The Fuji FinePix A205S Zoom (also known as the A205 Zoom) is a compact digital camera that is aimed squarely at the new digital photographer, and even the new photographer for that matter. Fuji claims that its “as easy to use as your TV remote” and will “tame even the most timid technophobe”. With a 2 megapixel CCD sensor and a 3x optical zoom, the Fuji FinePix A205S Zoom doesn’t offer much in the way of innovation, but then you can buy one for less than ?100. Ease of use is the name of the game with this camera, so have Fuji delivered on their promises? Find out in my review.

Website: Fuji FinePix A205S Review

The winners of the April 2004 PhotographyBLOG Competition have now been decided. The theme for April was “Happiness” - you can view all of the entries in this gallery.

The panel of judges thought long and hard before deciding on the three winners:

1st Place
“Love” by ologram
View this entry

Judges Comments:
“I thought this photograph was interesting because it is in black and white. It captures the feeling of happiness without depending on vibrant colors to give it an upbeat feel.  The photo is close up on the mother and child which give a personal feel and immediately make me smile.”

“This really depicts the feeling of happiness as well as being a great image.”

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

2nd Place
“First Snow” by amorin
View this entry

Judges Comments:
“Beautiful, rich colors and great exposure.  Wonderful expressions on their faces that show that they are happy and having the time of their lives.”

“This is a beautifully colored photograph. The strong red, yellow and blue in the center draw my attention quickly.  The feeling of happiness is clearly portrayed by both the colors and boys photographed.”

Prize: 1 copy of Ulead PhotoImpact XL, kindly donated by Ulead Systems.
http://www.ulead.co.uk

3rd Place
“My Happiest Time” by gallery1905
View this entry

Judges Comments:
“This photograph caught my attention immediately due to the stark contrast between black and white.  The overpowering white is just balanced by the black of the ground and figures creating a striking image.  It evokes the feeling of happiness subtly.”

Prize: 1 copy of Picasa, kindly donated by Picasa Inc.
http://www.picasa.net

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

The fifth PhotographyBLOG Portfolio has been submitted by Oscar CC.

“This is a collection of photos meant for a photography contest that took place at the Poble Espanyol (the Spanish Village) in Barcelona. Situated at the foot of Mount Montjuic, site of the 1992 Olympic Games, the Poble Espanyol is a watercolour painting which portrays the different peoples and cultures of Spain, represented in the form of streets and squares, monuments and buildings. Built in 1929 on the occasion of the Barcelona International Exhibition, the Poble Espanyol is the only initiative of its kind which has survived the test of time.

The theme of the competition was ‘Lights And Shadows’, so I thought black and white would suit the photos better. I hope you like them.”

Website: Portfolios: Oscar CC

The winner of the 23rd PhotographyBLOG Photo of the Week contest is Gary55 with the entry “Afternoon Raccoon”. There are no prizes as such for this contest, but the winning photo is displayed on the PhotographyBLOG homepage for a week, and the winner can display the Photo of the Week logo on their website if they wish.

The 24th Photo of the Week contest is now open. This is a weekly photography challenge where you decide who the winner is by voting for your favourite photos. It’s an open contest with no set theme and you can enter as many photos as you like.

Click here to read the Photo of the Week Rules.

The FinePix F610 Zoom is the successor to the popular FinePix F601, and like its predecessor it has the same upright format. The major difference between the two models is that the FinePix F610 Zoom features the brand new 6 megapixel 4th Generation Super CCD HR sensor. The FinePix F610 Zoom also borrows a feature from the professional FinePix S2 Pro digital SLR - both cameras have 2 LCDs on the rear, displaying shooting information on one LCD screen, and devoting the primary 1.8” screen to the image. So is the FinePix F610 Zoom a clever fusion of innovative features, or just a confused mish-mash of ideas? Read on to find out.

Website: Fuji FinePix F610 Zoom Review

The fourth PhotographyBLOG Portfolio has been submitted by Charlie Morey.

“Four decades of experience, rich in traditional photography, photojournalism, journalism, creative writing, graphic design and computer graphics has prepared self-taught digital artist Charlie Morey for his latest endeavor, producing fine art gicl?e prints based on computer-enhanced digital photographs and marketing them via the World Wide Web and other media.

Morey’s photography experience began in 1965 with a second-hand 35mm Minolta viewfinder camera, purchased at a pawn shop in Bangor, Maine, and used to launch a 30-year period of creating fine-art black-and-white prints.

In 1974, a career change to journalism/photojournalism and an upgrade to Nikon SLR cameras further enhanced his visual experience, as the editorial position offered opportunities to travel and photograph much of Europe and segments of the Far East. Producing both images and words to describe his experiences for publication, Morey’s depth of understanding and creative/emotional development increased manifold during the fast-paced 22-year period in print media.

In 1994, Charlie discovered the World Wide Web. In 1995, he launched CYBERpress Publishing Company, a web-development firm, and began applying his art to digital media, designing interfaces and creating content during the dot-com boom. In 1996, Morey left print media behind and began working fulltime for such companies as EarthLink Network, idealab!, Tickets.com and Mail2World to create the visual “front end” for their complex web systems.

He bought his first digital camera, a floppy-disk Sony Mavica MVC FD-91 with a resolution of less than one megapixel, in 2000 and created CYBERpress Galleries to display his work to the world. A year later, he upgraded to a higher-resolution Sony Mavica MVC CD-1000 and launched digitalphotography.tv, his current fine-art photography gallery complex and digital photography portal. And in September, 2002 he upgraded once again to a state-of-the-art Nikon D100 (just in time for his annual Maine Fall Foliage pilgrimage) to support his full commitment to the joy and business of creative photography.”

Website: Portfolios: Charlie Morey

The third PhotographyBLOG Portfolio has been submitted by Jernej Burkeljca.

“Over the past few years there has been an increase in popularity of urban mountain bike racing in Slovenian cities. Bikers and organisers drew inspiration from their dual, downhill and 4X racing experience and came up with the BikeFight. A race against time or between two riders over various man made obstacles, from ladders to big jumps with some destroyed bike parts and injuries to make it all worthwhile.

The primary reason in the beginning was probably just to provide a novelty for the riders, keep the scene alive and have some fun in the process. In addition to that it helps promote mountain biking to the general public who are reluctant to climb uphill for a DH race where they only see riders for a fraction of a second. Urban races are set up in a way that you are able to see the majority of the course from any position and it usually works. Great music, lots of fun, plenty of action and many fans on the sidelines keep everything going on hard.”

Website: Portfolios: Jernej Burkeljca

The winner of the 22nd PhotographyBLOG Photo of the Week contest is tootsie (for the 2nd week running!) with the entry “Fur on Legs”. There are no prizes as such for this contest, but the winning photo is displayed on the PhotographyBLOG homepage for a week, and the winner can display the Photo of the Week logo on their website if they wish.

The 23rd Photo of the Week contest is now open. This is a weekly photography challenge where you decide who the winner is by voting for your favourite photos. It’s an open contest with no set theme and you can enter as many photos as you like.

Click here to read the Photo of the Week Rules.

Please give a warm welcome to PhotographyBLOG’s new sponsor, myPIXmania.

myPIXmania is a website specialised in online photo processing. In just a few clicks, you have the possibility of transfering your images before ordering your photos on professional photography paper, which would then be delivered to your home by mail. MyPIXmania has developed a service adapted to your needs:

- unlimited storage space for photos with no time limit,
- the high speed transfer of photo thanks to the Pixuploader software making it possible to send several images at once

myPIXmania is currently offering you 10 free 6"x4” photoprints upon registration.

In addition, there is a 30% discount on certain print sizes if you place your order between the Happy Hour of 5-6pm, Monday-Friday.

We also have some prizes of 15 free 6"x4” photoprints to give away as part of the PhotographyBLOG May Competition.

The second PhotographyBLOG Portfolio has been submitted by Birte Person, otherwise known as tootsie on the PhotographyBLOG Gallery.

“My portfolio is all of the same theme, the environment, which I have been involved with all my life, both through teaching and practising. I am retired now but am involved with the breeding of five rare species of frogs. Thus the mention of many ponds when listing my photos. These frogs are let go into areas where they used to be abundant but are now in such low numbers that they are almost extinct. All due to pollution and mans encroachment into their environment.

I live on the Sapphire Coast of Australia which is about 100 kilometers south of the Capital of New South Wales, Sydney. The area consist mainly of beaches and temperate rainforest.

I started photographing seriously in January 2004, because of age I am not able to do as much as I used to but doing this keeps my interest in the environment besides looking after the frogs.

I also love doing abstractions of nature, the things people do not normally see.

To sum it up I love nature but cringe when I look at the things being destroyed in the name of progress.”

Website: Portfolios: Birte Person

The May 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 May’s theme, which is “Silhouettes”.

The following prizes will be awarded to the top 3 entries:

1st Place
1 copy of Ulead PhotoImpact XL
Kindly donated by Ulead Systems.
http://www.ulead.co.uk

2nd Place
1 copy of Picasa
Kindly donated by Picasa Inc.
http://www.picasa.net

3rd Place
Photobird.com one-year subscription with 100 megabytes of storage space
Kindly donated by Photobird.com.
http://www.photobird.com

PLUS
Each winner will also receive 15 digital prints, kindly donated by MyPIXmania.
http://www.mypixmania.com

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 MayCompetition here:
May 2004 Competition

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

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

The first ever PhotographyBLOG Portfolio has been submitted by roadbuilder49.

“The theme of my submission is winter. The images are all taken along the Idaho side of Hells Canyon with digital cameras while snowmobiling.

I am a Civil Engineer and have been into digital photography for about 3 years. My current cameras are a Canon S50 and a Nikon 4500.”

Website: Portfolios: roadbuilder49

Freelance outdoor photographer Jean-Fran?ois Ma?on has been traveling around the world with photography as a main driver since the age of 14, specializing in landscape, adventure and travel photography. Jean-Fran?ois has kindly allowed me to publish his excellent article “Digital Photography in the Wilderness”:

Is digital photography up to the challenges of extended outdoor adventures in harsh conditions? A year ago, I would probably have answered: no.That is, until this spring, when I could not resist the call of the new EOS 10D. And when I embarked this autumn on a climbing expedition to the Himalayas, I intended to photograph digital. The purpose of this article is to share my planning process and conclusions, focusing on the specific questions and issues that outdoor photographers face on longer trips.

Website: PhotographyBLOG Article: “Digital Photography in the Wilderness”

Despite only being just over 1 year old, and not specifically being a digital photography website, PhotographyBLOG has come 3rd in the inaugural 2004 Digital Photography Site Awards :-)

Somewhat predictably DPReview won with 111 votes, followed by DCResource with 56, whilst PhotographyBLOG tied with DP-Now on 40 votes.

So thanks to everyone who took the time to vote for PhotographyBLOG!

Website: 2004 Digital Photography Site Awards

This is a reminder that the April competition will end on Friday 30th April. There are currently over 40 entries so far. The theme for the April 2004 Competition is “Happiness”. You just have to submit one photograph to the Competition Gallery that best interprets the theme. The winning entries will be decided by a panel of judges.

The following prizes will be awarded to the top 3 entries:

1st Place
Photobird.com one-year subscription with 100 megabytes of storage space
Kindly donated by Photobird.com.
http://www.photobird.com

2nd Place
1 copy of Ulead PhotoImpact XL
Kindly donated by Ulead Systems.
http://www.ulead.co.uk

3rd Place
1 copy of Picasa
Kindly donated by Picasa Inc.
http://www.picasa.net

Please make sure that you read the Monthly Competition Rules before submitting your entry. The competition is worldwide and open to everyone.

This is your chance to have your very best photographs published and viewed by thousands of people. I am looking for creative portfolios that reflect your particular photographical style. Your portfolio will be promoted on the front page of PhotographyBLOG and in the weekly Newsletter.

You should include the following in your submission:

- up to 15 images (but no more!)
- the images should ideally share a common theme
- each image should be less than 100Kb file size
- a short explanation about the images
- a short biography about yourself
- a link to your website (optional)

Please email your submission to [email protected].

View the Portfolios

The Fuji FinePix S3000 Zoom is a very stylish and affordable update of the FinePix S304 Zoom. It has a 3 megapixel sensor, like most other digital cameras at the entry-level end of the market, but it stands out from the crowd due to its 6x optical zoom, which is equivalent to 38?228mm on a 35mm camera. The Fuji FinePix S3000 Zoom has significantly fallen in price since its launch in August 2003 and can now be purchased for under ?200 / $250. But is it the right budget digicam for you? Read my review to find out.

Website: Fuji FinePix S3000 Zoom Review

The winner of the 21st PhotographyBLOG Photo of the Week contest is tootsie with the entry “Leaves of Gold”. There are no prizes as such for this contest, but the winning photo is displayed on the PhotographyBLOG homepage for a week, and the winner can display the Photo of the Week logo on their website if they wish.

The 22nd Photo of the Week contest is now open. This is a weekly photography challenge where you decide who the winner is by voting for your favourite photos. It’s an open contest with no set theme and you can enter as many photos as you like.

Click here to read the Photo of the Week Rules.

PhotographyBLOG has now teamed up with Amazon.com to offer you a range of photography products. PhotographyBLOG receives a small commission for every purchase that you make, so you will also help to support the future of this website. Simply visit the shop and click the product that you want to buy, or click the Amazon button, and you will be taken to the Amazon.com website.

Visit the PhotographyBLOG Shop (USA)