Committed to improving the quality of photography, The Societies have announced that for the first time, they will be attending: the UK’s ultimate consumer electronics event: The Gadget Show Live. The Societies manage eight internationally recognised photographic organisations, including the Society of International Fashion and Glamour Photographers, the Society of International Nature and Wildlife Photographers, the Society of International Travel and Tourism Photographers, the Society of International Media and Press Photographers, the Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers, the Society of International Sport and Leisure Photographers, the Society of International Commercial and Industrial Photographers, and the Society of International School and Event Photographers. At The Gadget Show Live, the Societies will be providing speakers for the 200 seat Photographic Workshop Theatre. Visitors to the stand (J11) will also have the chance to enter The Societies free prize draw for a Fujifilm Finepix HS10 (pictured).

Nue York: Self-Portraits of a Bare Urban Citizen is an upcoming exhibition of photographs by New York and Paris-based commercial and fine art photographer, Erica Simone. From the streets to the subway, and from Bowery to the Bronx, Simone publicly bares all, raising the philosophy behind “just being”, as well as playing with the idea of “counter-fashion” — that without clothing, people could not possibly socially interpret each other. Opening on 14th April at the Dash Gallery, 172 Duane Street, New York City, the exhibition will run for two weeks.

SoFoBoMo.org has announced a group event called Solo Photo Book Month, encouraging photographers all around the world to make solo photo books in PDF form, in 31 days, start to finish. Conceived in January 2008 by Paul Butzi, the first Solo Photo Book Month was organised in spring 2008. This year, the challenge can be completed during any 31-day period between 1 July and 31 August 2011. The book must take the form of a PDF file, which can be uploaded to the SoFoBoMo website.

Travel Photographer of the Year (TPOTY) and the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) have announced the schedule of events that will accompany this year’s TPOTY exhibition. The exhibition itself will be held from 6th May to 10th June, and will be complemented by three days of informative and entertaining lectures and workshops, where travel and photography lovers can learn from renowned experts and immerse themselves in images, geography, history, and photographic technique. Priced at £55 per day, these include Exploring Photography and Travel (14th May), Wild Day (15th May) and People & Culture Day (5th June). A three-day ticket to cover all the events costs £140. Admission to the TPOTY exhibition itself is free. Click through / read on for more information.

World class Sports Illustrated photographer Peter Read Miller has announced he will conduct his annual Sports Photography Workshop in Denver, Colorado from 4-10 April 2011. In addition to receiving expert tutelage from Miller, attendees will also receive additional instruction from other industry notables including Steve Fine, Director of Photography at Sports Illustrated, Grant Leighton, advertising / portrait photographer and instructor at the University of Colorado, photographer / videographer Max Morse, and Shawn Cullen, lighting technician at Sports Illustrated. Tuition for the workshop is $1,495 and includes all instruction, one-on-one portfolio review with Peter Read Miller, and all model / location fees.

Photographer and accomplished author Andy Stansfield (pictured) has announced two innovative one-day workshops for aspiring freelance photographers and writers. ‘Photography Skills for Writers’  will help participants gain an increased understanding of editors’ image requirements for different purposes,  and how to shoot images which will complement their writing and appeal to editors; while ‘Writing Skills for Photographers’ will coach photographers in the skills necessary for writing captions, magazine features and even books to accompany their images. The maximum size of each workshop will be 10-12, depending on venue, and the cost will be £85 which includes tuition, light refreshments and lunch.

This year Panasonic returns to the Focus On Imaging show to showcase its Lumix and Lumix G series digital cameras, HD camcorders and 3D imaging products. All new products will be available to explore including the TZ20 Travel Compact (read review), the GF2 and GH2 compact system cameras and Micro Four Thirds lenses. There will also e an extensive collection of HD Camcorders to sample, including the HDC-TM900, HDC-HS900, HDC-SD900, HDC-SD800 and HDC-SD90 models.

On 22nd March Brian Griffin, one of the most influential UK photographers, will deliver a lecture on how to survive financially while pursuing creative photography. “In 2001 I decided that I would never take photographs again purely for money, and would find ways to survive purely on my creativity,” he says. Organised by London Independent Photography (LIP), the lecture “is a fantastic opportunity to hear first-hand how an internationally recognised photographer has managed to develop their creative vision - and pay the bills,” says LIP’s Chairman, Adrian Capps. The event will take place from 7pm on 22nd March at the following location: Rudolf Steiner House, 35 Park Road, London. Tickets are £8 in advance or £10 at the door.

Corel has announced its participation at the Focus On Imaging 2011 show. The Corel team will be hosting a range of photo and video editing demonstrations and workshops at regular intervals throughout each day and invites attendees to meet the team of experts at its interactive Digital Darkroom stand E9, 6-9 March at Birmingham’s NEC. The company is also going to offer a number of online deals during the show, including a 25% discount on Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3 and Corel Painter 11.

Wacom have confirmed their attendance at the Focus On Imaging 2011 show. ‘Where it comes to life’ is the guiding idea behind Wacom’s presence at the show, where the focus will be on the Intuos4 range of pen tablets, as well as the Cintiq 21UX and Cintiq 12WX interactive pen displays. Ian Sayers, Wacom evangelist, specialised in offering practical training solutions to the creative industry, will also be on the stand to provide expertise and knowledge to visitors on how to get the best out of leading digital imaging software packages using a Wacom tablet. Finally, the company will also offer special deals on certain Intuos4 models during the show.

special event at the UK’s National Media Museum will give visitors the chance to meet the leading Swedish photographers behind one of the Museum’s current exhibitions – From Back Home. “In Conversation with Anders Petersen and JH Engström” takes place in the Museum’s Cubby Broccoli Cinema between 1pm and 3pm on Tuesday 22 March. Tickets are available for £5. Tutors are eligible for a free ticket when accompanying a group of students.

On 8th March, Peachpit Photo Club will host a lecture by renowned wildlife photographer Moose Peterson. Taking the form of a free webcast, the lecture will air at 8pm EST (advance registration is required). During the one-hour lesson, Moose Peterson will share some of his wildlife photography secrets and tell the stories behind his iconic images.

Tickets are now on sale for the Chasing the Light road show, which will be hitting the stage on 28 June at the Exeter Phoenix theatre. The show takes guests on an inspirational ‘round the world’ trip using the latest full HD projection, satellite imaging, music and film sequences. It includes David Noton’s latest unpublished photographs, video clips from shoots around the world, the stories behind some of his most iconic images, delivered with David’s unique sense of humour. Tickets are priced at just £15 and can be booked through the website below.

Nikon UK will be unveiling a brand new exhibition stand at the annual Focus-on-Imaging photography show. The announcement comes hot on the heels of Canon’s decision to skip the show due to a “reassessment of its European marketing plans” for 2011. The new Nikon stand - D40, Halls 9 and 10 - has been especially designed to give visitors an opportunity to try out the entire Nikon range, including the Nikon D7000 digital SLR camera (pictured) and recently announced Coolpix line-up, as well as get advice from the company’s team of experts. Visitors to the Nikon stand will also have the chance to win a D7000 kit as well as other prizes by entering a prize draw, with all proceeds going to Nikon’s corporate charity, Born Too Soon.

The FEP 2nd European Congress of Professional Photographers was recently held in Lyon, France. Over five hundred delegates from France, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Portugal, the United Kingdom, as well as the USA and Canada took part in the event, which also provided an opportunity to highlight Europe’s skilled photographers and international award winners, and to publicise the results of the FEP’s contests. The FEP European Fine Art Photograph of the Year Award went to Portuguese fine art photographer Diamantino Jesus, while the new FEP European Photo Book of the Year Award was given to Austrian photographer Helge Kirchberger for his book, Fashion Food.

Raising over £325,000, last week’s Charity Auction for The Photographers’ Gallery was a great success, the Gallery said in a statement. Held on Thursday, 17 February 2011, at Christie’s South Kensington, the fundraising event consisted of a Live and Silent Auction comprising 70 lots in total, including works by Helmut Newton, Tracey Emin, Mario Testino and Sebastiao Salgado. All proceeds from the Auction go towards the Gallery’s ongoing capital campaign to build a new photography gallery at Ramillies Street, just off Oxford Street, in the heart of London’s West End.

Phase One has announced its first two Digital Artist Series workshops for 2011. These workshops feature high quality, low student-to-instructor ratios, all-inclusive accommodations, and the personal use of a 60.5 megapixel P65+ medium format digital camera, plus access to a range of lenses. The first Phase One Digital Artist Series workshop will be held April 3-8 in Death Valley. Instructors are Guy Mancuso, Tim Wolcott, and Jeff Schewe. Class is limited to 25 participants. Cost is $5,200.00.

The World Photography Festival 2011 runs from the 26th of April to the 1st of May at Somerset House, London. The Festival is set to be an exciting week of workshops, seminars, photo shoots and talks led by the international photography industry such as Bruce Davidson, Francis Hodgson, Tom Stoddart, Yasima Reggad, Foto 8, Panos Pictures, Blurb and iStock. Somerset House will be a hub of photographers sharing their work, learning from the experts and being critiqued. In addition the Sony World Photography Awards Gala Ceremony will take place at the Odeon cinema on Leicester Square in London on Wednesday 27th of April.

The World Photography Festival are offering Photography Blog readers a 10% discount on the price of the festival tickets. To benefit from the discount, please enter the following promotional code MAG10 in the box ‘Gift Voucher’ under the following link: http://bit.ly/h2gavQ

FORMAT 2011, the UK’s leading international festival of contemporary photography and related media, has announced its full programme for its 5th edition. Taking place at various venues in and around Derby, from 4th March until 3rd April, FORMAT 2011 is curated around the resurgence of street photography. The Festival is organised in two strands, FOCUS and EXPOSURE. FOCUS will show curated exhibitions and new commissions by leading international artists, whereas EXPOSURE will feature work by some 50 of the most exciting new photographers from around the world. You can read the programme announcement in its entirety below.

Online video creation service Animoto announced today the “Are you Animoto’s Next Top Photographer?” promotion. On Monday, February 21st – the first day of the Wedding & Portrait Photographers International (WPPI) 2011 trade show -, the first 100 WPPI attendees to visit the Animoto booth (#1504) and get behind the video camera to talk about what Animoto Pro has meant for their business and for their customers will get a free T-shirt, and one lucky winner will be featured in their own full-page Animoto ad in Rangefinder Magazine. Photographers need not attend WPPI 2011 in order to participate. The first 50 people to send a video discussing the success they’ve had with Animoto Pro will also be in the running for the magazine ad prize. Videos must be uploaded by February 28th to: [email protected].