August is a metallic month

Hello lovely people! If you haven't guessed from my Twitter stream, I'm utterly glued to the Olympics at the moment. Apart from it producing some fantastic photography, it's also par-for-the-course because as anyone who knows me will confirm, I'll watch, or listen to, just about any sport going and I've been known to participate a bit, too. I get very excited and jump up and down and scream and shout. And I'll admit that I can cry on occasion.

Anyway, all of that is my rather round-about preamble to announcing our tenuously Olympic-themed competition. Think of all those glorious gold, silver, and bronze medals made out of shiny, shiny metal. Mmm shiny! Yes, we're looking for metallic images throughout August. From antique jewellery to modern art installations that you don't quite understand, we'll take it all. It just has to be metal.

The glinting entry to catch our eyes will win a 12" Fracture.

Entries can be submitted to the Small Aperture Flickr pool from today (Friday 3 August) until Friday 31 August 2012. That gives you four weeks. But please remember that it's one entry per person, so pick your best.

I've had a couple queries about what we look for when we're selecting the winners. Both Haje and I have written on the subject of winning photography competitions, so you might want to look at those articles. It's probably also worth knowing that for both us, the story in your image is key. Haje's a stickler for good lighting, I'm hot on composition, and if Gareth joins the party he'll always comment on sharpness.

For reference, I shall reproduce the rules, but all that remains is for me to wish you good luck and tell you how much I'm looking forward to your entries!

The Rules

• If you decide to enter, you agree to The Rules.
• You can’t be related to either me or Haje to enter.
• One entry per person – so choose your best!
• Entries need to be submitted to the right place, which is the Small Aperture Flickr group.
• There’s a closing date for entries, so make sure you’ve submitted before then.
• You have to own the copyright to your entry and be at liberty to submit it to a competition. Using other people’s photos is most uncool.
• It probably goes without saying, but entries do need to be photographs. It’d be a bit of strange photo competition otherwise.
• Don’t do anything icky – you know, be obscene or defame someone or sell your granny to get the photo.
• We (that being me and Haje) get to choose the winner and we’ll do our best to do so within a week of the competition closing.
• You get to keep all the rights to your images. We just want to be able to show off the winners (and maybe some honourable mentions) here on Pixiq.
• Entry is at your own risk. I can’t see us eating you or anything, but we can’t be responsible for anything that happens to you because you submit a photo to our competition.
• We are allowed to change The Rules, or even suspend or end the competition, if we want or need to. Obviously we’ll try not to, but just so that you know.

If you've any questions, please just ask!

A tremendous two-tone competition winner in July

We asked for two-tone images in July. Maybe red against yellow; perhaps purple shot with green; how about orange sidled up against pink; or in the case of our delightful winner, Dim the lights: blue contrasting with green.

So why did we choose this cracker by Hooker771, apart from the juxtaposition of the blue and the green that so perfectly encapsulated the theme? The lighting is beautiful. We loved the story. The lines are fantastic. And it made us smile.

That's bagged him a 12" Fracture.

We'll be announcing August's competition tomorrow, so keep your eyes peeled, both here and on Twitter, for the details.

Fujifilm's F800EXR, trying to win back the smartphone crowd with wi-fi

With all the focus on Fujifilm's gloriously stylish range of premium cameras, it's easy to forget that they've a range of competent compacts, too. Yesterday, they added one more to the line-up, ready to convince the social media savvy cool kids that they really do want a compact in addition to their smartphones.

This is the F800EXR, successor to the F770EXR. This makes it a little bit more than your average point-and-shoot that's a mania of megapixels and frenzy of filters packaged in garish pink. It's Fujifilm's flagship compact camera, with full manual control and Raw capability. 

It comes with a 16 megapixel back side illuminated EXR-CMOS sensor (the EXR sensor is Fujifilm's proprietary technology that enables the sensor to switch between three modes–high sensitivity/low noise, dynamic range, and high resolution–depending on conditions, for optimal results), 20× optical zoom, and when you deploy the intelligent digital zoom function, you can bump that up to 40×. In auto mode, it can select between 103 patterns to get the best results for an image.

The press release is very cleverly worded to make it seem as if the F800EXR has a faster start-up, shot-to-shot, and auto-focusing speed than its predecessor. However, looking back at the F770EXR's spec, they remain at 1.5 seconds, 0.8 seconds, and a minumum of 0.16 seonds (at the shortest focal distance), respectively. 

But the focus is on making it connected and trendy, so what's the deal? First, you can transfer photos to a tablet or smartphone that has Fuji's Photo Receiver app installed. Up to 30 photos can beam their way from camera to device in one go, wirelessly, and password free.

Second, with the Fuji Camera app, you can send your camera's location back to itself, via your tablet or smartphone. And via that, your camera can also act as your tour guide for wherever you happen to be. Somehow, that seems needlessly complicated to me, with far too much backwardsing and forwardsing between devices. And really, why not just use your iPhone or your iPad to locate your nearest landmarks and points of interest? There's even an app to pinpoint the closest public convenience, and your camera can't do that.

Like any good camera, it has its filters, so that you can flip between pop colour, high-key, toy camera, miniature, dynamic tone, and partial colour, at the touch of a button. And of course you can make full HD video (1920x1080 pixels).

You can create 360º panoramas and there's a multiple exposure mode, too.

When it comes out (I've heard rumours of August in the US, September in Europe, and prices around $350 or £280), it'll be available in black, red, or white.

The question is, is all of this enough to convince those who are deserting compacts and heading off towards the bright horizon of the smartphone? I don't think so. If you want convenience and immediate Facebookableness, you'll still use your smartphone. If you want a gamut of impossible filters, then you'll stick with your smartphone, too.

If you want a compact camera because of the benefits of having a compact, the wifi gimmicks probably won't make much difference. I've a compact for situations when my dSLR is inappropriate or inconvenient, but I still want the control it affords. I'm hardly going to edit my Raw images on an iPhone, am I? And transfering them wirelessly sounds murderous. My parents use a compact camera because they don't have a smartphone, which makes the F800's connectivity a joke for them. We'll buy compact cameras because of their performance, not because of their corresponding iPhone apps.

I remain convinced that there's a place for compact cameras in the market; I think that camera manufacturers need to work out where it is and concentrate on that.

Wave goodbye to your Fujichrome Velvia 100F and 50

Bye-bye Fujichrome Velvia 100F

They're not the first to go, and they most certainly won't be the last, but Fujifilm has today announced that it is ceasing production of Fujichrome Velvia 100F in 35mm, 120, and 4”×5” formats, and Velvia 50 in 4”×5” and 8”×10”. The last shipments of these films are due to arrive in the UK in December 2012.

There's no real surprise that some varieties of film are being discontinued. Demand is falling, prices are increasing, and as a consequence, demand will fall some more. Yes, there's still a vibrant community of film-based photographers out there, and Fujifilm will continue to cater for them. But they'll just have a slightly smaller selection of film available to them from next year.

As Gabriel Da Costa–who product manages professional film for Fujifilm–put it: 'It is an unfortunate consequence of digital capture, that some of the slower selling silver-halide lines will drop off the radar.'

So it goes. If you're especially attached to any of these films, I suggest you buy a freezer and start stocking piling.

Get learning with Leica

Who's up for a weekend away with Leica, then? The Leica Akademie has announced its US 2012 to 2012 programme of one-day specials and week-long adventures. Thirty-six different programmes will pass thorugh 16 different cities between the end of August 2012 and 24 May 2013, with the aim of inspiring photographers and developing their skills.

Whether you're a beginner or more experienced, you'll find something that suits, provided that you can pay for it, of course. You'll be in small classes, led by experienced Leica instructors, and shooting environments that should bring out the best in you.

Leica M Monochrom: The Future of Black-And-White Photography

• Designed around the Leica M Monochrom, the only 35mm camera dedicated to black-and-white
• All about visualising scenes and gaining a better understanding of lighting, texture, contrast and tonal gradation
• $249 fee, with a $150 voucher redeemable against a Leica M brand product purchased new from a North American dealer

Leica Destinations: All-Inclusive Multi-Day Photography Experiences

• Acadia & Mount Desert Island, ME: 7 to 11 October, 2012 ($1,899)
• Preserving Patagonia: 23 to 30 March, 2013 ($7,725)
• Big Sur & Monterey, CA: 23 to 27 April, 2013 ($2,499)
• Santa Fe & Taos, NM, In the Footsteps of Ansel Adams: 19 to 23 May, 2013 ($2,999)

The Truth About Photographs: Developing a Distinctive Visual Style

• Aimed at intermediate to advanced M System photographers
• Multi-day workshop
• Focused onthe creative process behind capturing an image
• $599 fee, with a $150 voucher redeemable against a Leica M brand product purchased new from a North American dealer

Better Pictures with Leica Compact Cameras: Digital Basics

• Aimed at point-and-shoot photographers who prefer to use auto or Programme mode
• Designed to explore and overcome the obstacles to capturing great images
• $149

Better Pictures with Leica Compact Cameras: Advanced

• Aimed at owners of cameras such as the X1, X2, D-Lux5, and V-Lux3
• About learning tips and tricks, and exploring the flexibility of these cameras when taken off Programme mode
• $149

Leica S-System Experience

• One day workshop based around the S2 system
• Includes landscape opportunities and studio sessions
• Class size limit of eight students
• $299 fee, with a $150 voucher redeemable against a Leica M or S brand product purchased new from a North American dealer

Leica Weekends

• Led by a Leica instructor and Leica featured photographer
• From rangefinder basics to advanced techniques, tailored to the host city
• $499 fee, with a $150 voucher redeemable against a Leica M brand product purchased new from a North American dealer

The Leica M9 Owners Workshop: A Practical Session Designed for Owners of the Leica M9

• Practical shooting and useful editing skills
• For M9 users, obviously
• $199, with a $150 voucher redeemable against a Leica M brand product purchased new from a North American dealer

Leica Street Photography: Two Day Workshop

• Ideal for M System owners
• Encourages exploration of new techniques
• $349, with a $150 voucher redeemable against a Leica M brand product purchased new from a North American dealer

For more information, including cities, dates, and sign-up forms, head to the Leica Akademie website. You can address questions to the Akademie@leicacamerausa.com email.

Crazy or sensible? A full-frame sensor in a smaller-sized body.

Same-same-but-different? How about the 5D MkIII's sensor, in a smaller body?

Sometime yesterday, a couple of articles on a rumoured smaller-sized Canon camera with a full-frame sensor popped into my news feed. Most of yesterday was spent writing, not reading, and I didn't get the chance to pay much attention to them until this morning.

The gory details of the camera are themselves interesting: it would be smaller and lighter than a 5D MkIII, with a mostly plastic construction and possibly a pop-up flash. It'd have a 19 point auto-focus system, a sensitivity range of ISO 100 to 51,200, and 22 megapixel full-frame sensor.

But what actually interested me more was F-Stoppers' reaction to this potential new camera:

Canon Rumors has said that an entry level full frame doesn’t make sense, and though affordable access to the 5D MKIII sensor is tantalizing, I kind of agree. A full frame sensor isn’t really necessary for most of the photographers out there and may just be an attempt to move emphasis away from megapixel count and grab a few more of those consumer dollars that drive the company.

Really? You reckon that there are photographers out there who wouldn't be seriously interested in a camera that has a full-frame sensor, but is smaller and lighter than a 5D MkIII. Sure, Canon would have to get this camera absolutely right, but hell, I'd love a full-frame sensor in a body that I didn't need a small trailer to transport.

You see, I like this idea of having choice. My reasons for choosing to use a camera that isn't classically categorised as 'Pro' or 'Prosumer' aren't necessarily dictated by whether or not I'm scared of all the knobs and levers on one, or whether or not I think I need to be able to shoot lots and lots of frames per second, or whether or not I'm wooed by all those extra megapixels. One of them is size and weight. The other is cost. There are certain elements in a camera that I'm prepared to sacrifice for others, but if I'm offered a camera that closer meets my wish-list, then so much the better.

Ideally, I'd like some kind of identi-kit camera, where I could pick and choose the elements that are most important to me. The progressive scale where you have more of everything in each iteration doesn't necessarily meet my needs. Of course, in some respects, it goes with the territory; increase one factor and it automatically increases another. Still, wouldn't it be great to have a camera that meets your specifications? If that's even a possibility, it's a long way off. But until then, Canon offering a variation on a theme is a good thing, in my opinion.

More manufacturing woes for Canon; this time with the 650D

Watch those rubber grips, Ladies and Gentlemen

It's been a sticky few days for Canon. They've recalled some S100s because under certain atmospheric conditions the lens can get stuck, delivery of the EF 24-70mm has been delayed for a second time, and now there's a problem with the grip on the 650D (that's the T4i, if you're across the Pond from me).

Between 31 May and 15 June 2012, whoever was adding the rubber accelerator to the pot slipped and added a bit too much. This excess accelerator can react with 'other substances' (nothing more descriptive than that from Canon), particularly in high temperature and humidity conditions, to create zinc bis, which'll turn the grip white.

Apart from the newly-whitened grip ruining the aesthetic of the camera, it's possible that some people might experience an allergic skin reaction to the zinc bis. If they rub their eyes with it on their hands, they might go red and sore, too. Canon is advising people to seek medical attention if they're experiencing any allergic symptoms.

Meanwhile, how do you know if your bright shiny new 650D is affected? Check the serial number. If the sixth digit of the serial number is 2 or higher, you're safe. Got a 1 - get in touch with Canon. Alternatively, you could just enter the serial number into their handy-dandy checker, which'll spew out an answer in seconds. That's found here.

Canon UK has requested that anyone with an affected camera get in touch with an authorised service facility. There will be a free repair service in place after 17 July. Until then, wash your hands after touching your camera, especially if the grip has turned white. For affected Canon customers elsewhere, get in touch with your local support team.

To mis-quote Oscar Wilde, to have one product recall is misfortunate; two have two is carelessness. If I were an owner of an 650D or an S100, I wouldn't be feeling too confident in Canon's manufacturing processes right now. Should I own both, which isn't exactly an outlandish combination, I'd be far from impressed. I'm pretty much tied into Canon products now, but if I were just starting out, this is the sort of harries-up that'd make me consider a different manufacturer.

You can, and need to, do better than this, Canon.

Adobe UK kicks off its Creative Week

Adobe UK launched a week-long celebration of all things creative at lunchtime today. Creatively, they've named it Creative Week. It brings together Adobe staff and specialists, leading professionals, and industry movers-and-shakers to participate in debates, run workshops, and host show-and-tell sessions. And all of this is being broadcast over the Intergoogles, so wherever you are with a connection, you can get involved.

If you're reading this, the chances are that you'll be most interested in Friday's sessions, which are photography-focused. Timothy Allen, Erin Moroney, and Glyn Dewis will be live debating. Adobe Evangelist (awesome job title) Julianne Kost will be divulging some of Photoshop CS6's secrets. And Allan Jenkins will be running a show-and-tell on producing Victorian-era Cyanotype prints. There are more sessions on Photoshop and Lightroom, too, in case that wasn't enough.

Wednesday is Film and Video day; Tuesday looks at design and publishing; and Thursday is dedicated to web and mobile.

You can get the full agenda from Adobe UK's blog, and sign-up to watch sessions on the Adobe Create website.

Have fun!

Get terrific with two-tone for July's competition

Green and red! (Picture by Haje)

Okey-dokey! It's July. We've been wracking our brains for a competition theme that'll get you thinking and taking photos. So after a bit of this and a bit of that, we decided that two-tone was the way to go. We want photos that feature two colours. Red and green, blue and orange, yellow and purple... Any shades, any tints, but two hues. (And black and white don't count.)

The competition runs from today, Thursday 5 July, until Thursday 26 July. As ever, it's one entry per person, and the person whose image captivates us the most will win for her or himself a gorgeous 12 inch Fracture.

All your beautiful pictures need to be placed in the Small Aperture Flickr pool. I'm always happy to answer any questions, ping me an email (it's over there →) or leave a comment. Otherwise, good luck! (And justincase, The Rules have been reproduced for you.)

The Rules

• If you decide to enter, you agree to The Rules.
• You can’t be related to either me or Haje to enter.
• One entry per person – so choose your best!
• Entries need to be submitted to the right place, which is the Small Aperture Flickr group.
• There’s a closing date for entries, so make sure you’ve submitted before then.
• You have to own the copyright to your entry and be at liberty to submit it to a competition. Using other people’s photos is most uncool.
• It probably goes without saying, but entries do need to be photographs. It’d be a bit of strange photo competition otherwise.
• Don’t do anything icky – you know, be obscene or defame someone or sell your granny to get the photo.
• We (that being me and Haje) get to choose the winner and we’ll do our best to do so within a week of the competition closing.
• You get to keep all the rights to your images. We just want to be able to show off the winners (and maybe some honourable mentions) here on Pixiq.
• Entry is at your own risk. I can’t see us eating you or anything, but we can’t be responsible for anything that happens to you because you submit a photo to our competition.
• We are allowed to change The Rules, or even suspend or end the competition, if we want or need to. Obviously we’ll try not to, but just so that you know.

If you've any questions, please just ask!

---

Fabulously fun – our June photo competition winner

Tana Gandhi's Fun!

June's competition theme was fun. We were in search of photos that evoked a sense of playfulness and enjoyment. Lots of the entries featured children–given that they are the aficionados of fun, it was hardly surprising–and water was also a prominent theme. But when it came to selecting our winner one entry leapt out a mile and raised huge grins. For us, it was the perfect representation of fun.

Many congratulations to Tana Gandhi for her composition simply called Fun! You absolutely nailed it, Tana, with those wonderful colours, the balloons rising upwards, and its overall sense of positivity. You've won a 12 inch Fracture.

I'll be putting up the theme for July's competition within hours, so look out for that. Meanwhile, thank you all for entering!

An itty-bitty problem with the itty-bitty Canon S100

Canon's S100: gorgeous and very capable, but some models currently have a sticking point

It's not exactly ideal when the retractable lens of your compact camera stops retracting and is left fully extended if it gets a bit too hot or sticky outside. Unfortunately this is the precise scenario that's been afflicting a handful of Canon S100s. Apparently an internal connection fails in some of the cameras if the temperature or humidity levels get too high.

I can't see that happening in these parts right now, it's just too cold. But it'd be a different matter entirely in Florida.

It's only cameras with serial numbers that begin with the digits 29 through to 41 that are affected. (So the serial number would read 29xxxxxxxxxx, or 35xxxxxxxxxx, or 41xxxxxxxxxx, for example.) Canon is offering a free repair if yours happens to be one of the unfortunate ones. It doesn't matter if it's out of warranty, and there are rumours of refunds if you had it repaired independently, too.

Get in touch with Canon Customer Support wherever you are, and they'll help you out if you have an affected camera.

Pentax invites you to Meet Britain

Reggie Yates encourages you to Meet Britain on behalf of Pentax

Pentax UK wants to know: what makes Britain great? It's inviting people to submit images reflecting what they believe is iconic about the UK. It doesn't necessarily make Britain great, but the rain is definitely iconic. You could get plenty of photos of that. There are five categories for submissions: celebrations (in the rain), summer holidays (and that would be which summer, precisely?), friends and family (soggy), Great British culture (damp), and the Great British outdoors (flooded).

Encouraging people to get on board with this quest for icons are singer and actress Sarah Harding and DJ and TV presenter Reggie Yates. They'll be submitting their own sets of images conveying what they think is great about Britain.

For anyone who wants to enter, you do so via the Meet Britain app on the Pentax UK Facebook page, until 3 September 2012.

If your entry is judged the best in its category, you'll win a shiny new weather-sealed Pentax K-30, perfect for the climate. The person who's talented enough to be judged the over all winner will pick up £1,000, too.

Worth a try, hey?

At last... Triggertrap v1 is shipping!

It's been an absolute rollercoaster of a ride, from inception, to smashing its Kickstarter funding goal, to testing, to production set-backs, to PayPal's crushing inefficiency and potentially disastrous unilateral decision-making, to yet more production delays, through nerves, excitement, terror, frustration, and finally elation: Triggertrap v1 is shipping.

Today, the first batch of universal camera triggers were dispatched from the factory in China to their eagerly-waiting recipients.

If you've followed the story from the beginning, you'll know that Haje and the Triggertrap team have lived and breathed every moment of its development. It's been an enlightening process, watching a product take shape from idea to reality, through all of its ups and downs. These guys' tenacity and determination has been inspiring. Congratulations! I hope that you're enjoying a few beers this evening.

Now I'm waiting for mine to drop through my letterbox.

May's beautiful competition winner

There were a host of cracking entries for May's competition; choosing a winner took a great deal of back-and-forth discussion to work out just which one we thought deserved to walk away with the victory spoils. The victory spoils being an entry into the Small Aperture Hall of Fame and a wonderful 12 inch Fracture.

Eventually, we settled on Prairie_Girl76's wonderful Pulsatilla Seed Head. We thought that the composition was spot-on, that the depth-of-field gave it plenty of interest, and that it was beautifully exposed. Well done!

However, we'd also like to give a couple of honourable mentions, too. We don't do this very often, but it illustrates precisely how highly we thought of the entries.

Joakim Jalden's Seeds was a very close second:

Previous winner Hooker771's Curly Q Refraction is just fabulous:

We also enjoyed the concept behind Tana Gandhi's Rose Petals Organised Neatly.

You made it really hard for us: thank you!

June's competition is still rocking and rolling and we're looking for photos of fun. So get going with pictures of snowball fights, celebrating taking wickets, and playing with the dog. We want to feel the fun oozing out of them when we judge them!

Who's afraid of a nine-year-old with a camera?

Martha's lunch on Tuesday 15 May, 2012.

If you're in the UK, and provided that you've not been living beneath a rock, you've almost certainly heard about nine year old Martha Payne today.

Martha's a Scottish schoolgirl who took to them there Intergoogles to document her adventures in school dinners on her blog, Never Seconds. She'd take a photo of whatever was presented to her by her school's kitchen staff, count how many mouthfuls it took her to eat it (unless she burned her mouth on soup, that made things tricky) and then comment on it in the refreshingly disarming and charming tone that nine year olds do. She'd mark it out of ten for its tastiness and give it a healthiness quotient, and she'd also check for stray hairs. Just in case.

People loved her. And who could blame them? She was bright and funny and honest. Carrot and corriander soup was her favourite but somedays she didn't think that what she was served would see her through the afternoon. For some children, their school meal is their only meal of the day and seeing what they really get to eat was illuminating.

Readers from across the globe would send in photos of their school dinners; there were felafel from Israel, Schupfnudeln from Germany, sausage and veggie soup from Finland, pork and rice from China, and tacos from the USA. Meanwhile, Martha decided to put her new-found fame to good use and started to raise money for Mary's Meals, a charity that helps to establish school feeding programmes in resource-poor communities.

Martha got to meet Nick Nairn, she received Jamie Oliver's seal of approval, and for what it's worth, I thought that she was fantastic.

But that was all until yesterday when Argyll and Bute Council, where Martha goes to school, had her head teacher haul her out of her maths class and tell her that she wasn't allowed to take photos of her school dinners any more. Yes, really.

Argyll and Bute, the last time that I checked, Martha and I both lived in a country that upholds the principle of freedom of expression, taking a photo of your dinner isn't a crime, and our flag does not feature any hammers and sickles.

If you're that ashamed of the meals that you're serving to the school children in your care, improve them. You don't suppress the voice of someone who's commenting on your provision, sometimes critically and sometimes not, and at the same time stifle a nine year old's creativity, freedom of expression, and social enterprise. All that Argyll and Bute Council has done is show themselves to be brutish bullies who are afraid of being criticised by an individual with a camera and a sense of humour who is a great deal smaller than they are, quite literally.

Shame on you, Argyll and Bute. Shame on you.

---

Update!

Argyll and Bute rescinded their ridiculous decree this afternoon. Apparently, they had sought to protect their staff from unwarranted threats and from Martha's misrepresentative blogging. Misrepresentative? To photograph and discuss what she ate, a bit like a restaurant critic would? Mehtinks that they were a little over-sensitive and over-reactionary. But at least someone saw sense, most likely nudged in the right direction by the media fire storm whipped up by everyone from the BBC to the inimitable Fleet Street Fox.

Vimeo Awards 2012: The Winners!

If you are doing anything with video on the internet these days, you can't have failed to notice Vimeo. So when my favourite video-sharing site for creatives is showing off the finest videos of 2012, you'd better believe I pay attention!

You could do a lot worse this lovely Friday, than spending a couple of hours with a beer or a few cups of coffee, and looking through this list...

Category winners are

1. Action Sports: Dark Side of the Lens
2. Advertising: K-Swiss Kenny Powers - MFCEO
3. Animation: Umbra
4. Captured: Sweatshoppe Video Painting Europe
5. Documentary: Amar (All Great Achievements Require Time)
6. Experimental: Prie Dieu
7. Fashion: Skirt
8. Lyrical: Symmetry (also winner of the Grand Prize)
9. Motion Graphics: A History of the Title Sequence
10. Music Video: Manchester Orchestra: Simple Math
11. Narrative: BLINKY™
12. Series: Often Awesome The Series
13. Remix: Rear Window Timelapse

Grand Prize Winner

Symmetry from Everynone on Vimeo.

Filmmaking team Everynone submitted the winning film, “Symmetry,” to the Lyrical category, which is new this year.  The Lyrical category was created to showcase creative videos of the natural world or personal experiences.

Congratulations, everybody, you're an inspiration to us all!

Photographing fun - June's photo competition

It's June. June's rammed with some of my favourite events and the weather is supposed to be 'flaming'. Whether or not it will be is another matter, but there's meant to be a whole heap of fun happening. So that's your challenge this month: fun in a photograph. From flying kites on a beach to getting all dressed up for Royal Ascot or covered in strawberry juice, capture a moment of people utterly enjoying themselves.

I bet you can come up with some crackers.

If it's your photo of fun that rocks our world, you'll win yourself a fabulous 12 inch Fracture, thanks to the super people there.

As ever, entries go in the Small Aperture Flickr pool, between today (Thurday 7 June) and Thursday 28 June 2012. Remember: one entry per person, please.

If you've any questions, please get in touch. Otherwise, I leave you with The Rules for your edification.

The Rules

• If you decide to enter, you agree to The Rules.
• You can’t be related to either me or Haje to enter.
• One entry per person – so choose your best!
• Entries need to be submitted to the right place, which is the Small Aperture Flickr group.
• There’s a closing date for entries, so make sure you’ve submitted before then.
• You have to own the copyright to your entry and be at liberty to submit it to a competition. Using other people’s photos is most uncool.
• It probably goes without saying, but entries do need to be photographs. It’d be a bit of strange photo competition otherwise.
• Don’t do anything icky – you know, be obscene or defame someone or sell your granny to get the photo.
• We (that being me and Haje) get to choose the winner and we’ll do our best to do so within a week of the competition closing.
• You get to keep all the rights to your images. We just want to be able to show off the winners (and maybe some honourable mentions) here on Pixiq.
• Entry is at your own risk. I can’t see us eating you or anything, but we can’t be responsible for anything that happens to you because you submit a photo to our competition.
• We are allowed to change The Rules, or even suspend or end the competition, if we want or need to. Obviously we’ll try not to, but just so that you know.

If you've any questions, please just ask!

Facebook: Photo sharing and premium accounts

The IPO is only one of the many things that are changing rapidly on Facebook. People are starting to point out that there's a huge problem at the very core of Facebook: It's an ad-driven site. And like all ad-driven sites, it has an enormous problem: People are so ridiculously blind to online advertising, that even with the incredible possibilities of putting your adverts right in front of the people who would, in theory, be interested in them, you're barking up the wrong tree. Online advertising, quite simply, is working less and less, and eventually the advertisers are going to realise this, and take their advertising spend and using it differently.

Facebook knows this. They are run by clever people, and post-IPO Facebook has plenty of money to hire more clever people. They've seen this one coming for a long time. And they're nearly ready with their response.

Premium accounts & photo sharing

In parallel with the bottom falling out of the advertising market, there are a few sites that are positively thriving; and many of them are photo- and video related. Vimeo, Flickr and 500px have all gone the free-then-premium-account route, and are making quite a lot of money in the process.

So, premium memberships are one of the potentially incredibly lucrative things that Facebook could offer - but what can they offer, that people haven't yet been used to getting for free?

The core service of Facebook will always remain free: Status updates, events and invitations, and the ever-embarrassing stream of breakups and social drama will continue as it has.

Making sense of Instagram

The big shift is what has been starting to show up on Facebook in other avenues: That change will be premium accounts, and it's going to happen within the end of the year.

The brand new Facebook Camera and the recent Instagram acquisition simply don't make any sense in the larger context of Facebook... Unless there is also another change coming.

Instagram, especially, is one of the apps that has attracted a very large user base of mostly casual photographers. Not only that; but casual photographers who are willing to spend money. A perfect place to start building the brand new service, in other words.

Facebook, with only minor changes to their platform, will be a huge competitor to the Vimeo, Flickr and 500px platforms of the worlds; perhaps not for high-end photographers, but certainly for serious amateurs and semi-professionals who want a solid platform to show off their photography.

The benefit is obvious: When Facebook makes this leap, photographers and video-makers no longer have to invite their audiences to a separate site to view their work: You could simply invite your friends directly, from within the familiar walled garden that is Facebook.

April's vitreous victor!

Well done to John Cavan for his Smooth Curves Ahead

First things first: we apologise for the delay in announcing April's winner. Haje and I both think that it's important to discuss the entries and the winner, and between me visiting the back of beyond and Haje being insanely busy, we just haven't had the chance to do so. Rather than leave you guys languishing, Gareth very kindly stepped in as Haje's stunt-double, and we thrashed out a winner between us.

Without further ado, then, we'd like to name John Cavan as April's winner, for his Smooth Curves Ahead. Gareth loved the 'insanely literal interpretation of the theme'. And I liked it for being so dark and brooding when glass is usually so sparkly and reflective and bright.

John has won himself a 12 inch Fracture from the lovely Fracture and a place in the Small Aperture hall of photo fame.

May's competition theme is 'flora'; it closes on Friday 26 May, so get cracking! And don't forget that you can keep up to date with all our competition news and plenty of other crazy shenanigans from the photography world by following @SmallAperture on Flickr!

MiMedia, letting you access your media, wherever you are

MiMedia's web log in page. Fairly standard!

When Google Drive launched a couple of weeks ago, everything was cool and groovy until some eagle-eyed types noticed that the permissions clauses weren't altogether straight forward. It turned out that unless you did some fastidious box-ticking, your images stored there could, theoretically, wind-up spearheading Google Drive's advertising campaign. That wasn't exactly blowing back everyone's hair, and some bigger names in online storage donned their halos and smiled angelically, convincing consumers that they were the safest and surest guardians of our online content.

That's all very well and groovy, but cloud storage isn't necessarily just about backing up your content and falling asleep relaxed in the knowledge that what's on your external hard drive is also in two different clouds and on a disc at your Ma's. What about if you want to actually use your media, and not just store it? Step forward MiMedia.

Based in Portchester, New York, MiMedia was founded by Erik Zamkoff and Chris Giordano in 2009. The idea behind it isn't just that you use it to back up your photos, your music, and your films, but that it's a cloud-based personal media platform. Wherever you are with an internet connection, so are your favourite playlists in an easy-to-access format.

MiMedia's aim is to provide consumers with a great experience every time that they want to look at their photos from their latest holiday, share a video of baby's first steps via email, or post snaps from Grandma's 80th birthday party to Facebook. It's this focus on being personal and user-friendly that makes MiMedia believe it's different from other cloud storage options.

Every subscriber receives their first 7GB of data storage free; after that you can pay $49 for 100GB of data for a year and there're a range options, right up to a terabyte plan, if you've loads of stuff. If you're a Windows user, you can download the client that will allow you to store and synch your data easily in the cloud. No such luck for Mac users yet–we're still consigned to using the web interface–but Zamkoff told me that Mac-compatible desktop software should be available later this year. But there are iPhone and iPad apps, all the same.

Even without the desktop software, it's still an easy-to-use interface. As soon as you log in, you have your photos, videos, and music laid out in front of you. You can choose to stream music immediately, or upload something. Head into your photo folder and your images are organised in galleries and by date. The music-streaming function is at the top of your screen, so some tunes can accompany your picture-perusing, too.

Hit the 'Share' button and you can email a photo straight to your Dad, or unleash it directly Facebook, Twitter, or 14 other social media operations. You can look at them in a slideshow, or download them if you need to. Once you've uploaded your media you can also organise them into folders. This is useful, but I found it tedious because there wasn't a drag-and-drop mechanism for doing so, and they had to be moved individually. Still, it was all self-explanatory, and there's online and phone support if you need it, too.

It doesn't matter how many different locations you have designated for media storage, you still want to know that the cloud storage companies you employ are doing their best to make sure your photos, music, and videos are safe. MiMedia's system resides in multiple tier one data centres, with redundancy, so you should always be able to access your favourite Meatloaf album for those moments when only Bat Out of Hell will do.

Right now, when I'm suffering from hellishly slow connections, that's if I have one at all, and without a specific Mac client, MiMedia isn't quite what I'm looking for. But the more storage options there are, the better, and this is a neat and tidy operation giving super value for money. It's definitely worth a look.