The Vosonic X’S Drive Pro VP3310 is both a portable storage device and MP3 music player, featuring a 2.5-inch 20Gb Toshiba laptop hard disk drive and several memory card slots which support 8 different types of memory cards. The X’S Drive Pro VP3310 has a blue backlit monochrome LCD display that enables you to see a list of the files that are stored on it - there is no actual viewing of the images themselves, which helps to keep the price below £200. Should the X’S Drive Pro VP3310 be on your shopping list? Read my review to find out.

Website: Vosonic X’S Drive Pro VP3310 Review

I’m excited (and a little nervous) to announce that PhotographyBLOG will be featured on Photo Talk Radio this coming Saturday, 15th January, at 8-9am Pacific Time in the US (5-6pm CET).

LIVE show listeners can call-in worldwide at 001 858 268 3068, or Toll-Free from the US and Canada at 888-514-2100. There will also be a link to the archived broadcast after the show, so you can all hear me witter on endlessly and incoherently!

UPDATE 17/01/05: You can now listen to the interview (available in 2 parts) by visiting this link: http://www.worldtalkradio.com/archive.asp?aid=3145

PhotographyBLOG is 2 years old on January 16th 2005. To help celebrate, we are giving away 7 prizes worth over $300!

On Monday 31st January 2005 at 12 midday CET (Central European Time), 7 names will be randomly selected from the list of PhotographyBLOG Newsletter subscribers.

- One person will win a Kiesel TZ600 camera bag from Kiesel Bags  (worth $119.99).
- One person will win a Kiesel MX500 camera bag (pictured) from Kiesel Bags (worth $109.99).
- Four people will each win a book of their choice from the current ILEX list.
- One person will win a copy of Digital Photography & Adobe Photoshop Elements 3 from Total Training (worth $49.99).

All you have to do to enter is subscribe to the free PhotographyBLOG Newsletter.
If you are already a subscriber, you do not have to do anything to enter this competition. Your name will automatically be entered in the prize draw.

The Vosonic IC Drive IP3610 is both a portable storage device and MP3 music player, featuring an integrated 1.8-inch 20Gb Toshiba laptop hard disk drive and several memory card slots which support 8 different types of memory cards. Although memory card prices are falling quickly, a device like the IC Drive still offers a cheap and convenient way to store 1,000s of photos. 18 months ago I reviewed the original Vosonic X’S-Drive, which I still use today. So does the IC Drive offer anything extra to tempt me to upgrade, and you to buy it?

Website: Vosonic IC Drive VP3610 Review

So you’ve got the latest digital camera, the biggest monitor and the most cutting-edge printer, but your prints still have an awful green cast that makes the people in them look seasick? Then you need to read “Color Confidence” by Tim Grey (published by Sybex), a book that aims to demystify the often misunderstood topic of colour management and make your prints look life-like. The book is aimed at any photographer who is fed-up of wasting valuable time and money on inaccurate prints and who would rather be out shooting pictures instead. So is Color Confidence the answer to all your colour nightmares - can it really make that green print match reality? Read my short review to find out.

Website: Color Confidence Review

The winners of the December 2004 PhotographyBLOG Competition have now been decided. The theme for December was “Peace” - you can view all of the entries in this gallery. Here are the 3 winners:

1st Place
“Peaceful Slumber” by skmdc
View this entry

Prize: 1 copy of Powerretouche Full Pro Pack
Kindly donated by Powerretouche.
http://powerretouche.com

2nd Place
“On Golden Pond” by cdm36
View this entry

Prize: 1 copy of Digital Photography Hacks by Derrick Story.
Kindly donated by O’Reilly.
http://www.oreilly.com

3rd Place
“Remembering the Cost of ... Peace” by kevlar
View this entry

Prize: Photobird.com one-year subscription with 100 megabytes of storage space
Kindly donated by Photobird.com.
http://www.photobird.com

Congratulations to the 3 winners and thanks to everyone who took part!

The January 2005 Competition is now open for entries. This is a monthly photography competition with a specific theme and prizes for the top 3 photos. The winning entries will be decided by a panel of judges. You just have to submit one photograph to the Competition Gallery that best interprets January’s theme, which is simply “Red”.

The holiday season is almost upon us, so I’m going to take a few well-earned days off, returning early next week to catch up on everything that has happened over the Christmas period (I can almost guarantee that somebody will issue a press release on December 25th…). So I’d just like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas (in moderation of course!) - make sure that you get out and about with your camera and avoid the film that is always on the TV at this time of year…

The winners of the November 2004 PhotographyBLOG Competition have now been decided. The theme for November was “Symmetry” - you can view all of the entries in this gallery. Here are the 3 winners:

1st Place
“Grasmere Reflections” by ribbit
View this entry

Prize: Photobird.com one-year subscription with 100 megabytes of storage space
Kindly donated by Photobird.com.
http://www.photobird.com

2nd Place
“Between The Petals ” by cdm36
View this entry

Prize: 1 copy of Powerretouche Full Pro Pack
Kindly donated by Powerretouche.
http://powerretouche.com

3rd Place
“Synchrony ” by jotasz
View this entry

Prize: 1 copy of Digital Photography Hacks by Derrick Story.
Kindly donated by O’Reilly.
http://www.oreilly.com

Congratulations to the 3 winners and thanks to everyone who took part!

The December 2004 Competition is now open for entries. This is a monthly photography competition with a specific theme and prizes for the top 3 photos. The winning entries will be decided by a panel of judges. You just have to submit one photograph to the Competition Gallery that best interprets December’s theme, which is simply “Peace”.

The Content Management System that PhotographyBLOG uses has just been upgraded to a more advanced version.

What does this mean for you?
Well, you should definitely notice a significant increase in the loading speed of the site.
Most of the other changes are internal, but there are some new features like Smilies and a more secure commenting system.
We have also removed some of the less used features (the Blabber Board, Calendar). The redesign isn’t quite finished, so expect a few more cosmetic changes in the next week or so.

RSS Feeds
The PhotographyBLOG RSS feeds have also changed. Please update your feed to one of the following URLs:

RSS 1:
http://www.photographyblog.com/index.php/weblog/rss_1.0/

RSS 2
http://www.photographyblog.com/index.php/weblog/rss_2.0/

Atom:
http://www.photographyblog.com/index.php/weblog/rss_atom/

Give Us Your Feedback!
As with all website redesigns, there are guaranteed to be a few things that don’t quite work as intended. Please email any feedback, good or bad, to [email protected], or leave a comment below (and help test the site!).

The 53rd Photo of the Week contest is now closed.

I have choosen what I think are the best photographs in my opinion. Now it’s your turn to vote for the overall winner of the contest. A Public Poll has been setup on the PhotographyBLOG Forums and you have 7 days during which you can vote for your favourite photo from the ones that I have chosen. Voting will end on Monday 13th December. The Poll will then be closed and the overall winner announced.

Vote now for your favourite image from the Photo Of The Week 29th November - 5th December 2004 contest

The 43rd PhotographyBLOG Portfolio has been submitted by Mark Kerrison.

“I have been producing high quality photographic images for over 15 years and specialise in seascape photography. I usually work in black and white, but occasionally with the inclusion of limited colour. My intentions are to produce both dramatic and peaceful images, documenting the ever changing mood of the sea.

More images are available at http://www.shutterpriority.co.uk”

Website: Portfolios: Mark Kerrison

The voting for the 52nd Photo of the Week contest has now finished.

The winner this week is “A Country Mile” by skmdc.

Congratulations to the winner!

You can view all of the entries that were submitted in this gallery.

The 54th Photo of the Week contest is now open. This is a weekly photography contest with no set theme and you can enter any photograph that you like.

Click here to read the Photo of the Week rules.

HP’s new range of digital cameras was announced at the end of August 2004. Whilst the more sophisticated and expensive R-series models (R707, 607 and 507) have generated quite a lot of media interest, the cheaper M-series cameras seem to have been largely ignored, at least online anyway, as this is one of the first reviews of the M407 published on the Internet. The M407 is a 4 megapixel camera with a 3x optical zoom, 1.8 inch LCD screen and the usual HP emphasis on ease-of-use. With a street price of around ?140/$180, does the M407 have what it takes to survive in the cut-throat world of the entry-level digicam? Read my exclusive review to find out.

Website: HP Photosmart M407 Review

Check the Latest Prices for the HP Photosmart M407

I couldn’t resist blogging about this, ermm, article about blogs, even though it has nothing to do with photography. Apparently “blog” was the most looked-up term on the Merriam-Webster website during 2004.

“Merriam-Webster said “blog” was the word that people have asked to be defined or explained most often over the last 12 months.

The word will now appear in the 2005 version of Merriam-Webster’s printed dictionary.”

Website: BBC News - ‘Blog’ picked as word of the year

Today at 12 midday CET, 6 names were randomly selected from the list of PhotographyBLOG Newsletter subscribers. If you are one of the winners, you will already have received an email from me ([email protected]). In order to protect the winners’ email addresses, I’m not going to publish them here.

One person has won a copy of Digital Photography & Adobe Photoshop - A Total Training Workflow Guide.
Kindly donated by Total Training.
http://www.totaltraining.com

Three people have each won a book of their choice from the current ILEX list.
Kindly donated by Ilex.
http://www.ilex-press.com

Two people have each won a copy of Ulead Photo Impact XL.
Kindly donated by Ulead Systems.
http://www.ulead.co.uk

If you haven’t won anything, then don’t worry, as a brand new contest will be starting soon!

To have any chance of winning, you must subscribe to the PhotographyBLOG Newsletter.

Every Saturday of each week you will receive a Newsletter containing the lastest digital and film photography stories from the United Kingdom and around the world. It also contains the latest news from the PhotographyBLOG website. You can choose to have the Newsletter delivered to you as either a HTML or text version.

If you are already a subscriber, you do not have to do anything to enter this competition. Your name will automatically be entered in the prize draw.

If you are not currently a subscriber, then what are you waiting for?!! Enter your email address to subscribe now.

The December 2004 Competition is now open for entries. This is a monthly photography competition with a specific theme and prizes for the top 3 photos. The winning entries will be decided by a panel of judges. You just have to submit one photograph to the Competition Gallery that best interprets December’s theme, which is “Peace”.

Please make sure that you read the Monthly Competition Rules before submitting your entry. Note that you are only allowed to enter 1 photograph. The competition is worldwide and open to everyone.

You can now start submitting entries to the December Competition here:
December 2004 Competition

The November 2004 PhotographyBLOG Competition has now closed. The theme for November was “Symmetry” - you can view all of the entries in this gallery.

The 1st / 2nd / 3rd place winners will be announced on Wednesday 10th November, and the prizes will be sent out shortly after :-)

The PhotographyBLOG Newsletter Giveaway is back - this month there are £200 worth of prizes on offer!

On Wednesday 1st December 2004 at 12 midday CET (Central European Time), 6 names will be randomly selected from the list of PhotographyBLOG Newsletter subscribers.

Three                   people will each win a book of your choice from the current ILEX list.

Kindly donated by Ilex.
                  http://www.ilex-press.com

"ILEX books address a host of technical and creative issues, and offer easy-to-follow, jargon busting texts by renowned experts in every field. With stunning graphics and beautiful photography, ILEX books guarantee to smooth the way for digital creatives."

Two                   people will each win a copy of Ulead Photo Impact XL.

Kindly donated by Ulead Systems.
                  http://www.ulead.co.uk

"Total Image Editing for the PC
                  Ulead® PhotoImpact® XL takes the guesswork out                   of digital photography with new tools like the intelligent                   ExpressFix™ Wizard. At the same time PhotoImpact                   XL provides a complete set of tools for Web and graphics                   artists who want inspiring results without the steep                   learning curve. It’s everything you need to produce                   professional results fast."

It’s as simple as that.

To have any chance of winning, you must subscribe to the PhotographyBLOG Newsletter. If you are already a subscriber, you do not have to do anything to enter this competition. Your name will automatically be entered in the prize draw. If you are not currently a subscriber, then what are you waiting for?!! Enter your email address to subscribe now.

The 52nd Photo of the Week contest is now closed.

I have choosen what I think are the best photographs in my opinion. Now it’s your turn to vote for the overall winner of the contest. A Public Poll has been setup on the PhotographyBLOG Forums and you have 7 days during which you can vote for your favourite photo from the ones that I have chosen. Voting will end on Monday 6th December. The Poll will then be closed and the overall winner announced.

Vote now for your favourite image from the Photo Of The Week 22nd-28th November 2004 contest