offered at half price, including the Nikon D300 body (now £549) and the Canon EOS 450D + EF 18-55mm IS kit (now £264). Do note that the offers are limited and restricted to the New Oxford Street store.

Tom Mackie Images have announced a landscape and architectural event taking place on 5th – 14th October 2009. The location is New England, “with its beautiful and quaint fishing villages, boats and the majestic lighthouses of Maine”. In addition, participants will visit visit Acadia National Park and the classic villages of Vermont with their tall white painted churches and covered bridges.

Member of Parliament John Randall led a debate on recent restrictions on public photography in the House of Commons. He addressed three main issues, namely the taking of photographs in public places by amateurs, the recent advent of Google Street View, and the police using power against “bona fide journalists”. In addition to these topics, Randall also mentioned the “incredible hysteria about taking any photographs that might contain a child”. The debate lasted about half an hour and involved other Members of Parliament as well as the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department.

Website: Read the full transcript of the debate in the Commons Hansard

Tom Mackie Images will organise a landscape photography workshop on 5th-6th September 2009. Taking place in Norfolk, the event is designed to support all photographers to take their landscape photography to another level. “This exclusive two day workshop starts just before sunrise and then we go straight into an intensive but extremely enjoyable couple of days of shooting.  I will be showing the group my favourite shooting locations such as Norfolk’s expansive stunning coastline, the Broads, eye-catching windmills and much more,” award-winning landscape & architectural photographer Tom Mackie comments.

PhotographyBB announced today the release of the 14th edition of the PhotographyBB Magazine Online. The March 2009 edition explores some of the issues facing photographers as of late; Photography and the Law. This month’s issue also features an in depth look at DSLR sensor sizes and how they relate to lenses, focal lengths, and crop factors. Additionally there are Photoshop and Lightroom tutorials for photographers to get the most out of their post processing techniques. PhotographyBB Online Magazine is available for free download.

Canon has been voted the most trusted camera brand in Europe for the ninth consecutive year. In a survey by Reader’s Digest, the world’s best-selling monthly magazine, consumers in 13 out of 16 European countries voted for Canon.  Respondents rated each brand on the following four criteria: Quality, Excellent value, Strong Image and Understands customer needs.

It seems that Colab, one of the UK’s biggest photo labs, has survived recent financial difficulties and is now trading as normal again.

Colab Press Release

Colab - The Midlands leading photographic laboratory - Trading as Normal!

You may have heard that we recently encountered financial difficulty. This was correct although we succeeded in trading throughout the uncertain four week period. We have now obtained new investment and so would like to reassure you that we are 100% back to normal. All the staff at Colab would like to say a BIG thank you for your kind letters, e-mails and phone calls over the last few weeks offering your support. We are all very excited about the future and have renewed confidence that we can continue to give our customers the same quality service you have come to expect from the countries leading laboratory.

For more information please visit our website at www.colab.com or telephone us on (024) 7644 0404.
We look forward to hearing from you! Thank You

HP UK Press Release

HP Calls on the British Public to Donate a Smile and Break a New World Record  

NCH, the children’s charity, to receive 25p for each smile donated

LONDON, UK, March 17, 2005 - In a bid to set a new Guinness World Record and to raise money for charity, HP today calls on the British public to donate a picture either of themselves or of a smiling family member, friend or colleague to help create “Britain’s Biggest Smile”.  For every smile donated at www.hp.com/uk/smile, HP will donate 25p to NCH, the children’s charity that helps vulnerable and excluded children to realise their potential. To break the Guinness World Record 35,000 smiles are needed from all over the UK. Every smile donated will be displayed in a London Gallery in August 2005, creating the world’s largest photographic exhibition and creating Britain’s Biggest Smile.

PMAI have published a detailed 14-page report on the photography industry from a commercial point of view. Well worth reading despite being aimed at the photography manufacturers rather than the Joe Bloggs consumer.

“Although the growth of digital printing has been impressive, the volumes understate the potential of the photoservice market. In fact, the majority of pictures taken with digital cameras do not get printed. More specifically, the number of images kept in digital format in 2004 was 9.4 billion, representing share of 65 percent and is projected to grow to 12.3 billion in 2005. The share of digital images that are not printed is declining as the industry is doing a better job of establishing awareness for services and attracting consumers with custom gifts and other innovations. Note that the numbers below do not include images from cameraphones, PDA’s, or other camera-able devices. The number of images saved in digital format could indeed explode in the next few years, creating opportunities for more photo products and services.”

Website: Photo Industry 2005: Review and Forecast

Website: Reuters: Digital Camera Growth to Slow in 2005

Kodak UK Press Release

Kodak To Sponsor Young Photographer Category in 2005 Visions of Science Awards

HEMEL HEMPSTEAD, February 9th 2005 - Kodak has once again agreed to sponsor the Young Photographer Category in the 2005 Novartis and The Daily Telegraph Visions of Science Photographic Awards.

This category is aimed specifically at students in full time education and caters for age ranges 16 Years and Under and 17-18 Years. Submitted images can show any aspect of science or the natural world and can be taken by any standard or specialist photographic technique, scientific technique or can be computer generated. Kodak’s sponsorship includes a financial contribution towards promotion of the Visions of Science Photographic Awards across UK schools plus photographic equipment for the winners. Each will receive a KODAK EASYSHARE DX7590 Digital Camera and Printer Dock for themselves and their school.

Kodak UK Press Release

February 7th 2005 - Young people visiting the Tower of London during Local Schools Weeks 2005 will be given further opportunities to bring history to life thanks to a $50,000 donation to the Royal Armouries from Kodak’s Corporate Charitable Contributions Programme. Kodak’s support will finance the three annual Schools Weeks events held at the Tower’s award-winning Education Centre by way of teacher packs, pupil worksheets, information sheets, single-use cameras, film processing and Picture CD vouchers.

“Recording their experiences in pictures will not only help our young visitors to bring history to life - thus enhancing the value and quality of their studies - they’ll also be learning about photography at the same time,” said Head of Fundraising for the Royal Armouries, David Williams. “Donations from external sources are vital if we are to continue to fund the centre’s growing popularity.”

Media Magick UK Press Release

This is to respectfully introduce ourselves and for you to consider if our product may be of use to yourselves.  Our company, Media Magick UK, is promoting a new product on behalf of Photos Forever who have developed a new and revolutionary way to produce images that are extremely durable and fade resistant under any conditions, including outdoors.

This was developed by Mr. Charles Kelly B.S.C (hons) and is tested to the very highest level by the British Standards (Please see report attached).

This is a process whereby an image is put onto either aluminium, being the lighter, or steel.  Steel being the more solid looking but both are of equal quality and make little difference except for with regard to shipping costs.  A coating is then placed over the top and it is this coating that Mr. Kelly has developed.

Last week DPNow reported that you could download an accurate replica of a resolution target for free. This week they attempt to print the free version and see if it matches up to the professional version:

“I doubt that an optics expert would be totally satisfied with our testing methodology or the absolute quality of the results we obtained with our ‘version’ of the Westin target. But we’re not suggesting those that require high quality, professional level, test data replicate our method. If you want a professional result, the best advice is to buy a professionally produced target like the Edmunds Optics one.

However, we hope we have demonstrated how you can get close to professional results using an ordinary printer, that you get a feeling for the limitations of printed resolution and maybe have a bit of fun and learn a few things on the way.”

Website: DPNow - Project: make your own digital camera resolution test chart