SONY WORLD PHOTO AWARDS!

• SONY World Photo Awards! – The UK's Vanessa Winship has won the SONY World Photography Awards Photographer of the Year, in the professional category, for her portrait of two little Eastern Turkish girls, "Sweet Nothings – rural schoolgirls from Eastern Anatolia, Turkey". The award was presented last Thursday evening at the SWPA VIP gala ceremonies in Cannes, France.

Vanessa Winship has been working in the Balkans since 1999 and currently lives in Istanbul. She graduated with a BA in Film, Video and Photographic Arts from Central London Poly in 1987 and did her postgraduate Diploma in Photojournalism at the London College of Printing. In 1998 she won a World Press Photo first prize (Arts stories). [expand story >>>]

The 2008 Sony World Photography Awards are the inaugural SWPA awards. The prize for the World Photographer of the Year is $25,000. The judges include Nan Goldin, Bruce Davidson, Tom Stoddart, Elliott Erwitt and Martine Franck.

James Kennedy, General Manager Marketing Communications, Sony Digital Imaging Europe said, “The Awards really are a showcase for the photographic industry at its highest level. It has been wonderful to be part of an event that brings together such phenomenal talent.”

Founder of World Photography Awards Scott Gray added, “This event is the culmination of what has been a fantastic first year for the Sony World Photography Awards. We thank everyone who entered and look forward to the second year already.”

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SUMMER SHOW!

• Summer Show! – www. photo mart .co.uk have announced the line-up for their 2008 Summer Show. The bumper day of photo workshops at their London studios on June 18 will feature presentations from photographers Keith Trainor, Jon Gray and Ian Brierley, as well as software training from ExpressDigital, and a wide format and canvas printing demonstration from Fujifilm. Equipment from SONY, BOWENS, ICI ImageData, and Fujifilm will feature prominently on the day, which will include a number of model shoots, in-studio and outdoors. [expand story >>>]

The format of the Summer Show is that all workshops are presented twice, first in the morning, then repeated in the afternoon. Delegates buy just one ticket, and are then entitled to attend any two workshops.

As usual, www.photomart.co.uk have secured the cream of presenters for this show. SONY are providing Europe's leading evangelist for event photography, Keith Trainor, to present his popular "Techniques for Profit" workshop, which gives you the business know-how, tips and tricks to make money from eventing. You'll see SONY's latest fast event printers in action here. The workshop also includes an excellent (and good fun!) practical demonstration of shooting against backgrounds – both Keith's trade-mark white-out, and the ever more popular greenscreen. It's highly enjoyable, as well as inspirational and informative.

Jon Gray, the successful fashion & advertising photographer who teaches Photography at the American University in London, will be presenting, courtesy of BOWENS, a studio lighting workshop using the excellent photographic model, Jade. BRING YOUR CAMERAS TO THIS ONE! This will also be a chance to see some of BOWENS' latest kit, such as their new ring flash.



Off the beaten track we find Ian Brierley, one of the original travelling event photographers, who do it as a way of life. Thanks to support from ICI ImageData, Ian will be delivering "Endless Summer", his workshop on how to pay for your travel through speculative travel & tourism photography. He'll tell you how to target Tourist Boards, Airlines and Hotel Chains – and how to get them to give you sales and commissions, free flights and accomodation! He'll also show a purpose-fitted event photography van, and the workshop will include an outdoor model shoot. BRING CAMERAS! Event printing will be demonstrated on the machine favoured by this type of photographer, the ICI Olmec OP1000 PrintBox.

ExpressDigital are providing the UK expert on their DARKROOM software, Bryan Osborne, to deliver a three-hour tutorial on what has become the event software of choice in the UK. YOU NEED TO BRING LAPTOPS AND SAMPLE IMAGES TO THIS ONE! Bryan will give you a flavour of what this software is all about – getting from image capture to print sale in the quickest and most profitable ways!

Fujifilm will be on hand with a presentation on wide format and canvas printing with their GreenBox solution, a combination of HP or Epson printers with Fujifilm management and productivity software. (Details are still to be confirmed.)

The Summer Show is one of the best value, and best fun!, events that www.photomart.co.uk mount. It's VERY friendly, it's an EXCELLENT social opportunity, the workshops are SUPERB, the models are THE BEST, and the food is GREAT! PhotoWeek! will be there, and we look forward to seeing you all!
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IAN BRIERLEY EXHIBITION!

• Ian Brierley Exhibition! –
by Parinita Salian

British Travel & Tourism photographer, Ian Brierley, is to have an exhibition of his photo-art at the Guyana High Commission in London on 14 May, 2008. Ian has made more than three thousand images of Guyana, and selected forty to include in this exhibition at the Commission. [expand story >>>]

Ian said that the purpose of this Photo/Art exhibition is to create awareness for travel and tourism purposes, showcasing the raw beauty of Guyana, focusing on its people, architecture, culture, history and breath taking landscapes of the coastal and inland areas, including the mighty Kaieteur Falls deep in the rainforest (the world's largest single drop water fall).

For this Photo-Art exhibit he has edited and printed all the photographs on canvas to display his work as paintings, which blends his love for Art and Travel Photography.

The Guyana High Commission London will be inviting the Guyanese diaspora here in the UK, plus a V.I.P audience personally selected from the High Commission's database, to attend the exhibit.

[Ian has also been confirmed as one of the presenters for www.photomart.co.uk's Summer Show, a bumper day of photo workshops on June 18, which will include Ian's workshop "Endless Summer - speculative travel & tourism photography"]

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ALAMY FEATURED ON PHOTOGRAPHY TV!

• Alamy Featured On Photography TV! –
UK-based picture agency, Alamy, features on the latest episode of PhotographyTV. Part three of episode two of this new magazine-style web TV show is based in Alamy, and includes a walk around with Alamy Chief Executive, James West. West talks openly with presenter Sian Welby about the challenges facing stock photography. Sian also interviews Alamy Head of Content, Alan Capel, about the agency's picture submission process. [add comment]

THE APPRENTICE TRIES PHOTOGRAPHY!

• The Apprentice Tries Photography! – Last Wednesday BBC One TV's The Apprentice set its contestants the task of running a portrait photography business in one of the biggest shopping centres in the UK, the Bluewater. The teams had to set up stands, get customers to pose for portraits, and then sell them the resulting prints.

The teams were introduced to the concept of photo gifts, and taught that they could print photos onto a wide variety of products, such as mugs, mouse mats and jigsaw puzzles. [expand story >>>]

The programme showed how difficult it is for new entrants with no background to get this type of photography right. It's not easy to learn how to do it by just making it up yourself from scratch! Experienced event and snapshot photographers must have groaned repeatedly as they watched the show. In particular, it was taking the teams more than twenty minutes to get from capture to print, instead of the much shorter times most eventers practice .However they did manage some good displays of showmanship, and put together some sensible packages to sell.

Well known portrait photographer Terry O'Neil sat on the panel of the follow up program, The Apprentice: You're Fired.

This Episode of The Apprentice will remain available to watch again on the BBCi player for the next couple of days. [add comment]

FREE TICKETS!

• FREE TICKETS! – www. photo mart .co.uk in association with Fujifilm has 20 tickets to the HP Magnum Printing Masterclass, worth £50 each, to give away FREE! to PhotoWeek! readers. John Grayston of Fujifilm tells us all you have to do to claim your tickets is call www.photomart.co.uk on 0870 011 5761 and ask for a no-obligation quotation for a Fujifilm HP GreenBox wide format solution. Photomart will include a 3% discount on the quotation, and will send you tickets to the Masterclass. [expand story >>>]

The HP/Magnum Photography and Printing Masterclass will be held on May Day in the BFI (British Film Institute) on London's South Bank. It will feature well known Magnum photographers Donovan Wylie (featured in The Genius of Photography) and Chris Steele-Perkins (author of The Teds photo book).



Fujifilm HP GreenBox wide format solutions are bundles based on HP printers, combined with a Fujifilm RIP, training CD, colour management tools and media. They're everything you need to implement in-house wide format enlargements and canvas printing in your business, without having to make it all up yourself!

Booking a no-obligation quotation with www.photomart.co.uk will help you to decide which GreenBox solution might be right for you, and will secure you a 3% discount valid for as long as the quote is valid – as well as get you your free tickets! Offer closes April 30, 2008.
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KEITH TRAINOR CONFIRMED FOR CANNES!

• Keith Trainor Confirmed For Cannes! – SONY have chosen a UK photographer to be the official tog at their SONY World Photography Awards in Cannes on April 24! Keith Trainor, one of the UK's best known event photographers, has been confirmed in the role. This event is going to be one of the most prestigious in photography. The award for the World Photograph of the Year, the l'Iris d'Or, will come with a $25,000 cash prize. [expand story >>>]

Keith has a great deal of experience of shooting black tie events, including the annual Master Photographers Association Awards here in the UK, where his photos raise thousands of pounds for charity. (He is ably assisted at these gatherings variously by his Event Portraits team, his photographer/partner Beverly, and the couple's daughter.) Keith is well known for giving lectures, seminars and workshops on Event Photography throughout Europe and the U.S.A.

Event Portraits bought most of their event equipment – including SONY 6"x8" printers which they will use at the Awards ceremony, and the flight cases these will travel in – from leading eventing specialists www.photomart.co.uk.

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photoweek/2008/04/sony-world-photography-awards [add comment]

PHOTO LABS TAKE TO QUICK PRINTING!

• Photo Labs Take To Quick Printing! –
Independent photo labs have always been good at having more than one string to their bow. Now some are adding quick printing to the mix of services they offer. KAZ Photo in East London (UK) trialled the EXENUX photo book printer from www.photomart.co.uk. But when PhotoWeek! sent a reporter there to see how they were getting on, we found they had put the EXENUX to work as a digital press instead! You can watch the interview we recorded on YouTube! [expand story >>>]

The manager of KAZ realised her Photoshop people also knew how to do design for print (in Quark XPress and Adobe InDesign). She started selling this service to local businesses, and to her photo customers. She claims she's seen a seventy percent increase in this side of her business since the EXENUX was installed.



She tells us that the main improvements the EXENUX has over other lasers she has bought are a lack of jamming, an ability to handle heavier stocks and larger sizes, including SRA3+ and banner lengths, and the capability to accept custom sizes and irregular shapes. [add comment]

ADOBE LAUNCHES INTERNET TV!

• Adobe Launches Internet TV! –
by Parinita Salian

Adobe TV is a new online video resource for expert training on all Adobe products. Although the name makes it sound like a television channel, it's basically a web site and Adobe media Player "channel" dedicated to tutorials of all their products. It is free and accessible to Adobe's customers around the world. [expand story >>>]

Adobe has selected Splash Media LP, a digital video publishing and technology company, to produce original programming and video training content for Adobe TV. The Dallas-based Splash Media will produce original high-quality instructional programs featuring Adobe product teams and experts.

This web TV will present a growing number of channels to appeal to different audiences, including channels for photographers, designers, video professionals, and developers. All customers will be able to watch programs at their convenience, save content to view offline, and subscribe to favourite channels to get the latest programs.

Apart from the original videos, Adobe TV has launched with over 200 videos, and plans to add new segments each week from a variety of well-established professional training companies and publishers, including xTrain, Lynda, and Total Training.

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PHOTOGRAPHER FINDS ELVIS!

• Photographer finds Elvis! – Madison Square Garden's longtime official photographer, George Kalinsky, has discovered about forty new good concert shots of Elvis on rolls of negs he took at the Garden in 1972! In a scenario familiar to many of us, when he worked the '72 concert he felt he only got a few good shots – but on reviewing the rolls 35 years later, was surprised how many other great iconic images of the King were on them! [expand story >>>]

Kalinsky was asked to go through his old files by Graceland (Elvis Presley Enterprises) after he contacted them for permission to use an unpublished shot for a billboard campaign, "Great Moments in New York". This image, showing a caped and jump-suited Elvis, arms outstretched (in a moment that makes him appear almost a messianic superhero), is currently displayed on a billboard above the Virgin MegaStore in Times Square. Kalinsky turned up four more rolls of film from Elvis's second night performance at Madison Square Garden (December, 1972) after Graceland asked him to look see had he any more! Elvis Presley Enterprises will take the pick of the new images, and put them to good use in displays and exhibitions in Graceland. [add comment]

PULITZER PRIZES FOR PHOTOGRAPHY!

• Pulitzer prizes for photography! – The 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography has been awarded to Pakistan-born American photojournalist Adrees Latif of Reuters, for his shot of a mortally wounded video journalist, fallen and lying amongst protestors, as they were attacked by Burmese troops in Yangon on September 27, 2007.

The prize for Feature Photography has gone to Preston Gannaway for the series of photographs she took to accompany a Concord Monitor feature documenting a woman and her family as she was dying prematurely from cancer. [expand story >>>]

The Pulitzer Prizes for Journalism may be awarded to entrants of any nationality, as long as the work in question has appeared in a U.S. daily or weekly. Pulitzer's are arguably the world's most prestigious awards for journalism.
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SONY WORLD PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS!

• Sony World Photography Awards! – The SONY World Photography Awards will be presented at Cannes on April 24. This is the inaugural year of the awards, and coincides with the arrival of SONY's Alpha system (the corporation's new family of DSLR's and lenses). The presentations will take place at a VIP gala evening in the Palais des Festivals and will include an award to a noted individual for their contribution to photography. [expand story >>>]

Winners in the amateur category have been announced already, and include two Britons – Martin Kharumwa and Kerry Grainger – as well as overall winner Dr. Arup Ghosh, an Indian amateur with a remarkable portfolio of travel photography – shot in the subcontinent – who won with his photograph of a barber at work.

The SONY World Photography Awards are richly endowed, and they're judged by some of the leading names in photography today. The awards ceremony will make a big splash. And SONY have enlisted Magnum to curate an exhibition of the winners, to be displayed alongside some of the most iconic prints in the history of photography.

SONY is an established leader in broadcast systems, and in professional and commercial photo printing. Their sponsorship of these awards, and the corporation's introduction of professional Alpha DSLR models, could be read as indicating how serious they are about competing with Canon and Nikon for mindshare amongst pro photographers. [add comment]

GREENSCREEN TAKES OFF IN UK!

• Greenscreen Takes Off in UK! –
by Parinita Salian


"What's all the fuss about greenscreen, then?", wedding photographer Kevin Poucher asked me the other week. Like many togs today, he was keen to know the benefits. Movies have used mattes to superimpose subjects onto background scenes for decades. But the greenscreen being adopted by photographers is the instant digital kind (as used to put maps behind weather reporters). This type of greenscreen is so fast, it can even be used for instant snapshots at events. Software like ExpressDigital DARKROOM Professional can matte a subject onto a digital background, with little or no manual intervention, in seconds. [expand story >>>]

It's especially beneficial to wedding, portrait, and sports and event photographers. David Solomon, a schools photographer, told me: "The other day I ended up doing a school football team shoot on a very cloudy and dull day. So I decided to shoot the various teams against greenscreen, and at a later date I took shots of the school building on the sunniest day possible. I was able to get a picture perfect result for all the teams."

Event photographers use it to drop their subjects onto digital backgrounds. At a fancy dress, that might be a fantasy background, or a themed background may be used at other events.

The use of greenscreen has been a staple of photographers in the U.S. for years. It's clearly starting to take off on this side of the pond now too. [add comment]

SONY UP-DR200 audio review

SONY UP-DR200 Professional Dye Sub Photo Printer up to 6"x8" – audio review!

Search Code:
UPDR200

NEW! SONY UPDR-200 PRINTER! This is the machine destined to succeed Sony's UP-DR150 as arguably the king of event printers in the fast 6"x8" class. The biggest changes from the former model include a whopping upgrade in paper capacity and a whole new type of media.

  click the play button to listen to our first assessment of the new SONY UP-DR200.

EXPRESS DIGITAL TRAINING DAY!

• Express Digital Training Day! – ExpressDigital held the first of this year's quarterly UK Darkroom training dates in the London studios of www. photomart .co.uk last month. Darkroom is a photography workflow productivity program that helps togs to get from capture to print sale in the fastest, most profitable way. Darkroom expert Bryan Osborne presented the workshop, and PhotoWeek!'s own Parinita Salian was on hand to ask the delegates what they thought of it. [expand story >>>]

"It's very informative", one delegate told Pari in the video interview below, "We certainly learned quite a lot this morning. We came open-minded, not having used the software before. I'm hoping to learn a bit more about the greenscreen this afternoon. It seems very usable. It does seem to be the thing we need".



"The workshop was good", another delegate told her, "Very interesting, very interactive. DARKROOM is invaluable, it's excellent. I've tried to do similar sorts of things with Photoshop, and it's just not possible. ExpressDigital DARKROOM is the way forward."

There will be DARKROOM training days at www.photomart.co.uk London quarterly this year, with the next one due to be scheduled for late June.
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KILLING FIELDS PHOTOGRAPHER DIES

• Killing fields photographer dies – Dith Pran, whose work (and fate) as reporting partner to Sydney H. Schanberg was portrayed in the movie The Killing Fields, has died of cancer in hospital in New Jersey. He was 65. Dith Pran originally taught himself photography so that he could take pictures for Schanberg. After his escape from Cambodia in 1979 he worked as a staff photographer on The New York Times. [expand story >>>]

The Killing Fields movie includes a portrayal of Schanberg and other foreign journalists attempting to create a passport for Dith Pran, so that he can escape the country with them. A passport of Schanberg's is altered by removing all except his middle names, and the passport photo is removed. To replace it with one of Dith Pran, the journalists photograph him and develop and print the negative in an embassy bathroom. The paper is out of date. The chemicals are improvised. The first two attempts to print the photo fail to stop and fix it. The third print seems to be okay, but has faded completely by the time it is needed. [add comment]

PHILIP JONES GRIFFITHS DIES

• Legendary Photojournalist Philip Jones Griffiths dies at 72 –
by Parinita Salian

British photographer Philip Jones Griffiths, best known for his incisive coverage of the Vietnam war, passed away on Tuesday, March 19 at his home in London. Jones Griffiths, a longtime member and former president of the prestigious Magnum photo agency had been battling cancer. [expand story >>>]

Born in Rhuddlan, Wales, Jones Griffiths studied pharmacy in Liverpool and practiced in London while photographing part time for the Manchester Guardian. In 1961 he became a full-time freelancer for the London Observer. He covered the Algerian War in 1962, then became based in Central Africa, moving from there to Asia. From 1966 to 1971, Jones Griffiths reported on the Vietnam War. His influential book, Vietnam Inc., helped turn US public opinion against the conflict. He returned to Vietnam numerous times in the 1980s and 1990s to document the country's recovery. Those images were collected in the books Agent Orange – Collateral Damage in Vietnam (2003) and Vietnam at Peace (2005).



In a career that took him to more than a hundred countries, Jones Griffiths covered everything from Buddhism in Cambodia, drought in India, and poverty in Texas to the legacy of the Gulf war in Kuwait. You can see some of his work on the frontlines in the YouTube clip above.

With his death we have lost one of the greatest photographers and journalists of our time. But his work will live on to be a true inspiration for the many emerging photojournalists in the world. [add comment]