In "Mastering the Nikon D300" (Rocky Nook, $39.95 USD), author Darrell Young leads you on an exploration of the features and capabilities of the powerful new Nikon D300 camera. Loaded with a wealth of information and professional insights, this book surpasses the basic user manual by providing step-by-step menu setting adjustments coupled with illustrations and logical explanations for each option. With his friendly and informative manner, Darrell makes the reader feel as if a friend dropped in to share his experience and knowledge while explaining the hows and whys in simple terminology.

The learning experience for D300 beginners (and refresher information for professionals) goes beyond the camera itself, covering additional Nikon equipment, such as the use of optional Speedlights. Frequent references to the user manual provided by Nikon (with specific page references) allow the reader to easily navigate past the confusion that often comes with new equipment.

Photographer Marc Hauser, who is still recovering from an accident in which he fell from a 40-foot crane during a photo shoot has announced a 50% sale on his prints in an effort to recover some of the money he lost during his four-year recuperation period. As a result of that fall he shattered one leg, and severely injured his right eye. You can view the images on sale here. The prices for those images are as follows:

8x10-----------$200.00 (edition 100)
11x14---------$400.00 (edition 100)
6x20----------$500.00 (edition 50)
20x24---------$750.00 (edition 25)
30x40---------$1000.00 (edition 20)

All prints are signed and editioned Gicleé prints and are printed on Museo Silver Rag Paper. With Christmas approaching faster than we realize, now would be a good chance to add some very nice images to your collection for a great price. If you have any trouble with the link below, contact Marc at his studio at 312-212-3104, or e-mail your order to marcfocus@aol.com or FAX the order form at the end to 312-243-7825. Call him about the 30-image "your choice" portfolio prices! Please note that the phone numbers on the attached PDF at the link below, are not correct. Please use the numbers above. to go to Marc's website, please use the button on the left.

The Museum of Photographic Arts (MoPA) in Balboa Park is pleased announce Mikhael Subotzky as the winner of the 2009 Lou Stoumen Prize. One of the most prestigious and highly acclaimed awards in photography, the Stoumen Prize includes one of the largest cash rewards available to photographers. Subotzky, known for his intimate and in-depth study of the South African prison system, will be featured along with all past Prize winners in Lou Stoumen: The Legacy on view at MoPA, February 7 - May 10, 2009. In 1991, photographer/filmmaker Lou Stoumen established an endowed gift with the Museum of Photographic Arts to be given through the Museum to a mid-career photographer whose work related in spirit to his own humanistic style of photography. The prize was designated by Stoumen to be large enough to make a substantial difference in an artist's life and work. To date, the Lou Stoumen Award has been presented to Debbie Fleming Caffery (1996), Kenro Izu (1999), James Nachtwey (2002), and Gary Schneider (2006).

On November 19, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, will open its first-ever gallery dedicated to photography, the Herb Ritts Gallery. The inaugural exhibition is "Photographic Figures," an exploration of photographers' diverse interpretations of the human form Photographic Figures contains approximately 75 works and focuses primarily on the 20th century. It will be organized thematically and will include close-ups, nudes, and figural groups that range from the personal modernist viewpoint of Alfred Stieglitz to the surrealist poetry of Man Ray, from the searing photojournalism of James Nachtwey to the witty visual play of Lee Friedlander, and from the celebrity culture images of Herb Ritts to the cycle-of-life ruminations of Dieter Appelt.

The show will also take up space in the Clementine Haas Michel Brown Gallery. Artists have long taken advantage of the camera's ability to capture expressive images of the human form, from straightforward documentation to poetic metaphor. This exhibition explores the diversity of these approaches by artists working with a camera.

The 132-page, perfect-bound, first edition issue "Artists' Showcase Portfolio" consists of portfolios by fifteen artists from the U.S., New Zealand and Germany. Derek Henderson was selected by juror Darius Himes for the cover and the first portfolio within the book. Each artist will receive a copy of the book, as well as have their portfolio presented on the Center's website for the next two years. Congratulations to all who were selected. You can acquire your copy of the limited inaugural edition by contacting the Center at 970-224-1010. Click here (c4fap.org/news_letters/oct08/book_preview.pdf) to see a preview. The cost per book is $34.00 USD.

New SuperDrive Models Read/Write DVDs & CDs Faster: Up to 20X Speed for DVDs, 48X for CDs; Priced Starting at $29.99 for Internal, $71.99 for External FireWire + USB 2.0 Solutions. Models Offering Blu-ray support are now available from $149.99. Other World Computing (OWC) announced recently, a full selection of SuperDrive DVD and CD reader/writer options for legacy to current Intel-based Apple computers.

Available from $29.99 for Internal and from $71.99 for FireWire+USB 2.0 external models, OWC SuperDrive upgrades feature faster read/write DVD, Dual-Layer DVD, and CD burn speeds up to 20X for DVDs and 48X for CDs. In addition to standard support for DVD+/-R/RW, CD-R/RW, DVD-DL formats, models are also available with features including Blu-ray, LightScribe laser labeling, and DVD-RAM. OWC SuperDrive upgrades and solutions provide cost-effective options for adding the latest optical drive performance and features to virtually any system with "Plug and Play" ease.

The Hasselblad award was presented for the 28th time on Saturday 25 October 2008. The award winner, Graciela Iturbide, Mexico City, received the award from H.R.H. Prince Carl Philip at a ceremony at the Göteborg City Theatre. In conjunction with the ceremony an exhibit of the award winner's work, Graciela Iturbide-2008 Hasselblad award winner, opened at the Hasselblad Center at the Göteborg Museum of Art.

We've had a quick chance to have a look at the new Olympus E-30, so have put together a brief hands-on report. This mid-level DSLR offers many features of the more expensive E-3, with a host of new functions pulled together in slightly smaller format. So what does the E-30 offer to entice the semi-professional shooter into the Four-Thirds fold? The price gap between the upper-entry-level Olympus E-520 and more expensive E-3 has always suggested there is room for a mid-range DSLR to sit between them. What's not been so clear is what features could be removed from the E-3 or added to the E-520 that would justify the increased price over one without cannibalizing sales of the other. The E-30 is Olympus's answer to that challenge. The obvious headline change over its forebears is the use of a new 12.3 megapixel Live MOS sensor that we suspect is closely related to the one we saw in the Panasonic G1. In addition is a new processing engine, dubbed TruePix III+ that helps provide many of the camera's new image processing features.

Brought to you by three local photo-related businesses, Photo Expo West is back for its 4th year at the Del Mar Fairgrounds (just north of San Diego). Thirteen of the world's most famous photographers will lead 38 seminars over the two-day show. Photo Expo West brings 30,000 square feet of discounted photography gear from top manufacturers including Canon, Nikon, Sony, Tamron, Sigma and more. This year Photo Expo West will also be the site of the Popular Photography Magazine/Sony Digital Days Workshops. Free admission, raffles for cameras to be given away and thousands of photo-related items under $20 are themes that carry on from year to year.

Celebrity photographer Douglas Kirkland (well known for his classic Marilyn Monroe shots and books) returns and will be joined by members of Canon's Explorers of Light, the Nikon Pro Team, and other internationally-acclaimed masters of photography. Don Gale, Hanson Fong, Eddie Tapp, John Woodward, Arthur Morris, and Carol Polich are only some of the esteemed speakers. Learn from live demonstrations of studio shoots and through classroom style lectures. Topics include wedding, portrait, celebrity, sports, and landscape photography, as well as Photoshop secrets of the pros. Seating is free but limited!

Just in time for the holiday season, Timothy B. Anderson has just released "Color Me Nude: Figurative & Portrait Adult Coloring Book." With this release, Anderson has taken his fine art nude photographic work into a new arena, one that promises to be explorative as well as a lot of fun. There are 25 images in this book to test the best artists. At only $14.95 (including postage in the U.S. only) this book promises to be a great gift to those creative types who you think have everything! You can also/either order a high-resolution PDF version for only $10. Just when you thought you ran out of ideas for Christmas gifts, along comes "Color Me Nude!" Just click on the link below and you will only be a couple of steps from ordering. With each order of Color Me Nude, you will receive a CD of full-color images.

Cygnet Press will continue to offer signed copies of Friday Night Grind, by Jackie Brenner, for only $55, a savings of $25, plus shipping (U.S. orders only, please). While you are there, check the other books for sale that will make great holiday gifts!

Wallspace gallery, in Seattle, is excited to announce limited edition images from a select group of new and emerging photographers with a price point you can afford to start building, or add to your existing collection. Each image is priced at less than $200. Limited creations=once in a lifetime images. So many artists. So many ideas. Surround yourself with something beautiful. Look at your acquisition every day and find something new. Collectible art is art that fits: Fits your wall, your budget, your conscience. Support these talented artists and fill your world (and your wallspace) with incredible photography. For more information about the participating artists contact the gallery. Each week, new work will be highlighted from our participating artists. For a look at all the images, log onto the gallery website, below.

Wallspace is also accepting submissions for their third annual juried show, New Directions, curated and Juried by George Slade. Click here (wallspaceseattle.com/newDirections/) for more information on this show.

Three very distinct voices of the photographic medium converge at the Hallmark Museum of Contemporary Photography in its upcoming exhibitions from January 15th through March 29th 2009. Definitely, a dynamic venue on the museum circuit, HMCP will again present a broad spectrum and diverse sampling within the range of contemporary photographic images. Be prepared to cringe, fantasize, and laugh respectively, at the documentary photojournalism of Colin Finlay (pictured), the dream-like mysterious prints of Josephine Sacabo, and the social, satirical, photographic constructs of Susan Bozic. All three photographers set the stage for the viewer to be confronted, engaged, and thoughtfully provoked.

Its original Gallery 85, at the corner of 3rd Street and Avenue A, will host the raw and hard-hitting photographic essays of Colin Finlay, entitled, "A Matter of Conscience." Crying out for social awareness on the human issues of violence, poverty, genocide, and famine, these photographs rattle the nerves and stir up our feelings, in the hope of creating change. Susan Bozic and Josephine Sacabo will exhibit at HMCP's newest gallery location, at the corner of 2nd Street and Avenue A. Inside, at Gallery 52, Susan Bozic will present "The Dating Portfolio," a collection of 15 large-scale color prints. These quirky and witty images are thought provoking and hilarious at the same time. At Gallery 56, Josephine Sacabo draws us close, through her introspective photographs that combine myth and reality. Inspired by poetry, her work is both illusive and provocative, conjuring up ghost-like apparitions from our imaginations.

The National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) is pleased to announce a call for entries for its 4th annual Photoshop® User Awards competition held exclusively for Adobe® Photoshop® users worldwide. Winners will be chosen in 11 categories with one Best of Show grand prizewinner receiving a dream assignment to Barcelona, Spain to create a future cover of Photoshop User magazine, the official publication of NAPP. The trip to Barcelona includes airfare, hotel accommodations, hotel transfers, and daily expenses for five days for the winner and an assistant of their choice.

"The Photoshop User Awards provides Photoshop artists, photographers, and designers from around the world an exceptional opportunity to gain international recognition, celebrate their best work, and share their vision and creativity with the worldwide Photoshop community," said Scott Kelby, president of NAPP and #1 best-selling author worldwide of computer and technology books. The deadline for submissions is Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2008 at 12:00 midnight EST. Each entrant may submit up to three pieces for consideration. The entry fee is $35 USD per piece, or $25 USD per piece for members of NAPP. Winners will be announced on or about February 1, 2009.