Ritz Camera & Imaging have unveiled their Pro-Advantage programme at the 2013 Wedding & Portrait Photography Conference and Expo.The Pro-Advantage programme is a recognition programme designed around a photographer’s necessities. Members will be given special processing and printing benefits as well as back stage passes to many special events, experiences and opportunities. Additional benefits include exclusive discounts on hard goods, exclusive 50% off on any photo excursions, invitations to meet and greet professional photographers, camera and accessory rental packages and more. WPPI attendees have the opportunity to sign up for the Ritz Pro-Advantage programme and be entered into a raffle where they can win one of four different prizes including two airline tickets to any location in the US, an Olympus OM-D E-M5 and 12-50 lens, Pentax K-30 with 18-135 WR zoom, or a Mefoto trans-functional tripod.

A new exhibition ‘Studio Sittings’ at Holland Park’s Leighton House explores the nature of the artist’s studio and the artist’s relationship with their personal, creative space through a series of photographs of Royal Academicians past and present. The exhibition features a series of photographs of some of the most celebrated Royal Academicians in recent times taken by Anne Purkiss, who has been photographing Royal Academicians for over 25 years. The images have never been show together as a collection and they provide a telling insight into the working environment and creative spaces of today’s foremost artists, the organisers say. The exhibition runs at Leighton House Museum, 12 Holland Park Road, Kensington, W14 8LZ from 15 March – 12 May 2013.

Canon U.S.A. will showcase its breadth of input to output imaging devices at the 2013 Wedding & Portrait Photographer International (WPPI) Convention. On display at the Canon booth (#401) is a diverse selection of EOS camera models, including the EOS-1D X, 5D Mark III, 6D and 7D; a broad range of Canon EF lenses; some of the imagePROGRAF and Pixma Pro series of printers as well as the Canon DreamLabo 5000 production inkjet printer. For wedding and event videographers, the XF305 and the compact, highly portable XF105 professional camcorders are on display as well. Both deliver Full HD video utilising Canon-designed and developed native 1920 x 1080 CMOS image sensors, professional XLR microphone inputs, and Canon’s proprietary MPEG-2 4:2:2 50Mbps XF codec. The WPPI 2013 trade show is being held in the MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas.

X-Rite has announced its schedule of March 2013 webinars. The first online seminar, “Simply Amazing Colour: Take Control of your Monitor, Printer and Camera,” will take place from 12pm EDT on 18th March. This webinar will review the company’s ColorMunki solutions including software demonstrations and discussions of how each solution is used. The second webinar, “Professional Monitor Calibration for Still & Video,” will be held from 12pm EDT on 25th March, and will review how to access and utilise the video presets in i1Profiler software and briefly look at use of ColorCheckers in the video footage as a visual reference. Finally the third webinar, “Fine Art Travel Photography with Andy Katz” will take place from 11am and 1pm EDT on 27th March. Andy will talk about how he communicates with people, listens to their stories, and creates the relationships that allow him to capture beautiful and revealing portraits.

Tamron USA will host an in-the-field photographic workshop series at eight state parks in 2013. “Tamron USA is uniquely positioned to help novice and enthusiast photographers harness the beauty of these natural resources to improve their own landscape and nature photography skills,” says Stacie Errera, Tamron USA’s Chief Marketing Officer. “Plus, because the state parks on this tour, as well as the other parks in the system, are so accessible and conveniently located, workshop attendees have a great venue to go back to season after season to continue honing those skills.” Photographers participating in Tamron’s state park photography workshops will be able to borrow Tamron lenses to take out in the field. Workshop leaders will conduct an instructional seminar during the included lunch; optional sunset sessions may be available at some locations. Click through / read on for the detailed workshop schedule.

HP is holding an exclusive Ellie Goulding gig as part of its collaboration with Universal Music Group, and they have teamed up with Talenthouse to find the official gig photographer for the night. Interested photographers have until 7th March to submit an artistic and energetic shot taken at a festival, party or any environment where people and friends are connecting with music. The judging panel are looking for artistic and powerful shots that show them you have what it takes to capture the energy of the show. The winning photographer will be chosen by Ellie and HP and will also receive £1,000, an HP Envy notebook and promotion of their photography across Ellie’s and HP’s official online channels. For further details on how to enter, visit the website below.

To celebrate its 100th anniversary, Schneider Kreuznach is holding a photo art exhibition under the heading “Photo Art V – Andreas Gursky.” The exhibition is being held on the premises of Jos. Schneider Optische Werke, Ringstrasse 132, in Bad Kreuznach. “We have converted a historic building on our premises especially for this exhibition and are delighted to be able to present work by world-famous photo artist Andreas Gursky,” says Dr. Josef Staub, CEO of the Schneider Group. On show until 31st March, the exhibition is open from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Wednesdays and from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m on Saturdays and Sundays. Admission is free.

Wedding & Portrait Photographers International (WPPI) has announced its schedule of educational seminars to be held at its annual conference and expo. “During the week-long WPPI Conference and Expo, attendees will not only get to meet the world’s finest photographic instructors, they’ll learn superior technical skills and new shooting styles and discover competitive and affordable ways to grow their photography business,” said Jason Groupp, Director of WPPI. All WPPI 2013 classes, events and the expo will take place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, NV, from 7-14 March 2013.

From 2 March - 26 May 2013, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery will be hosting an exhibition of the works of Edith Tudor-Hart. As one of the most important female photographers to have ever worked in the UK, Edith Tudor-Hart lived through and documented some of the most significant political events of the 20th century,  covering inter-war Vienna, Britain during the Great Slump of the 1930s and post-WW2 child welfare in the UK. The exhibition, “In the Shadow of Tyranny,” contains more than 80 images, many of which have never been shown before, and includes film footage, Tudor-Hart’s scrapbook and a selection of her published stories in books and magazines. The Scottish National Portrait Gallery’s Robert Mapplethorpe Photography Gallery is located at 1 Queen Street, Edinburgh EH2 1JD.

Canon Europe is participating in a number of initiatives as part of its official sponsorship of London Fashion Week and London Fashion Weekend. Highlights of the Canon initiatives are captured in behind-the-scene insights revealed in a series of Canon video interviews by seasoned fashion blogger Andy Torres from StyleScrapbook.com. Leading professional photographer Clive Booth also explains what it means to be a fashion photographer and the creation story behind British designer Henry Holland’s look book. Canon will also provide a range of photography opportunities and experiences to student photographers and the 2012 winners of the Canon Professional Services’ ‘Best Shot’ competition. London Fashion Week (15-19 February) is the biggest event on the British fashion calendar, with over 5,000 visitors at this year’s event.  It is followed by London Fashion Weekend (21-24 February) London’s largest and most exclusive designer shopping event open to the public biannually.

The next Magnum Professional Practice seminar will be held from 13th – 14th April in Newport, Wales. In this two day event, hosted in partnership with the University of Wales, leading figures of the photographic industry will deliver presentations and advice on the best means in engaging with and the realities of working in their sectors. Confirmed speakers include Sophie Batterbury, Emily Graham, Harry Hardie, Joni Karanka, Peter Marlow, Stewart Mungeam, Fiona Rogers and Hannah Watson. The tuition fee is £150 (+VAT) including lunch and refreshments but excluding transport and accommodation. 10 bursary places are available for photographers aged 16-25 years for the subsided rate of £50 (+VAT).

From 5th March - 13th April, Margaret Street Gallery will be hosting a photographic exhibition by Jim Naughten, entitled “Costume and Conflict.” The exhibition features Jim Naughten’s extraordinary colour portraits of the Herero tribe in Namibia. Photographed in the blazing Namibian desert, the Herero tribe members are adorned in 19th century European dresses and paramilitary costumes that hark back to the region’s German colonisation. Naughten’s book of this work, Costume and Conflict: The Herero Tribe of Namibia,was published a week ago by Merrell Publishers. Margaret Street Gallery is located at 63 Margaret Street, London, W1W 8SW

The Societies have announced they will be holding their first-ever Jersey Photography Convention from 31 October-1 November 2013, in St Helier. The programme includes a range of seminars from lighting to photographic business techniques to give attendees a broad range of topics covered, and a trade show that will feature leading photographic companies where attendees can get information on the latest equipment and services. For more information, visit the website below.

Calumet has reserved space for two stands at the 2013 Focus on Imaging trade show, and has spent months planning for the four-day event. Dozens of trained staff will showcase latest imaging products on Stands N1 and M10 and for the first time ever the company is also running all day seminar programmes throughout the show. Sian Hamer, Calumet marketing executive said: “M10 will be our product stand packed with all the latest state-of-the-art merchandise and offers from leading brands like Nikon, Canon, Fujifilm and Lowepro. We will also have product experts from top brands like Sony, Drobo and Hahnel on hand too. N1 will be our stand for demonstrations from companies such as Certon, Datacolor, Cambo and Epson.”

Olympus have teamed up with multi-award-winning photographer Damian “Big Dog” McGillicuddy for a mix of photographic demonstrations and “Random Acts of Photography” around Focus on Imaging. Attendees will have the chance to see the results achieved and to shoot a model wearing a one-of-a-kind OM-D dress as well as the opportunity to win a limited edition McGillicuddy print every day. Focus on Imaging will be held at the Birmingham NEC from 3 - 6 March 2013.  10am - 6pm Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. 10am - 5pm Wednesday The Olympus events will be taking place at Stand F51.

At this year’s Focus on Imaging trade show, Panasonic will be joining CameraWorld to provide visitors with product demonstrations, exclusive show offers and access to Panasonic experts. Panasonic’s Retail Sales Support Team will attend for the duration of the show (3rd-6th March 2013), and will be on hand to answer any questions. A selection of Panasonic’s imaging products, including the Lumix G cameras with lenses and a choice of compact cameras will be available at Stand E1.

The Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM) has announced a powerful and thought-provoking exhibition of outstanding environmental, social and natural photographs by international photographers and filmmakers. Honouring amateurs and professionals of all ages, it provides an opportunity for photographers to share images of environmental and social issues with international audiences, and to enhance our understanding of the causes, consequences and solutions to climate change and social inequality. The exhibition will be on show at the Royal Geographical Society, 1 Kensington Gore, London SW7 2AR, from 10 April - 3 May 2013.

The Lomographic Society has announced its plans to participate in Analogue Month this year with a series of events and special offers. Analogue Month begins on 11th March and lasts until 12th April. Programmes include camera workshops in collaboration with the National Portrait Gallery, Q&A sessions with the LomoLab staff on Twitter/Facebook, live acoustic gigs in Lomography’s East Shop gallery, online competitions, and more. Click through / read on for the details.

The exhibition, “At War with the Obvious” at The Metropolitan Museum of Art presents the work of William Eggleston, a pioneer and master of modern colour photography. Celebrating the fall 2012 acquisition of 36 dye transfer prints by Eggleston, the exhibition features a number of the artist’s signature images, including Untitled [Greenwood, Mississippi] (1980), a study that takes full advantage of the chromatic intensity of the dye-transfer color process that, until Eggleston appropriated it in the 1960s, had been used primarily by commercial photographers for advertising product photography; and Untitled [Memphis] (1970), an iconic study of a child’s tricycle seen from below. At War with the Obvious: Photographs by William Eggleston opens on 26th February in the museum’s Howard Gilman Gallery

British photographer David Bailey will be returning to his birthplace to exhibit intimate photographs of the East End at Walthamstow’s William Morris Gallery (pictured). East End Faces will run from 23 February to 26 May 2013 and complements Bailey’s recent East End exhibition that ran as part of the Create Festival in August last year. East End Faces will include previously unseen pictures from the 1960s, featuring streetscapes, characters and scenes of east London life. Visitors can also listen to David Bailey in conversation with Sandy Nairne, Director of the National Portrait Gallery, on Wednesday 13 March at 7.30pm. Tickets cost £12, with booking essential as places are limited (entry to the exhibition itself is free). The recently refurbished William Morris Gallery is located in Forest Road, London, E17 4PP.