How Many?!

50?! Yep, its 50! Hasselblad’s just announced their new H3DII-50 which has a 50 megapixel sensor. That’s more than twice the output of the Canon 1DS MkIII!

The H3DII-50 produces a 300Mb file, shoots at 1fps and has an ASA range of 50 to 400.

Apple 3G iPhone now available to order

I’m sure almost everyone has heard of the new 3G iPhone. Its launch date is July 11, but you can also now order it direct from O2 and have it delivered for the 11th.

John Moore Interview

Digital Journalist has an interesting interview with john Moore; well worth checking out.

400Gb Optical Storage….on one disc!

Pioneer have developed a 16 layer optical disc which will hold 400Gb on a Blue Ray disc. This is obviously great news for archiving pictures. However as with all things optical, its going to take a while to find out what the longevity of these discs will be.


As a side line, my advice is back everything up on at least two hard drives and then optical media. Also, look into “cloud” services like Amazon S3 (Using Jungle Disk) or Apple’s “.Mac” (soon to be relaunched as “Mobile Me” for virtual storage space on remote servers for important files.

Zoriah

I’ve just come across the work of Zoriah. I must admit to not being aware of his work, but he has some very powerful images and a very interesting blog.

This picture shows the aftermath of a suicide bomb in Iraq. An elderly man sits as if asleep in a lawn chair. He has in fact lost his life. To read more about the day’s events, look here. Please be warned that there are some very powerful images which may be upsetting to some.

W. Eugene Smith Fund – Deadline 15 July

The W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund wishes to remind
all that call for submissions to its 2008 Grant in Humanistic Photography is still open for entries.

Application deadline for the coming W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography is July 15, 2008. Photographers interested in applying may download an application at:

http://www.smithfund.org

We hope you will spread the word by email to photographers in your communities and to emerging photographers who might still not be aware of the Grant.

The W. Eugene Smith Grant is presented annually to a photographer whose past work and proposed project, as judged by a panel of experts, follows the tradition of W. Eugene Smith’s compassionate dedication exhibited during his 45-year career as a photographic essayist.

For 2008, the Smith Grant will be $30,000, with an additional $5,000 in fellowship money also to be given at the discretion of the jury. The Grant recognizes photographers who have demonstrated a commitment to documenting the human condition. The grant program is independently administered by the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund and is funded in part with contributions from Digital Railroad, Getty Images, The Mona Fund, and Open Society Institute. Winners receive their awards in a ceremony held in New York City in October One of the most prestigious honors in photojournalism, the Smith Grant was established in 1978 following the death of Smith, the legendary photo essayist, by his friends Howard Chapnick, Jim Hughes and John Morris to perpetuate his work and spirit. The grant program provides photographers with the financial freedom to envision and carry out major photographic studies.
Applicants must include a written proposal, which should be, concise, journalistically realizable, visually translatable and humanistically driven.

Applicants are also asked to provide a resumé of educational and professional qualifications along with evidence of photographic ability in the form of photographic workprints (8”x10” prints preferred, and no more than 40), and/or photocopies, duplicate transparencies, contact sheets and clippings of published stories. Digital images will be considered only if delivered as low-resolution jpegs on a CD or DVD (no RAW files, TIFF files, or on-line applications).

The Smith Fund’s executive committee appoints a three-person jury each year to review the applications and proposals. The jury meets twice, first to select finalists. The finalists are then asked to submit a comprehensive photographic portfolio, to write a more details and focused proposal and to answer questions about the project.

At their second meeting, the jury reviews the new material and selects the grant recipient and the recipient of the additional fellowship. The recipient must warrant that the project in progress is ongoing, and agree to provide the Fund with a set of photographs when the project is completed. The photographs will be housed as part of the permanent W. Eugene Smith Legacy Collection at the ICP.

There is no entry fee. The application advises that preliminary material will be returned only when accompanied by appropriate packaging and sufficient U.S. postage or its equivalent in U.S. dollars or prepaid return Delivery Form by courier. The Fund is not responsible for loss or damage.

Please send all submissions to:

W. Eugene Smith Fund c/o ICP
1133 Avenue of the Americas
New York, 
NY 10036 — USA

For any and all questions please email:

EugeneSmithFund@mac.com