If you in and about the Greenwich Village area on the Friday 11th and Saturday 12th September weekend then check out PICTOPLASMA NYC. This ones for character design lovers.

The Pictoplasma project, founded in 1999 with the world’s first extensive inventory, collection and archive of contemporary character design. The event takes place at the 860-seat Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, Greenwich Village and visitors can digest an international scene of artists, designers and agencies that all share the dedication to explore character-driven aesthetics. The event serves an eclectic inspiration in latest trends through an extensive program of lectures, presentations, and screenings.

Visit www.pictoplasma.com/nyc/ for more information

If you need professional-quality prints of your work, then I can think of nothing better than using the new online service from the Printspace. The London-based studio has always offered a great drop-in service, but now you can use the internet and get high-quality results delivered to your door! It’s really easy to get started on the site and all prints are made on an Epson 880 series (for Giclee inkjets) and a Chromira (for digital C-type prints), plus there is a downloadable colour profile so you can manage your images from your desktop. Check it out at www.theprintspace.com.

I’ve got barely any work done today playing with the new Face-off feature over on the Digital Photographer website! It’s a simple tool, where you pick the best of two randomly generated images, but it’s a lot of fun! Plus, you get to see a wide selection of the great photographs submitted to the site. It’s just a little bit addictive! Find out for yourself at www.dphotographer.co.uk/photofaceoff/ – and let me know whether this is something that you’d like to see on the Advanced Photoshop website too!

Can you take a good picture? If so, then why not enter the Digital Photographer of the Year Awards? Digital Photographer, our sister publication, is our favourite semi-professional photography title on the market today and the Awards promise to be even bigger and better than last year. In conjunction with Fujifilm, entrants can submit images into a number of different categories to be in with a chance of winning a Fufifilm S5 Pro among other models. See the website from 17 July for more information (www.dphotographer.co.uk).
Press release:

In the extremely competitive market, up-and-coming photographers can find it hard to get their work noticed; the Digital Photographer of the Year Awards 2008 aim to give a helping hand to talented individuals and showcase their talents. “Working in conjunction with some of the leading names in the photographic industry, our objective for these awards is to find hidden talent and expose it to the world,” explains editor, Debbi Allen. “Encompassing multiple genres of photography, the awards will showcase the high standards achieved by many enthusiasts and semi-professional photographers.”

This year’s categories will include Portrait, Landscape, Documentary, Travel, Black and White, Macro, Wildlife and Wedding, with one winner scooping the title of Digital Photographer of the Year and eight separate category winners.

All categories are open for entries from the 17 July 2008 and all categories will close to entries on 14 November. Winners will be announced in issue 78 of the magazine, on sale January 2009.

Theo Georghiades, Fujifilm’s Senior Product Manager says: “Fujifilm UK Ltd are very pleased to be sponsoring the Digital Photographer of the Year 2008.  Both Fujifilm UK Ltd and Digital Photographer share the same values in terms of quality, creativity and professionalism, and this makes the magazine an ideal partner for us to work with.”

The judging panel boasts Digital Photographer editor Debbi Allen, Imagine Publishing’s Creative Director and keen photographer Mark Kendrick, professional photographer and magazine contributor Mark Cargill and Fujifilm’s Theo Georghiades.

The overall winner will receive a Fujifilm S5 Pro with the eight category winners scooping other Fujifilm cameras, models TBC.

iStockphoto.com announces its second annual Punctum Day Awards to take place on 19 August to celebrate creative excellence. The press release for the event explains the unusual name: “Punctum is the strong emotional reaction you have to a stunning image and 19 August was chosen because that day in 1839 was the day that Louis Daguerre first introduced the camera.” Nominations have already started and last until 25 July. With a huge prize fund and a number of different categories, it’s definitely worth checking out. See www.istockphoto.com/punctum-awards for more details.

Hi. Some of you may have noticed that Adam and I haven’t been around on the forum or gallery site the last couple of days. We lost our network connection and have been working without email and the internet - it’s amazing how much we have missed them and how much we rely on them!! Anyway, anyone waiting for images to be approved or emails to be answered: we will get to you as soon as possible!! Fingers crossed we’re all sorted now…

Having spent a major part of my life living in the most beautiful part of the UK, Cornwall, (well, according to me anyway!) I feel it’s only my duty to tell you about a great new exhibition happening there this month. In Falmouth, you can visit the International Association Of Two And Three Dimensional Artists (IATTDA) Annual Summer 2008 Exhibition, which is set up and run by artists for artists. The exhibition will showcase work from across a wide variety of media and it’ll definitely be worth a visit if you’re in the area. See www.iattda.co.uk for more information.

Oakley is offering a fantastic opportunity in the form of its Design Brief challenge. The idea is to design a pair of Oakley Hijinx sunglasses and its packaging - and anything goes! I reckon that this is the most exciting challenge I’ve seen for a while and reckon that it’s the opportunity of a lifetime for the designer picked as the winner. You can find out more on the challenge’s website: www.oakleydesignbrief.com.

In issue 45 of Advanced Photoshop we had a great tutorial by Doug Sirois on fantasy painting. Now he has released his first book, showcasing his favourite paintings and sketches. It is definitely worth a look and you can see it at http://stores.lulu.com/dasillustration for the incredibly generous price of £11.02.

I love Blurb.com for creating professional-looking books, and I am sure that if you haven't already taken a look, you'll be just as enthusiastic as me when you do. Now you can enter your self-published photography titles into a competition to win $25,000 to start (or finish) a project of your choosing. Of course, the prestigious award also comes with worldwide recognition, so it's perfect for anyone who wants to get their photography seen. Entires are being judged by a pretty impressive panel of editors, publishers, curators and photographers. If you have published your photography book through Blurb, then it's all pretty easy, as you don't need to send anyone a copy of your book - Blurb will make sure that the jurors get their hands on one. And if you've published a book using a different service, you can still enter. Find out more, as well as access entry forms and terms and conditions, at www.photographybooknow.com.