Photographers will pay for all printing and postage costs. The highest bidder for the photo will donate their winning bid to the Red Cross. A screenshot of the donation confirmation will be used as proof of payment.

Add an image to be part of the auction, or bid on some of the photos and help raise some much needed funds to benefit Haiti.

Time: 12 Noon
Date: Saturday 23rd January 2010
Where: Trafalgar Square

The Competition is FREE to enter online at www.worldphotographyawards.org

Both Professional and Amateur photographers are welcome to enter into two separate competitions, each featuring categories across all genres of photography.

Architecture • Advertising • Fashion • Documentary Photojournalism • Music • Sport • Landscape • Conceptual & Constructed • Natural History • Arts & Entertainment • Current Affairs • Contemporary
Issues

Prizes include:

• $5,000 - $25,000 (USD)
• Professional camera equipment from Sony
• Trips to Cannes
• World Photography Awards trophies
• A year-long representation by the World Photography Organisation
• A Global Tour exhibition in 6 or more cities around the world
• Publication in the SWPA Catalogue or Book
• Online exhibition

Images are judged by the Honorary Judging Committee selected each year from the World Photographic Academy. Previous judges have included internationally acclaimed industry leaders such as Nan Goldin, Elliott Erwitt, Mary Ellen Mark, Adrian Evans (Dir. Panos Pictures), Martin Parr, Grazia Neri (Dir. Grazia Neri Agency) Susan Meiselas, Philippe Garner (Head of Christie’s, photography).

Tuesday 12 January 2010,
6.30pm for a prompt 7pm start
After 7pm rsvps can not be guarenteed a seat.

Door entry is £5 Foto8 Magazine members and students, and £8 to all others
Please email rsvp [at] foto8.com to reserve your place

Paul Lowe will be talking to award-winning Azeri photographer Rena Effendi about her first UK exhibition (at Host gallery), and her new series of work, Pipe Dreams, which explores the lives of people living along 1,700 km of pipeline through Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. The result is a fascinating collection of images which reflect the harsh realities of life as well as moments of unexpected beauty amongst the bleak landscape.

Effendi has won several international photography awards including the Fifty Crows Documentary Photography award, Mario Giacomelli Memorial Fund award, and Getty Images Editorial grant. In 2005 she participated in the World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass. In 2007, she was chosen by Photo District News as one of 30 emerging photographers to watch. And in 2008 Effendi won the National Geographic All Roads photography award. Her work has been exhibited worldwide.

Paul Lowe is an award-winning freelance photographer and teacher living and working between Sarajevo and London. He is currently developing an online educational programme for developing-world photographers in conjunction with the World Press Photo Foundation in Amsterdam, and is the director of the MA Photojournalism and Documentary Photography course at the London College of Communication.

This week’s LPB Focus photo from randydandy.

(Remember: add your photo to the London Photobloggers Flickr pool to be considered for the LPB Focus).

This week’s LPB Focus photo from only lines.

28 Stories showcases exciting and innovate work by graduates of the MA Photojournalism & Documentary Photography at LCC’s brand new Gallery Spaces. In keeping with the very best documentary work, much of the work on show by the photographers from this year’s course is the result of a deep engagement and involvement with their subject matter. Their work is diverse in theme, style and medium, exploring the human condition with intelligence and wit in both traditional and unconventional ways. The more conceptual work is smart, refreshingly unpretentious and immediately accessible.

There is a private view on December 9th from 6pm-10pm with professor David Campbell, Telegraph picture editor & photo critic, Lucy Davies, and photographers Simon Norfolk and Ed Kashi in conversation about “The New Ecology of Photojournalism.”

This week’s LPB Focus photo from bimma.

The competition is being run to celebrate the launch of the new Sony Ericsson Satio handset on Vodafone. As the prize, 61 members of the public will win a once in a lifetime opportunity to be chosen to have their eyes immortalised by Jillian Edelstein.

To enter,  you have to  upload your details, an image of your eyes and why you’d like to be involved over at www.eyeswideopen.co.uk. It actually be a very interesting experience to just meet Edelstein and watch her work. The deadline is November 29th, so if you are keen, get your entry in asap!

A giant pigeon has landed in central London to mark the launch of Panasonic’s 8 x optical zoom super compact camera – the Lumix DMC-ZX1.

A team of five artists spent two months constructing the 1.52 metre high and 3.2 metre wide fibre glass structure which was lifted into place in Potters Fields, central London at 8am before moving further along the banks of the Thames for a national photo call in front of The Houses of Parliament. The sculpture which weighs 200kg will now spend the next two weeks in Neal Street, Covent Garden.

It could be a very fun photo opportunity. There’s a Facebook page where you can submit your own photographs which showcase the fun that can be had with perspective for a chance to win a trip to the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games.

The giant pigeon is one of a series of objects which have been magnified and brought to life by Panasonic to illustrate the powerful 8 x optical zoom lens of the new Lumix DMC-ZX1. Other installations around the country will include a giant conker, postbox, traffic cone, park bench and crumpled coffee cup. These sculptures will be popping up in high profile locations in the respective cities of Edinburgh, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds and Bristol over the next few days.

To see more visit www.facebook.com/8xlife