The Photographer’s Path is a new 12-month teaching programme launched by photo expert and consultant Selina Maitreya. Designed to help commercial photographers build a successful photography business, the programme is comprises numerous videos, mp3 recordings and PDF documents. For more information, check out the website below.

In the UK, the Nikon 1 V1 (read review) and Nikon 1 J1 compact system cameras are going on sale this Thursday and Jessops on the Strand is opening early (8am) to celebrate the launch. Tech fans will be met by Channel Five’s gadget expert, Suzi Perry, who will be at the store for the event. In addition to offering breakfast for all those in the queue, Jessops is giving away a number of gifts to the first 20 people to buy a Nikon 1 and standard lens kit; including a £200 voucher to spend in Jessops (which can’t be redeemed against the Nikon 1 kit itself, but can be used to buy accessories such as additional lenses), a £100 voucher to spend on Nikon’s in-house training scheme and a Sandisk Extreme HD 8GB SDHC memory card. The store is located at 443 The Strand, London, WC2R 0QU.

The World Photography Organisation (WPO) today announced the 2012 Honorary Jury of the Sony World Photography Awards. Chaired by writer and photo critic Susan Bright, the jury includes Rebecca Lewis, Vice-President and Senior Agent for Art+Commerce; James Reid, Photography Director of Wallpaper; Prabuddha Dasgupta, Photographer; Claudia Hinterseer, Managing Director and co-owner of NOOR; Jodi Bieber, Photographer; Jon Jones, Director of Photography, Sunday Times Magazine; Susan Bright, Curator & Writer; Michael Benson, Director, Prix Pictet; Shizuka Yokomizo Photographer. Entries for the 2012 Sony World Photography Awards close on 4 January 2012.

The UK-based photo book company Taopix has announced a new release of its photo book software, Taopix Portfolio, which incorporates Athentech’s Perfectly Clear image correction technology. Available in the fourth quarter of 2011, Taopix Portfolio offers a more friendly and attractive user interface and numerous image editing features including a one-button fix that corrects 9 different image issues.

Texas-based wedding photographer and inventor Joel Malone has launched a Kickstarter project cover the manufacturing costs of a beverage coaster set comprised of four 86mm camera lens filters. The set includes a “virtually indestructible” steel holder that allows the coasters to be stored neatly on your desk. Malone has “no plans for selling these sets at retail”, so the only way for you to get hold of one is to pledge $40 or more over at the project’s Kickstarter page.

THK Photo Products have announced the US availability of the new Tokina AT-X Pro FX 17-35mm f/4 wide zoom for Canon and Nikon. Equipped with a quiet, high-precision focus motor, the Tokina AT-X 17-35mm f/4 Pro FX has an optical formula that comprises 13 elements arranged in 12 groups, and comes with a nine-bladed iris diaphragm. Notable features include an angle-of-view range of 103.96° -64.74°, a rubber seal around the lens mount, and Tokina’s exclusive one-tocuh 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. The Tokina AT-X 17-35mm f/4 Pro FX is available for $719.

Plasq today released Comic Life 1.1 for iPad, the latest update to the app based on their award-winning photo-comic software. The new update includes a variety of improvements: high-resolution export options, seamless Twitter image integration, more comic management flexibility, and localisations in several languages. Note that this app requires iOS 5. Comic Life 1.1 for iPad is available now on iTunes for $4.99.

Animoto will host a new free webinar on 20th October for photographers interested in stills-video fusion. Entitled “Dive Into Fusion”, the one-hour-long webinar is presented by photographer Vanessa Joy and videographer Rob Adams. To register for this webinar, visit the website below.

BergHind Joseph has launched its annual photo competition, whose theme is ‘Leadership’. Photographs should be taken in the context of how you interpret the theme. Categories for the final submission(s) should be labelled under one of the following areas: Motivation, Collaboration, Promotion, Achievement, Initiative, Decisiveness, Engagement and Inspiration. You may enter up to four photos.until Friday, 16 December 2011. Photos may be submitted by post to BergHind Joseph Photographic Competition, The Leathermarket 8.1.1, Weston Street, London, SE1 3ER or via email to [email protected] As always we recommend that you read the rules as well as the terms and conditions before submitting any of your photos.

Fujifilm and Rite Aid have announced that entries are currently being accepted for the 7th annual Picture Perfect Halloween Photo Contest. From now until 8 November 2011, entrants (from the USA only) can submit Halloween-themed photos and vote for their favourites in seven categories: Best Pumpkin, Cutest Baby Costume, Best Kids Costumes, Best Teens and Adults Costumes, Best Pets, Spooktacular Decorations and Best Make-up. To enter, head to the website below. As always, we suggest that you read the rules before entering your work.

Sony has released firmware updates for the Sony Alpha SLT-A65 and A77 digital cameras. Version 1.03 cuts down on the time it takes for the camera to switch from the LCD to the EVF and vice versa, improves the responsiveness of the control dials and the Fn button, and adds support for the HVL-MT24AM macro twin flash. You can download the firmware upgrades from the websites below.

Website: Sony SLT-A77 Firmware Upgrade - Windows | Sony SLT-A65 Firmware Upgrade - Windows

Website: Sony SLT-A77 Firmware Upgrade- Mac | Sony SLT-A65 Firmware Upgrade - Mac

Panasonic has issued firmware updates for its Lumix DMC-G3 and GF3 compact system cameras. Version 1.2 (for both models) optimises the operation of regular Four Thirds lenses when mounted to these cameras via the appropriate adapter. You can update your camera’s firmware by following the instructions on the website below.

Website: Panasonic Japan

Lomography has expanded its La Sardina range of 35mm film cameras with the addition of two new models, named ‘Beluga’ and ‘Czar’. These “metal edition” cameras feature gold-tone designs and metallic bodies, and come packaged in a wooden La Sardina box. Each camera is equipped with a matching ‘Fritz the Blitz’ flash, and the scope of delivery also includes a special-edition book entitled ‘The Caviar Diaries’, chronicling the adventures of Lomographer wil6ka as he searches for the origins of caviar through Europe and the Caspian Sea with his La Sardina camera. The cameras cost €149 each and are available from the website below.

Canon today announced further details about the Pro Solutions show held on 25th and 26th October 2011 at the Business Design Centre in Islington, London. This year the show will feature a live professional film set hosted by digital cinematographer Phillip Bloom and remote location filmmaker and photographer Phil Coates.  The live demonstrations will feature Canon’s latest XF range of professional camcorders, Canon broadcast lenses and EOS DSLR cameras. Additionally, the show will feature a large-scale panorama of London shot on the EOS 5D Mark II with an EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM Lens using a GigaPan Epic Pro moving head. The seminar schedule has also been finalised, and can be found at the website below.

New York’s leading architectural and aerial photographer, Evan Joseph, is making his gallery debut at Tachi Gallery on 27th October. Over the last year Evan has transitioned into fine art photography with the release of his book, New York City At Night. The exhibition on Oct. 27th at Tachi will pick up where the book left off as he will include some never before seen images of New York City that were not published in the book. The “Evan Joseph at Night” exhibition blends these aerial photographs, which were taken from a helicopter several hundreds of feet in the air, with amazing skyline views from some of the most exclusive vantage points in the city. Tachi Gallery is located at 414 Washington Street, New York.

Fotolia and Silicon Publishing have released an extension to Adobe Creative Suite (CS) that allows designers to access Fotolia’s library of over 14 million images, directly within Adobe Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator. “We are thrilled with the new CS Extension technology from Adobe. It’s evolved into a robust solution for developers wanting to extend Adobe’s multiple creative applications with a single development effort. It’s enabled us to use Adobe Flex to create a single CS Extension that connects Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator to Fotolia assets,” said Olav Martin Kvern of Silicon Publishing. You can download the extension from the website below.

Photographer, film-maker and writer Zeke Kamm has launched a Kickstarter project to fund the development of a new photography accessory called the Nice Clip. Realising that photographers often run into the problem of not knowing what to do with their lens caps when they are not on the lens, Kamm has created the Nice Clip that “sticks to your lens cap so you can clip your cap to your strap, camera bag, pocket, shirt, hat - wherever you want”. To learn more about the project and the Nice Clip itself, check out the website below.

Website: The Nice Clip on Kickstarter

Ballistic Case Co. has launched a new universal belt pouch that is suitable for carrying a variety of camera phones and digital cameras. The Ballistic Sport Rugged Pouch is made of a tough ballistic nylon material and features an easy-to-open Velcro strap and a durable belt clip. Available in black, the Ballistic Universal Sport Rugged Pouch retails for $29.99.

Website: Ballistic

Apple has released iPhoto 9.2. This update supports compatibility with iCloud and iOS 5 and addresses the following issues:

Left and right swipe gestures can now be used to navigate between photos in Magnify (1-up) view
Previously imported photos are now displayed in a separate section of the Import window
Book/calendar themes and card categories can now be selected using a pop-up menu in the carousel view
Resolves an issue that could cause some pages of books to print incorrectly
Rebuilding a library now correctly preserves saved slideshows and books

Website: Apple iPhoto 9.2

Apple has released an update to Aperture 3. Version 3.2 adds compatibility with iCloud and iOS 5 and addresses minor stability, performance and compatibility issues. For a complete list of improvements and bug fixes, and to download the update, head to the website below.

Website: Apple Aperture 3.2