Thom Bleasdale has been selected by Centrespace Gallery to show his first ever exhibition. The work entitled ‘A Rare Photograph of the Soul Leaving the Body,’ shows 29 pieces from July 27 until 1 August. “The pieces are mainly about my view on life and my attempt to convince myself that death isn’t terrifying,” Thom said. “Some of the pieces exemplify living to its fullest extent and other pieces demonstrate aspects of life that are often unnoticed, but are much more significant than they first appear.” Centrespace Gallery is located at Leonard Lane, Bristol BS1 1EA.

Beyond Point-and-Shoot by Darrell Young is now available in the UK. Assuming little to no knowledge of photographic terms, techniques, or technology, this book is intended to help smooth the transition from photographic newbie to “real” photographer who is experienced, in-control, and passionate about their craft. Additionally, the author takes an in-depth look at camera types, lenses, aperture, shutter speed, sensitivity, metering and shooting controls, colour spaces, interpreting histograms and more. The 140-page volume is available for £19.50.

Arca Swiss has announced the RotaMount, a brand new rotating back designed for use with the Arca Swiss R-Series as well as with F and M Line view cameras. Allowing users to switch seamlessly from landscape to portrait format in just a couple of seconds, this safe and secure system guarantees total flexibility, the company says. The RotaMount is available for €390.

Single malt whisky brand The Macallan has announced a photography competition ‘The Last Word.’ Starting today, photography aficionados around the world will be able to upload a portrait they have taken with one word - ‘The Last Word’ - capturing the mood of their photograph. Each week one portrait will be chosen as ‘The Last Word of the week’ which will become Macallan’s Facebook profile picture for the following week.  Prizes will be awarded monthly leading up to a final selection of winners as chosen by esteemed judges from the Royal Photographic Society. To enter the competition, visit the website below.

Epson has announced the Epson Expression Home XP-400 “Small-in-One” multi-functional printer, scanner and copier. The sub-$100 wireless Small-in-One offers a 2.5” colour LCD with touch panel, built-in memory card slots for easy PC-free photo printing and instant-dry DURABrite Ultra ink. The Epson Expression Home XP-400 will be available in June through major computer, office and electronic superstores, a variety of retail stores across the USA, and Epson’s retail website.

Epson has announced its support for the “100 FACES OF LONDON” project with photographer Milan Svanderlik. Featuring portraits of one hundred Londoners, reflecting the huge diversity of people who make up this city, the exhibition will be shown in The Crypt Gallery throughout June and July. The images in the exhibition were printed by the photographer on an Epson Stylus Pro 3880.

Apple has unveiled an all new 15-inch MacBook Pro featuring a “Retina” display with a resolution of 220ppi. “[T]he Retina display’s pixel density is so high the human eye cannot distinguish individual pixels from a normal viewing distance,” the company says. OS X Lion, iPhoto, iMovie, iTunes and other Apple apps including Aperture and Final Cut Pro X have been updated to take full advantage of the new display. The updated Aperture 3.3 also includes new image adjustment features and now supports a unified photo library so photographers can move seamlessly between iPhoto and Aperture. Pricing for the new MacBook Pro starts at £1,799.

Apple has announced that OS X Mountain Lion will be available in July as a download from the Mac App Store. New system-wide Sharing allows you to share photos and videos quickly via a Share button, without having to switch to another app, and you just need to sign in once to use third-party services like Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and Vimeo. With built-in support for Facebook, you can post photos with locations right from your apps. Additionally, the new AirPlay Mirroring lets you wirelessly send an up-to-1080p secure stream of what’s on your Mac to an HDTV using Apple TV. OS X Mountain Lion will be available in July from the Mac App Store for $19.99

Apple has previewed iOS 6, and released a beta version to iOS Developer Program members.  New iOS 6 features include an all-new Maps app, Facebook integration for Contacts and Calendar, with the ability to post directly from Notification Center, Siri and Facebook-enabled apps like Photos, Safari and Maps; Shared Photo Streams via iCloud; and more. Shared Photo Streams in particular allow users to select the photos they want to share, pick which friends they want to receive the album, and the Shared Photo Stream album is instantly available on their iOS devices, iPhoto and Aperture on their Mac, via the web or even through Apple TV. iOS 6 will be available as a free software update for iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, the new iPad, iPad 2 and iPod touch (fourth generation) this fall.

Nintendo UK has announced Another Dimension, a series of special events and an interactive gallery exhibition, to celebrate the Europe-wide 3D photography competition that is currently underway. Taking place in June will be a series of intimate photography field trips hosted by a range of high profile names, including one of Britain’s best-loved nature enthusiasts, Bill Oddie, and members of The Saturdays. Work created during these unique trips will then be exhibited alongside the best 3D photography work from the competition, within a special pop-up installation created by acclaimed artist Graham Hudson. Click through / scroll down for more information including a list of confirmed trips and locations.

CT Distribution is set to launch a new flash head range to its Bowens Hallmark dealer network across the UK. The multi award-winning Gemini range now includes new 200Rx and 400Rx units, and provides built-in radio triggering for the first time in the company’s compact, lightweight models. “Until now the built-in radio triggering option has only been available in the Gemini Classic, Gemini R and Gemini Pro ranges, via an optional plug-in Pulsar radio receiver card,” says Robert Cook, Bowens’ marketing director. “Now we have introduced this option in our compact and lightweight 200Ws and 400Ws models - plus, we’ve gone one step better and integrated the Pulsar radio receiver right in to the circuitry to ensure the most reliable connection. The two units can be triggered via the ‘Gear of the Year’ award-winning Pulsar Tx Transmitter, mounted on the user’s camera.” The new Gemini Rx models are available as individual units or as a bundled lighting kit, which includes a Pulsar Tx radio transmitter, lighting stands, softboxes and a newly designed rolling kit case. Pricing for the kits starts from £799.

Billed as “the most advanced image sharpness calculating tool for photographers, cinematographers and videographers,” OptimumCS-Pro 2 is now available for iPhone and iPod Touch. This version introduces substantial usability enhancements including user-definable focal length presets, a more elegant settings screen, an expanded “links” screen, instructions on using OptimumCS-Pro 2 with tilt-shift lenses, and more. OptimumCS-Pro 2 is available now from the iTunes App Store for $6.99.

Evolve Images today announced that Lewis Blackwell has joined the company as Chief Creative Officer. Blackwell has held high-profile positions in the image licensing field, including being the worldwide creative head of Getty Images. For many years he was the Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of the magazine Creative Review. He has authored bestselling and critically acclaimed books - ranging from Photowisdom, which featured 50 of the world’s leading photographers, to the Life & Love of Trees, an international bestseller. “We are thrilled to have Lewis join Evolve,” says Mark Ippolito, CEO and co-Founder of Evolve Images. “Not only does Lewis bring a wealth of talent and expertise to our team, but his interest in joining Evolve is a huge endorsement of our business model.”

Canon today announced plans to launch digital camera production in Manaus, Brazil. Situated in the middle of the Amazon rainforest, Manaus is the capital and most populous city of the state of Amazonas. “Recently, the digital camera market has displayed steady growth, led by emerging countries,” Canon said in a statement. “Brazil, in particular, has a large market with demand expected to increase, which has created a pressing need for a strategic product supply.” The new company, called Canon Indústria de Manaus, will foreseeably commence operations in July 2013.

Designed specifically for Sony NEX and Samsung NX cameras, the Samyang 8mm f/2.8 ED AS IF UMC Fisheye is the latest addition to the Korean manufacturer’s range of manual-focus lenses. Comprising 10 elements arranged in 8 groups, including one aspherical and two extra-low-distpersion elements, the lens offers an angle-of-view of 180 degrees, with a minimum focusing distance of 0.3 metres. Slated for a July release, the Samyang 8mm f/2.8 ED AS IF UMC Fisheye will retail for €349.99/£279.99.

MacPhun has released an iPhone version of its Color Splash Studio software. Allowing users to create photos with selective colour, Color Splash Studio offerst the following features: special effects to make pictures more dramatic; blue tone, grayscale and sepia monochrome layers; hue, saturation, contrast, brightness adjustments; a customisable smart brush and integration with Instagram and FX Photo Studio. Color Splash Studio for iPhone is available on the App Store for $0.99.

The Canon EOS 650D / T4i is an 18-megapixel digital SLR camera offering simple touch-screen operation. In addition, the EOS 650D is the first-ever Canon EOS model to feature a dual AF system, which ensures sharp stills as well as continuous autofocus tracking when shooting movies - subject to use with Canon stepping motor (STM) lenses. Thanks to its Canon DIGIC 5 processor, it provides 14-bit image processing for subtle transitions between colour tones in stills. Featuring capacitive technology, the new 3” Vari-angle Clear View LCD II Touch screen supports a variety of multi-touch gestures, such as pinching and swiping. In Live View mode, you can even select AF points, track faces and objects, and fine-tune image settings via the camera’s Quick Control screen.

Canon has has announced two new lenses for its EOS system. The Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM ($549.99/£479.99/€569.99) is a compact, versatile zoom for digital SLR cameras with APS-C sized sensors. The lens features an intelligent optical Image Stabiliser which offers a claimed 4-stop advantage over non-IS models, and a new stepper motor (STM), enabling fast, continuous focus when recording moving subjects. When shooting movies, Dynamic IS automatically engages, countering any shake caused by the videographer’s movement to produce smooth, stable footage. The Canon EF 40mm f/2.8 STM ($199.99/£229.99/€279.99, pictured) is a full-frame pancake lens ideal for reportage, travel and street photography. In addition, it also features STM technology for fast auto focus during movie capture.

Panasonic is launching a new series of memory cards. The new P2 F Series cards are designed for broadcasting and professional video production use. These tough memory cards withstand impacts up to 1,500 G and vibrations up to 15 G, operate in temperatures from -20°C to 60°C, and can be stored in temperatures from -40°C to 80°C. All P2 cards contain a flash memory error correction system, which is equivalent to RAID system, to greatly strengthen the data retention reliability. Additionally, as the P2 card complies with the PC card standard (Card Bus Type-II), it can mount directly to the PC card slot of a laptop PC to read or write recording data.