‘Beard’- a new free exhibition at London’s Somerset House features an 80 photo-strong series of men who sport extraordinary facial hair. Created by Warwickshire-based photographer Brock Elbank, the photographs are printed by Lumejet on Fujifilm Crystal Archive Paper and depict actor John Hurt, models Ricki Hall and Billy Huxley, tattooist Miles Better – and British woman Harnaam Kaur among others. “I was completely blown away with the quality of prints that Lumejet produced for this exhibition - all output on Fujifilm Crystal Archive Paper,” Elbank says. “They look phenomenal and the colour accuracy is superb." Taking place from 5-29 March 2015, the exhibition is free to attend.

The new Traveller Premium 144 Ball tripod from Hama is an aluminium tripod that comes complete with a 3D ball-head. Boasting a maximum load capacity of 3000 grams, the light-weight Hama Traveller Premium 144 features an adjustable-height, retractable centre column and ships with a carry case. Folding down to 345mm, the tripod extends to a maximum height of 1,440mm. The Traveller Premium 144 is available for €129.00.

The Fujifilm X-T1: 111 X-Pert Tips to Help You Get the Most Out of Your Camera is a new title from Rocky Nook. In this book, popular Fuji Rumors "X-Pert Corner" columnist Rico Pfirstinger teaches about the little-known capabilities of the Fujifilm X-T1, which he has discovered through months of in-depth research and experimentation with the camera. Topics covered include custom settings, infrared imaging, film simulations, panoramas, movies and much more. The 192-page volume is priced at $24.95.

Por el Planeta, the first international conservation photography competition, is now open for submissions. There are 10 categories divided into three themes: Biodiversity (Animal Portraits, Animal Behavior, Animals in Their Environment, Wild Habitat, Underwater and Micro Nature); Conservation (Our Changing Planet and Conservation Photographer of the Year); and Storytelling (Six Frames for Change and Short Video). A prize fund of USD $300,000 will be divided across 22 prizes, including $100,000 for the best picture in the entire contest; $15,000 for the best image captured in Mexico; and $10,000 for the People’s Choice Award. The winner of the Conservation Photographer of the Year category will receive $15,000; the winner of Six Frames for Change category will receive $12,500, plus an additional $50,000 to finance a photography project in a Mexican biome; and the winner of the Short Video category will receive $10,000. The first-place winner in each of the other categories will be awarded $10,000, and the second-place category winners will receive $2,500. The best photograph from each of the Under 18 age groups will win a trip with paid expenses to Mexico City. The competition is open for entries to 27 March 2015.

London based pro-lab and fine art printing service theprintspace has inked a new partnership with the World Photography Organisation. For the first time visitors to the Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition at Somerset House, London, will be able to purchase fine-art archival prints of the photographs on display courtesy of theprintspace’s new online print fulfilment service, thehub. In addition to being the official printer for the Sony World Photography Awards, theprintspace will be working with the WPO to publish weekly content covering a range of topics relating to contemporary photography, digital imaging and fine art printing.

Kenro has announced its attendance at The Photography Show, which is taking place at the Birmingham NEC, 21-24 March. The company will be exhibiting the Nissin Di700 'Air flash, new Marumi filters including a neutral density filter of 100,000 density, the Braun Master Action Camera II (pictured),: the Reflecta VisiLux StudioKit 130, Reflecta RPL21 PhotoTab-Light, Reflecta 3-in-1 Scanner, Braun Digital Frames, Braun Scouting Cam and Reflecta Record Players.

This month we are teaming up with our friends at FlixelPix to offer the FlixelPix Photography eBook bundle at a very special offer price of just £5 (normally £3.99 each, or £6.75 for both).

You get both The Long Exposure eBook and Shooting Shallow - Understanding Depth of field eBook at a bundle price. It contains both PDF eBooks and the set of Lightroom presets that comes with the Long Exposure eBook. 

‘Shooting Shallow’ is a guide to understanding the concept of depth of field. The ebook is a 38 page guide to understanding the application of a shallow Depth of Field.

Long exposure photography is about capturing space and silence, like visually holding your breath; it is about capturing the beauty and calmness of a scene.

This great offer closes 28th February 2015 at midnight.

The NEC SpectraView Reference 322UHD monitor is now available in the UK. Announced last month, the NEC SpectraView Reference 322UHD monitor is a professional 31.5-inch Ultra HD display with 3840x2160 pixels. This new reference monitor has a 14-bit adjustable LUT, a 10-bit panel, wide colour gamut capability covering 99% of AdobeRGB, Digital Uniformity Control and a 3D LUT to emulate print colour spaces. The NEC SpectraView Reference 322UHD display is available for £3072 from the Colour Confidence webshop.
 

Case Logic will unveil a new line of camera bags at the Photography Show, called the Kontrast collection. Featuring 7 different camera bag designs that offer a range of backpacks, shoulder bags, slings and holsters suitable for interchangeable-lens cameras and action cams; the Kontrast collection boasts customisable storage solutions enabling adaptability to meet changing situations. The intelligently placed zippers, dividers and pockets provide easy, speedy access when it is needed. Each bag boasts tough, water-resistant EVA molded DuraBase that provide a new level of stability and durability. Prices range from £29.99-£129.99.

The Epson Perfection V19 is a compact flatebed photo and document scanner offers an affordable scanning solution with 4800dpi x 4800dpi resolution. The device's LED technology allows for fast scanning with no warm-up time, and the scanner’s built-in kickstand enables vertical placement for convenient upright scanning and storage. For added flexibility, the scanner features a removable lid to accommodate scanning for bulky photo albums and Epson Easy Photo Fix technology to restore colour to faded photos and remove dust.The Epson Perfection V19 ($69.99) is now available online at the website below.

Joby's new Action Series Adaptor kit contains all you need to securely affix your action cam to just about anything. The kit includes a ¼”-20 quick release buckle that works with the GoPro clip sticky pads, a ¼”-20 Female to Female Adapter, a ¼”-20 Male to Male Adapter and a tripod mount that attaches any GoPro camera to a ¼"-20 mount on a tripod and features a built-in quick release for the GorillaPod Action, Hybrid, and SLR-Zoom tripods. The kit is priced at £17.

Movavi Photo Editor 2.0 for Windows and Mac OS X is now available, bringing multiple new features: text overlay, horizon levelling, and background removal in addition to the existing unwanted object removal, automatic quality enhancement, and manual retouching tools. The user interface of Movavi Photo Editor has also been significantly improved. All the tabs have been moved to the right-side of the application window so users can easily navigate all the main features - adjustment, rotation and straightening, crop, text, resize, object and background removaland export. A lifelong license for Movavi Photo Editor is priced at $19.95.

The new Joby Action Series Hub Adaptor enables film makers and photographers to create a bespoke, flexible set up of hardware and accessories for any shooting scenario. Engineered from high quality solid aluminium, the Joby Hub Adaptor is designed for use with any action video camera, as well as DSLR accessories and rigs such as flash units and microphones – enabling users to mix and match equipment to create their own unique mounting solution.Part of the extensive Joby Action series, the Hub Adaptor is compatible with other Joby tripods too, plus, can be mounted on any standard ¼” thread, for example the Joby Action Clamps or Action Tripods. The Joby Action Series Hub Adaptor is priced at £13.

The Guild of Photographers, one of the UK's largest photographic associations, has announced its Photographer of the Year winners. Chris Chambers won the overall ‘Photographer of the Year’ title as well as being the Guild’s ‘Photographer of the Year’ in the ‘Wedding’ category. He was also the 'All-Round' Photographer of the Year.’ He received trophies to acknowledge these great achievements as well as £1000 of products from Johnson's Photopia. Other Guild ‘Photographers of the Year’ include Nina MAce, Gilian Lloyd, Rob Mank and Gavin Prest. An ‘Image of the Year’ was also selected separately by the members and the judges. The 'Member's Choice' was an image by Chris Chambers, and the Judges Choice was a photograph by Sam Hayward (above).

Today marks the 25th birthday of Photoshop. To celebrate this  milestone, Adobe is showcasing 25 of the most creative visual artists under 25 who use Photoshop. To be considered, artists upload their projects to Behance and use the tag “Ps25Under25.” In the coming months, those selected will take over the Photoshop Instagram handle (@Photoshop) for two weeks and present their work for the world to see. Fredy Santiago, a 24-year old Mexican-American artist and illustrator based in Ventura, California will be the first to display his images. The company is also launching an advertising campaign, “Dream On," for The Academy Awards. The TV commercial includes work from Photoshop artists and iconic images from major motion pictures that used Photoshop in the making, including Avatar, Gone Girl, How to Train Your Dragon 2 and Shrek.

The Voies Off Festival of the Rencontres Internationales de la Photographies in Arles will celebrate its 20th anniversary from 6 - 11 July 2015. For the past two decades, the Voies Off Prize has been awarded by a jury of renowned professionals to an artist for the clarity of his vision and the high quality of his work. Voies Off night projections during the opening week of the Rencontres d’Arles festival (the first full week in July) have become an international reference for the discovery of emerging authors and the alternative venue that it creates for international photographic creation. You have until 15 March 2015 to enter the competition and win one of 3 prizes; the Voies Off Prize (€2,500), the LaCritique Award and the SAIF Discovery Prize (€2,000). As always, we recommed that you read the rules before entering your work.

The new Thule Legend Collection consists of two cases, a backpack and a sling pack. The Thule Legend GoPro Case is a durable GoPro case with smart organisation for essential accessories. It’s crushproof and has a padded compartment that holds one GoPro camera, a LCD backpack, a remote control, extra batteries and SD cards. The Thule Legend GoPro Advanced Case is the bigger version of the Legend GoPro Case, holding two GoPros. The Thule Legend GoPro Sling is a sleek and lightweight sling pack that allows you to stay in action with up to two GoPro cameras and accessories within reach. The Thule Legend GoPro Backpack is a crushproof, lightweight feature-rich GoPro backpack with integrated camera mounts to capture adventures from multiple angles. It packs up to three GoPro cameras, chargers, housing options, mounts, straps and grips. To protect the camera gear from dust, dirt, sand, and salt-water, all of these bags and cases have a removable, rinsable foam organiser unit. Additionally a compression-moulded EVA shell provides both shock protection, and a stable mounting point for a rear-facing GoPro. The Thule Legend GoPro Case and the Advanced Case are available this month, whereas the Thule Legend GoPro Backpack and Sling bag will be available in May.