The 12th issue of the online Landscape Photography Magazine is out now. This edition offers inspirational articles by Jack Graham, Mike Bell, Simon Watkinson, Jan Herremans, John Clark, Dimitri Vasiliou and David Hay. The magazine also features an interview with John Chapple and some exceptional landscape photography sent in by the readers. Note that the full contents of Landscape Photography Magazine are available to subscribers only. The annual subscription is £6.00/$9.50.

Hole Park Gardens in Rolvenden, Kent, are among the best places to photograph bluebells in England. The Gardens now have a new section on their website that informs visitors about which flowers are currently in bloom, including a special bluebell watch feature. In spring, the gardens will be open daily between 8 April and 31 May 2012 from 11am to 6pm followed by Wednesday and Thursday opening from June to the end of October with additional openings on Sundays in October. Admission is £6 for adults and £1 for children. For more information, visit the website below.

Sigma has announced the passing of Sigma Corporation’s founder and CEO Michihiro Yamaki. He died of liver cancer on 18th January at the age of 78. In 1961, Yamaki developed the first-ever rear attached lens converter and founded Sigma to commercialise the product. At that time, most photo enthusiasts believed that a lens converter could only be attached to the front of a camera lens and the 27-year-old optical engineer turned conventional optical theory on its head. In the next five decades, Yamaki grew the family-owned organisation into a leading researcher, developer, manufacturer and service provider of lenses, cameras and flashes. The company is now known as the largest, independent SLR lens manufacturer in the world, producing more than 50 current lens models. Sigma Corporation celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2011 with Yamaki still at the company’s helm.

In a statement released today, Olympus has reaffirmed its commitment to developing new products for both Four Thirds and Micro Four Thirds (MFT). Welcoming the newly announced support of the latter by three new companies, including Astrodesign, Kenko Tokina and Tamron, Olympus declared that “[a]s the originator of the Four Thirds System and Micro Four Thirds System standards, Olympus Imaging Corp. will continue to develop and enhance the product lineup for both standards” to meet the “diverse needs” of their customers. N.B.: while Olympus has been busy expanding its range of MFT product offerings throughout the last couple of years, the last major addition to the “regular” Four Thirds system was the launch of the Olympus E-5 digital SLR camera (read review) back in 2010.

The 11th edition of the online Landscape Photography Magazine is out now. This issue offers inspirational articles by Slawek Stazczuk, Andy Hemingway, Tom Grubbe, Dan Andre Knutsen-Oey, Dimitri Vasiliou, David Hay, Mike Bell and others. The magazine also features an interview with Lee Pengelly and some stunning images of Saddleworth moor in England. Note that the full contents of Landscape Photography Magazine are available to subscribers only. The annual subscription is £6.00/$9.50.

Ilex has released the first issue of Photographer’s i Magazine for the Apple iPad.  Editor Marti Saltzman said “Photographer’s i is not like any other photography magazine because it starts from a different premise; our concern is with the art of image making.” Articles come to life with videos, audio recordings, and interactive tutorials. The free taster issue, available now on iTunes, includes richly illustrated thoughtful, practical advice from the likes of Magnum’s Abbas, Steve Simon, and other professional photographers.

The tenth edition of the online Landscape Photography Magazine is now available. This issue includes thought-provoking articles by Miles Morgan, Dimitri Vasiliou, David Hay, Mike Bell and more. The magazine also showcases stunning images of Corfe castle in England and superb black-and-white photographs by Martin Henson. Note that the full contents of Landscape Photography Magazine are available to subscribers only. The annual subscription is £6.00/$9.50.

Website: Landscape Photography Magazine

The fifth issue of Adore Noir Magazine is now out. Adore Noir is a fine art photography magazine available exclusively in digital format. Featuring artistic portraits by William Ropp, a selection of pictures from the series “An Enduring Grace” by Michael Kirchoff, fascinating wildlife and people photos by Christopher Rimmer, landscapes by Giedrius Varnas, an essay by Kathleen Hay, and more, this issue reinforces the magazine’s commitment to high-quality black-and-white imagery.Adore Noir magazine is available for $2.95 from the website below.

Website: Adore Noir

The 46th issue of the free PhotographyBB Online Magazine is now available for download. This edition explores some of the new ways in which photographers are thinking about composition. It also includes an illustrated article on underwater photography and a number of important safety tips and techniques for shooting during the cold winter months. Additionally, PhotographyBB is offering a free e-book entitled “11 Ways You Can Improve Your Photography”, published by Craft and Vision. You can download the e-book and magazine (free registration required) from the websites below.

Jessops has joined the Tesco Clubcard reward scheme. This gives Tesco customers the opportunity to convert every £5 in Clubcard vouchers into £10 worth of Jessops reward tokens. Sean Emmett, Marketing Director, Jessops said “We’re delighted to be working with Tesco Clubcard. It is an excellent reward scheme and it is a great way of making sure our customers are saving even more by shopping at Jessops.”

Selling Stock Photography is a new, free guide released by PhotoShelter in electronic format. The guide delivers 13 first-hand interviews from seasoned photographers, photo buyers, and small agencies who offer strategies on how to licence stock photography and get noticed by buyers. The 48-page PDF is intended for stock photography beginners as well as seasoned photo professionals seeking to start licencing work from their archives. You can download the guide, as well as other free reports by PhotoShelter, from the website below.

Website: Free Photography Guides on PhotoShelter

Drobo and Pogoplug have announced a partnership to deliver a comprehensive personal cloud solution for anytime-anywhere access to your files. According to the agreement, Drobo customers will have access to free cloud storage, remote file access and digital media streaming using Pogoplug Cloud. “Together Drobo and Pogoplug Cloud offer customers with large personal media files remote access to these files under the security of linking a Drobo appliance to a personal cloud,” the companies said in a joint statement. More information on the partnership can be found at the website below.

Brilliant Prints have announced a 40% Christmas discount for all new UK customers plus the chance to win a £300 voucher. Simply register online before the 15th December at the website below to go into the draw. Established in Australia in 2004 producing just canvas prints, Brilliant Prints has since expanded its operations to include a range of acrylics and fine art papers. Their Singapore office opened in 2007, while the UK branch was set up earlier this year.

Jessops has opened its fourth Centre of Excellence store in the heart of London. Located at 129-131 Oxford Street, the showcases a customer friendly layout enabling customers to test and trial an extensive range of cameras, camcorders, accessories and Jessops photo products. Additionally, the store’s shop-in-shop design allows the customer to browse by brand, including Canon, Nikon, Sony, Samsung, Panasonic, Pentax and Tamron. The in-store large format printer is able to produce posters and canvases up to 44” wide, and you can also create onsite photobooks all within one hour. The store is open from 9am till 9pm Monday through Saturday, and from 11am till 5pm on Sunday.

Today is the 224th birthday of Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre, inventor and namesake of the first commercially viable photographic process, the daguerrotype. While the world’s first known photograph was taken by another Frenchman called Nicéphore Niépce - who later joined forces with Daguerre - it was Daguerre who perfected the process; which involved the creation of a direct positive image on a silvered copper plate through exposure, development and fixation. The French government subsequently acquired the rights from Daguerre in exchange for a lifetime pension, and went on to present the process as a gift to mankind on 19 August 1839. Today, Google is celebrating Daguerre’s birthday with a doodle featuring a stylised black-and-white family portrait.

Tamron USA’s Mom-to-Mom Project is a series of photo exhibitions that feature technical tips and artistic inspiration from image-making moms. The exhibits, which focus on a new theme each month, are designed to encourage other moms to experiment with their cameras, lenses, and accessories to hone their own photographic skills. Visitors are encouraged to contribute their own photography comments and concepts. “We designed the Mom-to-Mom exhibits to serve as a fun, interactive venue where moms brainstorm with and glean ideas from other mom photographers to boost their confidence when creating their own family memories,” says Tamron Chief Marketing Officer Stacie Errera. The inaugural exhibition for November 2011 features the photographers’ favorite way to get their kids to smile. Upcoming themes scheduled through the end of 2012 include holiday card photos, youth sports, multigenerational portraits, and special event photography such as birthdays and back-to-school imagery.

FLIR Systems have introduced two PS-series handheld thermal imaging cameras to their Scout range. “Unrivalled in its marketplace, the device sees clearly in total darkness,” the manufacturer says. “It makes images from heat, not light, a feat impossible for the human eye or even image-intensified night vision devices.” In the UK, the FLIR Scout PS-series is exclusively available from J J Vickers & Sons Ltd, the official FLIR distributor for the UK and Ireland.

The eighth edition of the bilingual (Italian/English) online photography magazine POSI+TIVE is now out. This issue features an interviews with South American photographer Diego Levy, reportage by Tommaso Protti and Jordi Ruiz, travel photography by Michele Pieropan, fashion photos by Cristina Capucci, and much more. You can find this edition and past issues at the website below. (Be warned that you might find some of the photographs in the magazine shocking and/or disturbing.)

Website: POSI+TIVE Magazine

The ninth edition of the online Landscape Photography Magazine is now available. This issue includes an interview with US landscape photographer Guy Tal, an article about the importance of practice and persistence in landscape photography, a tutorial on evaluating histograms, an in-depth look at autumn landscape photography, and several articles that introduce great locations such as Holwell Tor in England, the beaches of North Michigan and Loch Droma in Scotland. The magazine also features the portfolios of three photographers, Larry Keller, Leslie Ashe and Nuno Luis.

Mambo, a Barcelona-based magazine focused on artistic photography will be launching its first hard copy edition in January 2012. The bilingual, English/Spanish magazine will focus on photography as a form of art, and offer “the same quality and attention to detail as the on-line editions”. The digital version of Mambo can be accessed for free on the magazine website, where you can also order the first issue of the print version or purchase an annual subscription.