‘A Single Drop of Water’ is a photo contest organised by Statement Arts, a non-profit organisation. Designed “to celebrate, and document the journey of water” and to raise awareness about the importance of this precious resource and its scarcity in many communities, the photography competition serves two main purposes: to gather images for the curriculum of an arts based environmental awareness and education programme, and to generate revenue from the entry fees in order to help offset the programming. There are six categories including A Single Drop of Water, Water in our Daily Lives, Water Scapes, Clean Water Initiative, Under 25, Peoples’ Choice. The winning entries will be exhibited in New York City, and the winners will receive a total of $3,500 in prize money and prizes donated by Calumet. The entry fee is $25 for most adults and $15 for those aged 25 or younger. Those entering their work before 7th November will benefit from a $10 discount off the entry fee. The final submission deadline is 15th December.

The 6Sight Future of Imaging Conference, the imaging technology conference for PMA – The Worldwide Community of Imaging Associations, is taking place from 15-17 November 2010 at The Sainte Claire hotel in San Jose, California. Topics include augmented reality, which merges image capture, display, computation, and connectivity to overlay information and graphics on top of our live view of the real world around us; computational photography and camera evolution; smarter camera phones, 3D cameras, printers and big-screen TVs; advances in output; digital video; photo printing, and more. For detailed information, visit the website below.

Manfrotto Distribution and Datacolor have announced a free webinar on new products from Datacolor’s Spyder line. Taking place on Tuesday, 2th November from 2pm to 3pm EDT, the webinar will focus on the new SpyderLensCal (pictured) and the SpyderCheckr. To register for the webinar, visit the website below.

Craig’s Actions today announced a number of new Photoshop action sets and presets, and introduced its “WalkAway WorkFlow”. The new products include the Beauty Bar, an action set consisting of “amazingly simple” skin softening and make-up actions; a new collection of Preset Fx for Lightroom and Photoshop comprising the Editorial Fx Presets, Craig’s Fx Essentials Presets and Craig’s Vintage Boudoir Fx Presets. Beauty Bar Actions are available at an introductory price of $97, whilst each of the three Fx Presets can be had for $79.

FotoWeek DC has announced a second FotoWeek location, called Satellite Central, which will feature FotoWeek programmes at 3333 M St. NW in Georgetown. FotoWeek is a week-long festival held in Washington, DC from 6-13 November 2010. Highlights of festivities taking place at Satellite Central include projection theatres presenting boundary-breaking photography shows, competition projections showing work from finalists of the 2010 International Awards Competition, and many more. To register for an event, visit the website below.

Corbis Images have launched the new Corbis Contributor Gateway, a website specifically created for Corbis contributors. Featuring automated upload tools for image submission and management, the new website also grants contributors access to the latest information and Creative Research from Corbis. Contributors that sign up for the new website will be asked to agree to the new Corbis Online Agreement, which includes enhancements like eliminating the “foreign office fee,” which currently takes a percentage of the royalties paid to contributors on sales made outside of their designated home country. Existing Corbis contributors will be invited to begin using the gateway in phases as their current contracts come up for renewal.

The Tokina AT-X 116 Pro 11-16mm lens is now available in Sony A-mount in the UK. The lens has a bright f2.8 maximum aperture across its entire zoom range, and features Tokina’s exclusive ‘One-touch Focus Clutch Mechanism’ that allows the photographer to switch between AF and MF simply by snapping the focus ring forward for AF and back toward the camera to focus manually. Constructed of thirteen elements in eleven groups, the Tokina AT-X 116 Pro has an angle-of-view range of 104°-82°. In the United Kingdom, the lens is distributed by Kenro, and is available at an RRP of £740.25.

InfoTrends has just released the results of its 2010 Social Networks and Photo Sharing Survey.. Over 60% of respondents that had heard of social networking sites identified themselves as regular users of at least one of those sites. According to the company, this is interesting news for the photo industry, as these sites are full of photo-active consumers.Interest in ordering printed photos as well as photo merchandise from photos on these sites were both up this year, although many users are still not aware of the problem that most social networks downsize photos during the uploading process. Alan Bullock, an Associate Director at InfoTrends, commented, “There seems to be a growing opportunity for social networks that can offer high-resolution photo storage or partner with other companies that do, and things will get even more interesting now that Facebook has announced that it will begin storing higher resolution photos.”

Eye-Fi today launched Eye-Fi View, giving people a new way to access their photos and videos from virtually any computer or mobile device.  By simply logging into their Eye-Fi account from any device, users can view photos or publish them on the web. Along with Eye-Fi View, Eye-Fi also introduced a new email-sharing feature, allowing direct, private sharing of full-resolution images without clogging inboxes or requiring viewers to login. “There are many sites on which pictures and videos can be shared. But even in this age of social media, email remains the most popular method of sharing among consumers,” added Holove. “With our unique approach to email sharing, Eye-Fi is extending its ease of use capabilities to customers who want to email their photos.”

Boinx Software has updated its FotoMagico slideshow generator for Macintosh. Version 3.6 includes iMediaBrowser 2 integration and updated Flickr A new “Linked to Slides” audio option provides users with the ability to link audio and soundtrack to specific slides, or allows it to move throughout the entire show. In addition, users can now purchase the FotoMagico Remote iPhone app for $4.99 (down from $19.99). FotoMagico 3.6 Pro is available today for $149. The update to FotoMagico 3.6 is free of charge for existing FotoMagico 3.x owners

From 28 October, Sony UK will offer customers ‘VAT Back’ across its product range including Cyber-shot compacts, Alpha DSLRs, NEX system cameras, as well as larger purchases ahead of the forthcoming UK VAT rise in January. The campaign will run until Christmas Eve and feature a wide range of high street retailers such as John Lewis, Tesco Extra, M&S Home, Jessops, PC World, Amazon, Comet, Currys and Argos, as well as independent outlets and Sony Centres. For consumers to benefit from the offer the full price of the item is payable in-store then shoppers have until 31 January 2011 to claim the VAT cash back from Sony on purchases made between 28 October and 24 December.

Cazenove+loyd has teamed up with Leica UK to launch a new Travel Photographer of the Year competition for 2011. Each month from January to December 2011, photographers will be asked to submit up to five photographs taken in one of cazenove+loyd’s three areas of expertise – Africa+Indian Ocean, South+South East Asia and Central+South America. The 12 winning entries, one from each month, will be shown at an exhibition in Central London in early 2012.  The cazenove+loyd Leica Travel Photographer of the Year will be announced at the opening of the exhibition and will win a Leica X1 digital camera and accessories, plus a Leica X1 Akademie Workshop at Leica’s facility in Mayfair. Entries for January 2011’s monthly prize can be uploaded now on cazenove+loyd’s re-designed website.

Website: cazenove+loyd

Lomography has introduced the Sprocket Rocket, billed as the very first camera dedicated to sprocket hole photography. By including the sprocket holes found along the edges of every 35mm film roll, the Sprocket Rocket camera takes pictures with a unique look. Additionally, the Lomography Sprocket Rocket features a reverse gear which allows the photographer to move back and forth between the frames with two convenient scrolling knobs to enable taking multiple exposures on the same frame. Outfitted with a 30mm lens that has a somewhat wider-than-expected angle of view thanks to the larger-than-standard (72x35mm) frames recorded (although it does vignette noticeably), the Lomography Sprocket Rocket has a recommended retail price (RRP) of £79.

The new Fantasea FL-22 is an underwater housing for the Nikon Coolpix L22 digital compact camera. Depth rated to 60 metres / 200 feet, the Fantasea FL-22 housing provides photographers with access to all camera controls and functions. The housing consists of double O-ring seals on all controls, anti-glare hood over LCD screen, removable flash diffuser and a 46mm threaded lens port, designed to be compatible with a wide range of lens accessories. The FL-22 underwater housing costs $240.95 and is also available in a bundle with the Nikon L22 camera for $325.95.

The Pro Line Apollo 300 and Apollo 180 Creative Kits, which were announced last month, are now available in the UK. The Pro Line Apollo 180 Kit is perfect for those who are new to photography, while the Apollo 300 kit is for those with a larger studio area, or who simply want more power. The Apollo 180 and 300 Creative Kits are available for £299.99 and SRP £499.99 respectively.

Redbot Software has today announced Time Lapse Photo Journal Express 1.0 for iPhone and iPod touch. Time Lapse Photo Journal Express allows users to create Photo Journals of their lives, and then play back the photos they take over the weeks, months or years, as Time Lapse video slideshows. The app is free and available through the App Store in the Photography category.

Website: Time Lapse Photo Journal

Western Digital has introduced a new Full HD media player called WD TV Live Hub. The device features a 1TB built-in network hard drive and two USB ports, and allows users to stream videos from home network drives with a DLNA/UPnP server such as the recently announced WD My Book Live. The new WD TV Live Hub media centre also offers unique Facebook integration, which lets users upload photos and videos, share their status, view their wall and get the latest newsfeed from their network of friends. MSRP for the WD TV Live Hub media center is $199.99

Ricoh has announced the imminent release of the second function-enhancing firmware update for the Ricoh GXR system. The update contains no less tha 11 function enhancements, including the addition of 3 handy magnification ratios for the focus check function, spot AF and macro AF area selection, EXIF 2.3 support, auto noise reduction, a focus limiter for the GR Lens A12 50mm f/2.5 MACRO module, and faster autofocus, among other improvements. The firmware update will be posted tomorrow.

Website: Ricoh GXR Firmware (available from 27 October 2010)

Adobe has just posted the new Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) 6.3 and Photoshop Lightroom 3.3 Release Candidates. Both release candidates contain various bug fixes, and add raw file support for 8 new cameras, plus lens profiles for 10 Canon and 22 Nikon lenses and Sigma’s large-sensor compacts. Note that the ACR 6.3 Release Candidate has been designed to work with Adobe Photoshop CS5 and is not available for any version of Photoshop Elements.

Website: Adobe Camera Raw 6.3 RC
Website: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3.3 RC