Current Yahoo! Photos customers will get six months free service when they move their photos to Phanfare, plus unlimited storage. Yahoo recently announced that they were ending their Yahoo! Photos service at the end of this summer. “The photo-printing sites that Yahoo! Photos has highlighted as alternatives to their service offer excellent printing services but they are not focused on the sharing needs of families.  For those customers whose primary goal is to share their treasured photos and videos in a secure and private environment with no ads or storage limits, a Phanfare online album is the better choice.” said Andrew Erlichson, Phanfare’s CEO.

Entries are now open for the 2007 international Travel Photographer of the Year (TPOTY) competition, with over £50,000 worth of prizes on offer. TPOTY 2007 will be judged by a panel comprising expert photographers, image buyers, magazine editors and imaging experts. Entries for the competition are now open and close on September 19th.

Phanfare, a video and photo sharing service, now allows customers to organize and edit photos and videos even when not connected to the internet. “Our customers can organize and manage their media from anywhere - from an airplane, a submarine or even a hot air balloon - and still enjoy sharing their media via the Web.” said CEO Andrew Erlichson. There’s also a new import wizard which automatically launches the Phanfare desktop application and uploads your videos and images to the Phanfare Web site.

Amazon has bought the digital photography reviews website DPReview for an undisclosed fee, which will continue to function as a stand-alone operation based in London, UK. “One of the difficulties of operating dpreview.com independently has been the balance between producing content and delivering new site features,” said Phil Askey, founder of dpreview.com. “Now, with the support of Amazon, I’ll be able to devote more of my time to expanding and improving our features – such as product reviews and discussion forums while still delivering the high-quality content that our readers have come to expect.”

The online archive and marketplace website PhotoShelter has announced that more than 8,000 photographers have now subscribed. “We are very proud to have reached this milestone in such a short time,” said Grover Sanschagrin, vice president, PhotoShelter. “As it exists today, PhotoShelter and its capabilities are not just the result of our own ideas, but those of the professional photography community as well.” PhotoShelter offers a free starter account and a PhotoShelter standard account is only $9.99 per month.

Digital Railroad have announced two partnerships with ADBASE Inc and HindSight Ltd, which will provide access to a wealth of creative buyers, and services that manage licensing fees, contacts, and invoicing, for their professional photography community. ADBASE is the leading mailing list service for creative professionals, and HindSight, Ltd. provides professional photographers with affordable image organization and management solutions. “We are constantly searching for services that will further empower our members and significantly contribute to their business.  These partnerships are equipping our community with tools that will significantly increase productivity, so they can spend less time minding the store and concentrate on making great images,” said Evan Nisselson, Digital Railroad CEO and Founder.“

Reuters are reporting that Yahoo is shutting down Yahoo Photos and directing customers to Flickr, which Yahoo bought in 2005. Yahoo Photos only has around 5.8% of the US market, which is let by PhotoBucket with around 40%. Yahoo Photos has around 30 million users, who had uploaded 2 billion photos as of June 2006. “We are making great strides in our ongoing efforts to align Yahoo!‘s resources and focus on core strategic priorities. Part of this progress is today’s decision to close Yahoo! Photos to better serve our valued customers through Flickr.” commented Jeff Weiner, executive vice president of Yahoo’s Network Division.

Website: Reuters

Self-titled the European ‘Oscar’ of the Photo and Imaging Industry, TIPA (Technical Image Press Association) has announced 36 new product awards for 2007. Notable winners include the Pentax K10D for Best Expert DSLR, Nikon Coolpix P5000 for Best Compact Digital Camera, Kodak PORTRA Colour for Best Film and Ricoh Caplio GX100 for Best Prestige Camera (although this model hasn’t actually been released yet).

Website: TIPA Awards 2007

Crestock are offering you the chance to win a Canon 1Ds Mark II camera in their 2007 photo contest. With a total length of nine weeks, the contest is split into three rounds, with prizes for each one. Entry is free - you just have to register on the Crestock site.

A share of £1,500 worth of Canon photography kit is on offer to the winners of the Computeractive Photographer of the Year 2007 competition. Top prize is the latest Canon EOS 400D digital camera kit. The deadline for entries is 5.00 pm on Friday 11 May, and the contest is open to UK residents.

The Kodak Picture Protection Plan, available exclusively to Kodak Gallery Premier members, provides an archive CD of all pictures in the event of a hard drive crash. In addition members will receive a credit of up to $500 if photo gift items are destroyed. “Helping people preserve and protect their pictures is as important to us as helping them to creatively tell and then share their stories with others,” said Mark Cook, Worldwide Marketing Director for Kodak Gallery. Kodak Gallery Premier costs an annual $24.99 subscription fee.

This is an offer not to be missed. For 48 hours only PhotoBox will be slashing their prices on all standard prints to just 1p per print! That’s £7.00 worth of prints for just 70p! This special offer will be running from noon on Monday 16th to noon on Wednesday 18th April. You just need to enter the code 1PSUPERSALE at the checkout when placing your order, with a maximum of 70 6”x4”or 6”x4.5” size gloss prints prints per customer. This special PhotoBox offer is open to both existing and new customers.

Direct2Dealer is a new direct ordering service through which photographers and retailers can order Harman professional inkjet papers directly from the factory. The service is expected to be very popular amongst colleges, universities and camera clubs, with free postage on orders over £45. Steven Brierley, sales director at HARMAN technology commented: “The Direct2Dealer service is something we have established with other products manufactured at HARMAN technology, and with the launch of HARMAN PHOTO inkjet products, we expect demand to be equally high.”

Digital Railroad has launched a public beta version of its online Marketplace, allowing editors and buyers to search members images in real-time. “The launch of Marketplace marks an important milestone in the evolution of the professional photography industry, delivering buyers unprecedented access to great photographer and agency images previously unavailable in one online destination.  The combination of the Marketplace as an extension to individual archives gives photographers and agencies a seamless marketing opportunity on one online platform,” said Evan Nisselson, Digital Railroad founder and CEO. There are more than a million images available in Marketplace.

Kingston Technology has added several new interactive features to its Icons of Photography microsite, including the opportunity to be critiqued by members of the ‘Icons’ program. 20 Questions is a personal interview conducted with each photographer, Ask the Icon allows you to submit questions directly to an Icon, and Critique My Image does the same with your images. Current Kingston icons include Sports Illustrated photographer Peter Read Miller, National Geographic photographer Gerd Ludwig, world-renowned photojournalist Harry Benson.

Shozam! is a new gallery service aimed at professional photographers. “Shozam is the best product for professional photographers to quickly and easily promote, protect and sell images online,” said Brooks Clayton, President of Mid South Color, Jackson, TN. “I’ve created Shozam galleries with hundreds of images in under 10 minutes, start to finish. And the results are top notch. We recommend Shozam to our customers, and include it as part of our complete photographic and digital service offering.” The Shozam Business Edition is estimated to retail at a regular price of $299.95 and will be available in April 2007. The Beta version is free until the official launch of the product.

HP have launched a new website dedicated to street photography at http://www.hypegallery.com/streetphotography, where photographers can upload and display their street photos for free. In addition, HP are also announcing a competition in which the best 30 photos, as judged by Magnum president Stuart Franklin, will be displayed at the prestigious Recontres D’Arles photo festival in early July. “Street Photography is a hugely significant part of documentary photography,” said Franklin. “I am delighted that HP is supporting this endeavour through the Street Photography gallery and competition.” The competition closes on June 10th.

A new version of CANON iMAGE GATEWAY offers a range of new features and personalised content for Canon owners who want to to store, share and print photos online. Members can now upload up to 100MB worth of photos and movies, and you can buy prints and photo gifts via third-party Print Centres. “With plenty of personal storage space and great new features to discover, there has never been a better time to become a member.” said Mogens Jensen, Head of Canon Consumer Imaging Europe.

Visitors to the 2007 Wedding & Portrait Photographers International (WPPI) convention and trade show can signup for a three-month PhotoShelter Standard (35GB) account for only $9.99, a saving of $80. PhotoShelter is a leading online archive and marketplace for professional photographers. The exclusive WPPI offer will be available from March 24-29th and can be purchased via Samy’s Camera at booth 1216.

Our friends at DPNow are offering 20 UK readers an exclusive free training day at Adobe’s UK training centre in west London. Lunch will be provided, followed by an introduction to the new Creative Suite 3, then an intensive session on Photoshop CS3 and, finally a session on Lightroom. You’ll have to be quick as places are limited!

Website: Free Adobe Training Day with DPNow