The winners of the November 2009 Photography Blog Competition have been announced. The theme for November was “Laughter” - you can view all of the entries in this gallery. Here are the 5 winners:

1st Place
Simple Pleasures by nrshapiro

Prize: X-Rite ColourChecker Passport
Kindly donated by X-Rite
http://www.xritephoto.com/

Rebecca Chappell is the lucky winner of an ioSafe Solo external hard drive.

The ioSafe Solo is a fireproof waterproof external hard drive, designed to protect data in a fire for 1/2 hour up to 1550°F! The ioSafe Solo also protects against data loss even when immersed in fresh or salt water in 10 feet of water for up to 3 days.

This competition is now closed.

Jenny Price is the lucky winner of a LG Viewty Lite Silver + HP Photosmart A526 Compact Photo Printer.

This competition is now closed.

Camera Phone Zone helps you print your pics for less! Camera Phone Zone always brings you great deals on mobile phone handsets and accessories and now you can get a half price compact photo printer with selected touch screen camera phones!* With its 2.4” colour LCD screen, the HP Photosmart A526 Compact Photo Printer is easy to use and produces beautiful 6x4” borderless prints from all popular memory cards. Now this handy little photo printer can be yours for just £29.99 when bought with the following camera phones:

Samsung Genio Touch, 2 Megapixel: £83.19 RRP
LG KS360, 2 Megapixel: £73.40 RRP
Samsung Tocco Lite, 3 Megapixel: £88.09 RRP
LG Viewty Lite Silver, 5 Megapixel: £97.87 RRP

Camera Phone Zone supplies handsets on the Vodafone network. To find your nearest Camera Phone Zone and to view tariffs please visit www.cameraphonezone.co.uk.

*offer available while stocks last.

Connected Worlds is an exhibition of panoramic images created by stitching together photos taken with a Nokia camera phone, opening on 3 December at London Heathrow Airport, Terminal 5. The photos were shot in 9 cities across the world by photographer Henry Reichhold. The exhibition is sponsored by BAA, Nokia and Skyline Whitespace. Connected Worlds will run for about six weeks, after which a new exhibition called Nokia N86 8mp Explore will take its place. Featuring photos from two very different cities, Mumbai and Dubai, Nokia N86 8mp Explore will show just what can be achieved with the new high resolution phones, the organisers say.

Website: Connected Worlds

RED has released full specifications and pricing for its Scarlet 2/3” camera “brain”. The new Scarlet 2/3” features a 2/3” sensor capable of recording 3k HD video at 120 frames per second. The captured video is stored in RED’s own raw format, REDCODE. The body-only price of the Scarlet 2/3” “brain” is $2750, but it is also available in a configuration consisting of the “brain”, Side CF Module, wireless REDmote control, 2.8” touchscreen LCD, REDVOLT battery and travel charger, and an 8x zoom lens, for $4750. RED has also announced that the first three lenses in its Mini Primes line-up (50mm, 25mm, 16mm) are complete, with the 6mm and 8mm lenses expected to be finalised in December.

Website: REDuser

Via engadget

JP Distribution has announced the TriFlash Shoe Lock, a new TriFlash Bracket with Locking Shoe Mount. This new model features an adjustable ‘screw locking’ shoe mount, which offers an additional locking mechanism to work alongside the built in method used on the flashgun. The new bracket will be offered in addition to the original TriFlash bracket, at a price of £54.99.

Website: Lastolite

Available throughout the month of December, Fujifilm are offering a cashback offer of £30 on the FinePix F200EXR and £50 on the FinePix S200EXR. Simply keep hold of your receipt, download and complete the appropriate form from the website below, send it back to Fujifilm along with your receipt and they’ll send you the cheque. Note however that you must be a UK resident and buy the camera(s) in the UK in order to be eligible for the cashback.

Website: Fujifilm’s Christmas Cashback Offer

London, Paris and New York are among the stops on the Hahnemühle Anniversary Collection’s 2010 world tour of international photo capitals. The tour is scheduled to begin in Sydney, Australia on 10 February, and will then travel to Beijing, Berlin, Toronto and Hong Kong. A special highlight of the tour will take place in Cologne, Germany at Photokina where the award winning images will be exhibited from 21 through 26 September.

Website: Hahnemühle

Adobe has announced that Adobe Photoshop.com Mobile for iPhone, an application that was initially available to US and Canadian residents only, is now available worldwide in all countries with iPhone App Stores. Photoshop.com Mobile provides consumers a convenient way to edit photos, apply effects and share images instantly with friends - all with the flick of a finger. In addition, the application gives users access to their entire online collection of photos from Photoshop.com and allows them to share them directly within the application. Adobe Photoshop.com Mobile for iPhone is a free download.

Adobe has just announced the call for entries for the tenth annual Adobe Design Achievement Awards (ADAA). This premier competition honors the best student graphic designers, photographers, illustrators, animators, digital filmmakers, developers and computer artists from accredited higher education institutions worldwide. As demand increases for talented designers and developers in the interactive design and development fields, the Adobe Design Achievement Awards spotlight the talented work of students in three categories: Interactive Media, Motion Media, and Traditional Media. Photography falls into the Traditional Media category. For more information regarding the 2010 Adobe Design Achievement Awards, visit the website below.

Website: ADAA

JP Distribution has announced a new RF flash trigger from Lastolite. With a range of 10 metres, the new battery operated (2 x AAA) RF flash trigger can be used with battery operated flashguns and studio flash systems. Simply attach the transmitter to the hotshoe on the camera, and then attach the receiver unit to the flashgun (via PC or X-sync cord) or to the studio flash head (via the sync socket). The trigger operates at 433 MHZ. The Lastolite flash trigger is available for £49.99, additional receiver units are priced at £29.99 apiece.

Website: Lastolite

Canon U.S.A. will be hosting a Canon Live Learning seminar in the Seattle area in early December. Canon Live Learning is a new education programme targeted towards photographers who are interested in Canon’s popular line of EOS photographic products. Canon Live Learning seminars offer high-quality classes and workshops conducted by a number of the industry’s leading professional photographers, Canon’s Explorers of Light. CLL attendees will learn how to get the most out of their gear while also having the opportunity to try out Canon’s latest line of EOS products. Guests can register at: www.usa.canon.com/canonlivelearning. Click through / read on for the programme schedule.

Online photo printer FotoInsight has announced the start of its Danish and Swedish services FotoInsight Nordic. The Cambridge company, which was established in 2003, started a German operation in June 2005, Italian in October 2005 and Spanish in February 2006 and French in April 2007, apart from its original English language services. Each of the international web-services is covered by a web- and customer service team with native speakers. Quality and a speedy delivery all over Europe are achieved by the use of six strategically located production sites, the company says. FotoInsight caters for all major operating systems, including Linux, Mac OS and Windows as well as Firefox and Chrome browser users with special upload facilities with no need for additional software.

Website: FotoInsight

iFotoGuide has released the first iPhone app & digital guide to on-location nature photography. “iFotoGuide: Arches” is the first in a series of digital guides for the iPhone providing nature photographers with a comprehensive resource for planning every aspect of a photography trip. It goes beyond the ordinary photo guidebook by providing three innovative ways for iPhone users to find a dynamic location for photography. An interactive park map allows users to zoom, pan and select photography locations by name. Images in the photo gallery serve to inspire and are also interactive – one touch provides detailed instructions for getting to and photographing each location. “iFotoGuide: Arches” even allows users to search for locations to photograph at sunrise, sunset or in mid-day light. It is available from the Apple App Store priced at $4.99.

Website: iFotoGuide

Amazon has reduced the price of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 from nearly $300 to less than $170. The offer is valid on U.S. orders only, as the retailer explicitly states that this “item can be shipped only within the U.S.”. There is no information provided as to how long the deal will last.

Website: Amazon

Via John Nack and 1001 Noisy Cameras

Ed Nash, a young and promising entrepreneur from the UK, has created an iPhone application for measuring the attractiveness of one’s face - or at least a photo thereof. The ‘Fit or Fugly’ application uses the golden ratio - also called the golden mean or the golden section -, to “scientifically calculate” how attractive a photo of a human face is. Research has shown that the golden ratio - which pops up in the most unexpected places in nature, from the arrangement of branches along the stems of plants to the proportions of chemical compounds and the geometry of crystals - does indeed play a role in human perception of beauty. When key “anchor points” in someone’s face, such as the ears, eyes, chin, mouth and nose, are arranged more or less in accordance with the golden ratio, the face is likely to be perceived as beautiful. (On a side note, the Rule of Thirds, well known to photographers, has also been derived from the golden ratio by way of simplification.) Ed Nash encourages you to try out his app on a photo of yourself or anyone else to find out if you - or they - are “officially” fit or fugly.

Website: Fit or Fugly

Jessops have decreased the price of its own 7” digital photo frame by more than 35%. The device, which features a 480x234-pixel display, USB port, interval timer, slideshow facility, and interchangeable surrounds now costs £25 at www.jessops.com.

The University of the Arts London has announced 28 Stories, a group show by graduates of the MA in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography at the London College of Communication.  The exhibition includes a poetic exploration of a maverick spaceship designer, a reflection on elderly love, a study of the first female Indian soldiers deployed to the Indian-Pakistan border in Kashmir, a daughter’s interpretation of her father’s escape from Hungary and the former eastern bloc, remarkable and dignified bodies of work about loved ones living with illness, and numerous other exceptional essays, pieces and stories, the organisers say. 28 Stories runs from 10-23 December and 4-15 January, Monday to Saturday 10am-5pm.