The winners of the July 2009 Photography Blog Competition have been selected by a panel of judges. The theme for July was “Heat” - you can view all of the entries in this gallery. Here are the 5 winners:

1st Place
The Sparks are Flying by Jackie

Prize: ColorMunki Photo
Kindly donated by X-Rite
http://www.colormunki.com

Following the success of their six previous Teaching Seminars, the Imaging Science Group of the Royal Photographic Society is organising another of its 1 day tutorial seminars this year on Saturday 12th December 2009. Entitled “Good Picture - 2009: Making Imaging Work” and taking place at the University of Westminster, the symposium is open to all. The £60 admission fee includes buffet lunch plus morning and afternoon coffee & biscuits. Click through / read on for the full programme.

JP Distribution has announced the launch of the new Lastolite School of Photography website. The aim of the Lastolite School of Photography is to provide free of charge video and written tutorials for photographers on a monthly basis, building an ‘industry leading’ library of tutorials. The new site has launched with six, twenty minute video tutorials featuring five of Lastolite’s new products. There are also 10 ‘back to basics’ PDF tutorials available.

Website: Lastolite School of Photography

Datacolor, a global leader in digital colour management technology, has brightened the lives of underprivileged children in Chile with the production and sale of the photography book, “Colors of My Life.” This is an 80-page hardcover photography book, which began as a simple photography contest sponsored by Datacolor’s European office.  As part of the contest, consumers submitted two photographs that incorporated colors they felt best depicted their lives or personalities.  The final images—60 images total—worked so well as a single body of work that Datacolor decided to create a portfolio in the form of a book. “Colors of My Life” can be purchased through Blurb at http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/750811 for $22.82.

FotoMuse for iPhone is an application that promises to transform snapshots into “artistic renderings” in just a few simple steps. The FotoMuse app enables users to import any photo from their iPhone album and “transform it into a work of art” in under 20 seconds. “People can crop, resize, and mix images with artifacts from old photos, vintage-edged film, and other media,” said Kris Gebhardt, developer. “After adding contrast, selecting a border, and choosing a layer, it’s easy to save the image – without actually changing the original photo.”

Website: Kris Gebhardt

JP Distribution has announced the UK launch and pricing of the new MiniTT1 & FlexTT5 ControlTL System from PocketWizard. Since the first introduction of PocketWizard, professional photographers have demanded a TTL flash controlled PocketWizard system. PocketWizard has made it possible with “Slide-n-Shoot” simplicity by utilizing their new ControlTL system featuring the MiniTT1 Transmitter and FlexTT5 Transceiver dedicated for Canon camera/flash systems. The MiniTT1 has a recommended retail price of £209.99, whilst the FlexTT5 costs £229.99. These prices include value added tax.

Red Bull is looking for a reporter to head to Switzerland to capture the twists and pikes of the amazing high divers, the breathtaking location and the all round excitement of the Red Bull Cliff Diving event. The Switzerland stop will be the seventh in the Red Bull Cliff Diving series, and will take place on 5 September 2009 in Sisikon. To be considered for this assignment, head to http://www.redbullreporter.com and keep uploading examples of your best photos. Tag your uploads ‘Cliff Diving’.

Ritz Camera & Image have introduced their new “MY SHOW” DVD that allows customers to watch their digital photos and digital video clips on the family TV.  Ritz takes all of their customers’ photos and video clips from any digital media card, and puts them on a “MY SHOW” DVD.  The “MY SHOW” DVD service is available in 1 hour at all Ritz Camera, Wolf Camera, Inkley’s and Kits Cameras locations or may be ordered online at RitzPix.com and have it mailed back to your home.

FlipGloss Media, the web’s first photo programming network, and Variety, a global publication for entertainment business news, have launched FlipGloss-powered photo features on Variety’s “Emmy Central”.  Using FlipGloss’ pioneering “Digital Glossy Insert” technology, Variety now offers a visually rich, interactive presentation of Comedy and Drama nominees, just in time for Emmy voting. FlipGloss’ unique ‘Flip, Hover, Discover’ navigation experience lets Variety.com users flip through high quality Emmy images, hover over points of interest and click to discover more information on nominated shows, actors, related content and show credits or previous wins.

N-Tonic has released the availability of SnaggleFind, a platform which allows iPhone users to complete and share photographic scavenger hunts.  Users can simply complete SnaggleFind hunts and share their photographic interpretations with others, or take it a step further and create their own hunts to share a particular passion, educate and/or challenge others in the SnaggleFind community. They compete by accumulating points based on the difficulty of the hunt and user ratings. Once a user accumulates enough points, prizes or bonus hunts will be made available for them to complete. Completed hunts are rated and commented on by members of the SnaggleFind community. iPhone users can download SnaggleFind from Apple’s App Store or from www.SnaggleFind.com for $1.99.

Brando WorkShop has in stock a unique-looking 3-point hand/wrist strap, designed for use with cameras and camcorders. The accessory, which features a wrist support as well as a somewhat surprising tripod socket, retails for $16 and is claimed to be universal.

Website: Brando

Via Bigyóblog

Fodor’s Travel has announced the latest in their series of travel photography contests, “Show Us Your Argentina,” where visitors to Fodors.com will have the opportunity to upload their favorite photos of Argentina and the chance to win prizes. One grand prize winner will have his/her photograph featured in Fodor’s Argentina and will receive a suite of Fodor’s latest full-color guides. Ten runners up will win two Fodor’s guides of their choice and all winning photos will be featured in an online gallery at www.Fodors.com.  You have until 17 August 2009 to submit a photo. As always, you are encouraged to read the rules before entering.

Olympus have published their financial results for the quarter ended 30 June 2009, which show that the company is still making profits - but a lot less than a year ago. The company’s net earnings after taxes have shrunk to 1.8bn yen from 6.5bn yen in the same period of last year. The imaging business was particularly badly hit by the global economic crisis, as European and North American sales practically halved versus basis. Most of Olympus’ other businesses also saw a decrease in sales, though it was not quite as drastic as that of digital cameras. Domestic sales of diagnostic systems, surgical and endo-therapy appliances as well as infocommunication solutions have enjoyed some modest growth.

Website: Olympus Financial Results

Super Talent Technology has succeeded in squeezing 32GB of NAND Flash storage into a thumbnail sized USB drive that is water resistant and supports data transfer speeds up to 200X (30MB/sec). The Pico C drive measures only 31 x 12 x 3 mm and weighs less than an American nickel (~5g). Super Talent uses a COB manufacturing process for its Pico series to achieve the smallest possible size. The 32GB Pico C is offered in either a nickel plated or 24K gold plated steel casing, while the 32GB Pico E, with a patent-pending sliding lid, is available with 24K gold plating. The Pico series 32GB USB drives are expected to retail for $85 each.

Nikon have released a new version of Nikon Transfer, a download utility which allows images to be simultaneously downloaded to two locations. Version 1.5.0 of Nikon Transfer adds support for the new Nikon D300s, D3000, Coolpix S570, S640, S70, and S1000pj digital cameras and implements the modifications listed below.

Website: Nikon Transfer 1.5.0

Nikon have released a new version of its Nikon ViewNX software, which adds support for the new Nikon D3000, D300s, S70, S570, S640 and S1000pj digital cameras, and includes a number of improvements and bug fixes too. In version 1.4.0 of Nikon ViewNX, a ‘Send notification mail to my address (Email ID)’ checkbox has been added to the Share Settings dialogue displayed with the my Picturetown upload function, ‘New Album’ is now displayed in the ‘Subject (Required)’ text box in the Share Settings dialogue, support for A2+ sized prints has been added and a number of other issues have been resolved.

Website: Nikon ViewNX 1.4.0

Alphabet photography - the brainchild of Canadian photographer Jennifer Blakeley - is the creative process of photographing images that resemble letters of the English alphabet, then arranging the photographs together to create a name or word. Inspired by the children’s book “Alphabet City,” Blakely traveled across Canada taking photos of objects and scenery that resemble letters of the English alphabet and has now turned those photos into a thriving online business, Alphabet Photography Inc. Blakeley develops the photos in sepia tone and customises the photographs to spell names and words that are special to each individual customer - creating alphabet art. The letter art business, in which Blakely is partnered with her husband Sam Blakeley and friend Miriam Laundry, functions primarily online - allowing customers to mix and match the alphabet photos to create any name or word. To see how all this works, head to the website below.

Website: Alphabet Photography

Work by Sara Ramo, a young emerging Spanish/Brazilian artist, will showcase this Autumn at The Photographers’ Gallery. This will be Sara Ramo’s first exhibition in the UK. Strongly informed by performance art, Ramo sometimes appears in her own works. Using film, installations and photography, she is inspired by the innocence of childhood and magic realism to create parallel worlds beyond the restrictions of adult reason. Exhibition dates: 16 October 2009 – 17 January 2010. Location: 16 – 18 Ramillies St, W1.

Open See, which documents the experiences of refugee, immigrant and trafficked populations who travel from war torn, socially and economically devastated countries to make new lives in Europe, will be the first UK solo exhibition for Magnum photographer Jim Goldberg. Since 2003, Goldberg has been photographing and collecting stories through a range of formats: Polaroids, video, written text, ephemera, and large and medium format photographs. The exhibition installation will reflect Goldberg’s dynamic approach to the documentary genre through multi-faceted displays of imagery and text. These will include Polaroids, which have been marked, destroyed and written on by the subjects they portray. The words and images combine to tell the intimate and often violent stories of past and present experiences. Faces and features are sometimes scratched out, coloured in, or marked in some way. The exhibition will be held at The Photographers’ Gallery, 16-18 Ramillies street, W1, from 16 October 2009 through 17 January 2010.

SeeFile Software has introduced SeeFile 4.7, a new version of their digital asset management software. SeeFile 4.7 offers an elegant web interface, an easy to use media bank and a delivery system accessible from any standard web browser. New development included backend changes, making page loads and image processing faster, optimising the layout, and adding functionality. Installing SeeFile takes only minutes, and the solution works like an FTP server (allowing creation of users with home folders) that will fit into nearly any workflow. The system allegedly offers all the standard tools available on digital asset management/delivery software. SeeFile 4.7 is priced from $499 to $4,995, depending on number of user licenses.