It's a secret for nobody that Olympus is getting ready to unveil its first Micro FourThird camera this month. Olympus and Panasonic announced the new format last summer, but until now only Panasonic had released two new camera models using the technology - the G1 and GH1. The Micro FourThird system uses a smaller sensor (17.3x13mm) than in other cameras, achieving the gains in compactness by doing away with a mirror box and optical viewfinder. The size has also been reduced with a six-millimetre smaller lens mount.

Olympus has been pretty quiet over the past year about how it will use the technology in its cameras. We've seen one prototype (here) back in September last year. However, this is about to change in the next couple of weeks. Olympus has invited photography journalists and editors from all over Europe for a special event in Berlin on 15 and 16 June.

And judging from the invitation sent to journalists, Olympus is going all retro on us (that's a good thing in our books), putting a lot of emphasis on black-and-white photography. This would seem to fit with the intense focus on the Olympus PEN we've seen coming from the imaging company over the past couple of weeks (more on this here).

Here are the scans of the invitation:

And, Olympus has also emailed journalists with some shots of previous PEN cameras, released in the 70s and 80s. Here are a couple:

Image © Rinko Kawauchi

Rinko Kawauchi and Martin Parr got the Still Moving Images workshop off to a flying start on 01 June, with a fascinating 'In Conversation' at a packed-out venue. Kawauchi talked about the random element in her images, adding that when her images are organised into a series she often feels they have something to tell her.

Kawauchi is teaching 10 students all week in a workshop organised by Still Moving Images, a not-for-profit company started by photographer Leonie Purchas and friends.
Still Moving Images announced on 01 June that they've secured a second photographer to conduct a workshop in November - Swedish photographer JH Engstrom. Check out the organisers' website or this blog for more details as they're announced.

Upper Egypt, Great Temple of Dendera, general view, 1852. Maxime Du Camp (1822-1894), courtesy of the National Media Museum.

Don McCullin has curated his pick of the National Media Museum's photography collection, for a freely-accessible online flickr gallery. You can also access images showing McCullin at work making the selection.

The photographer is best-known for his reportage but his next book features archaelogical sites around Egypt, and his selection of images reflects that. McCullin's own work is currently on show at the NMM - Don McCullin: In England reflects Britain from the 1950s to the present day, and is open until 27 September.

Image © Martin Parr/Magnum Photos

Magnum Photos member Martin Parr is giving a talk on his current exhibition, Parrworld, on 14 July at London's Southbank Centre.

Part of the Southbank's London Literature Festival, Parr will talk through some of the themes and inspirations in his work, which include everything from other photographers to Saddam Hussein watches. Parrworld is a large exhibition drawing together the photograher's collection of ephemera and presenting his latest project, Luxury. It's already been on show in Munich and the Netherlands, and moves to Paris' Jeu de Paume from 28 June - 27 September. From 17 October - 10 January 2010, it moves to the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead.

The Southbank Centre talk costs £9, and must be booked in advance.

The Redeye Photography Network is staging a National Photography Symposium from 19 – 21 June, in partnership with The University of Bolton and Chetham’s Library.

Based in Manchester, the symposium is aimed at professional photographers and includes speakers such as Magnum Photos’ Chris Steele Perkins, the National Media Museum’s Greg Hobson and Financial Times photography specialist Francis Hodgson, as well as BJP deputy editor Diane Smyth. The event will cover topics such as the Gowers’ review, pres photography rates, the right to photograph in public and stock photography distribution.

The event costs £75 (£65 concession) until 11 June, £85 (£75 concession) 12 – 18 June and £95 (£85 concession) on the door. Tickets for Saturday only cost £35 on the door. BJP readers qualify for a £10 whenever they book – click ‘Enter Discount Code’ online and enter bjp1.

'The wait will soon be over,' says Olympus, as it is getting ready to announce, next week, the details of its first MicroFourThird camera. Speculation has been building as to whether the camera will include video or not. However, the biggest question mark remains on how small the camera will be.

Of course, Olympus is spending a lot of time and money to promote a camera, some say, could redefine photography and relaunch the Olympus brand in people's psyches. 'Before long, photographers everywhere will be able to enjoy the benefits of a whole new approach to digital photography. And as a special treat, Olympus is offering registered enthusiasts all the details before anyone else,' Olympus says.

'Those who want to be the first to obtain exclusive news about the new model and revolutionary Micro Four Thirds system can register online at: http://www.olympus-consumer.com/en/promotions/mft.popup.'

‘Everyone has a story to tell, but not everyone is able to tell it.’ That’s the rational behind the New Exposure initiative. In association with UNHCR (the United Nations Refugee Agency, Olympus and the Department for International Development, the Living in Exile project is the latest that sees people affected by under-reported issues documenting their lives through photography. New Exposure provides them with digital cameras and professional advice.

Living In Exile looks at the plight of Iraqi refugees in Syria. ‘It is thought that around two million people have fled Iraq since the invasion in 2003. The majority of these people live in the neighbouring state of Syria. Those Iraqis who fled their homes into neighbouring countries have found themselves in an increasingly fragile position. Many of these refugees have suffered great trauma at home and struggle to cope in a foreign country. Formal employment is not permitted, their savings are rapidly depleting and many refugees depend on UNHCR for vital assistance, healthcare and schooling.’

In the summer of 2008, New Exposure worked with a group of young Iraqis who sought refuge in Damascus. British photographers spent one month teaching them the basics of photography and talking about their lives as refugees. The resulting images will be on show until 21 June at the St-Matin-in-the-Fields Crypt on Trafalgar Square in London. For more information, visit www.newexposure.org.

Video shot using the Pentax K-7 digital SLR. Our full report can be read here.

The Olympus Pen E-P1 camera was unveiled exclusively to European journalists on Monday 15 June in Berlin. Here is a selection of images of the event. More will come today, as well as videos and photos taken with the E-P1.

The following unprocessed images were taken using the Olympus E-P1.

These videos were shot with the new Olympus Pen E-P1.

Still time to get to the last day of the Digital Photography and Imaging Show in Islington, London, where renown photographer Brian Griffin will shortly start his must-see presentation.

But it's street photography rights that's really hitting a nerve right now, with amateur and professional photographers fighting back against restrictive, heavy-handed policing. At 3.15pm news editor Olivier Laurent will host a debate on street photography rights at the DPI show, with lawyer Rupert Grey and press photographer Jeff Moore.

And tomorrow deputy editor Diane Smyth is hosting a debate on the same topic at Redeye's National Photography Symposium in Manchester, with photographers Jess Hurd and Andrew Wiard. Also speaking at the conference are Magnum photographer Chris Steele-Perkins and Francis Hodgson, the Financial Times' photography correspondent.

Financial Times photography critic Francis Hodgson got Redeye's National Photography Symposium off to a flying start this morning with a fascinating opening address on photography's place in British culture. Pointing out that London, unlike other major capitals such as Paris and New York, lacks a national photography museum and that there isn't a single full time photography critic on a UK newspaper, he urged those working in photography to do more to raise its profile.

'Photography is a great deal more important than our shared culture is able to identify,' he stated. 'It is absolutely the medium of the 21st Century and the "problem" of digital has been absorbed quite easily. Yet we, as professionals in the UK, have not been able to articulate how it matters across the board. We lost Photo London and photography continues to be marginalised in our museums and universities. Photography is absolutely not marginal, it is the most important medium.

'The UK lags behind France, Germany and the US in the shared appreciation of photography, and we are actually falling further back. I was at a picture conference at a very well-respected monthly magazine in London recently where the level of discussion was literally "This is great" and "This is shit", and what was "great" was what had been signed by Rankin, because nobody could be bothered to look beyond the signature. We haven't made sure that attention is paid to our discipline in the way that it is to poetry, novels or TV. But we need to do so because otherwise the business will go elsewhere.'

The National Photography Symposium's panel debate on photographing in public proved a hit with delegates, with Jess Hurd, David Hoffman and Andrew Wiard speaking to a packed room in Manchester's beautiful Chetham Library.

The three speakers considered various ways in which photographers' right to photograph in public is currently restricted in the UK. Wiard, referencing Princess Caroline of Monaco's ground-breaking case at the European Court of Human Rights, discussed individuals' "reasonable expectation of privacy" and how this is applied to public places. Hurd recounted her experience of police use of the 2000 Terrorism Act and 2008 Counter-Terrorism Act, including how it has incorrectly stopped her legitimate press work. Hurd was searched at the 2008 Climate Change Camp despite showing her press card, for example, and recently won an written apology from the force as a result. Hoffman, meanwhile, described the increasing surveillance of photographers by the Forward Intelligence Team, a part of the UK police force which uses photography and film to record demonstrations. Members of the audience, meanwhile, added their experiences of photographic restriction in privately-owned public spaces such as shopping malls.

'I urge photographers to read up on their rights and, if they are unlawfully stopped, to publicise it as widely as possible,' said Hurd. 'This could be via the media, their union or their colleges if they're students. It doesn't matter how we do it, the important thing is that we keep the issue under discussion.'

Magnum photographers Chris Steele-Perkins, Thomas Dworzak and Abbas discuss Afghanistan tonight, in an event chaired by Peter Beaumont, foreign affairs editor at The Observer.

All three photographers have produced extensive work in the country, which has long been subject to occupation and exploitation by larger, wealthier states. British forces remain in Helmand province: the Obama administration's future plans for the region have yet to take shape.

Afghanistan: A Panel Discussion starts at 6.30pm in the Cochrane Theatre, London WC1B 4AP. Tickets are £8, £5 concessions.

An official complaint has been lodged against police treatment of two women who tried to photograph an officer at last year's Kent Climate Change camp, according to a report in The Guardian.

Val Swain, 43, and Emily Apple, 33, were bundled to the ground and cuffed, after attempting to photograph an officer who refused to give his badge number. The women, who are both members of Fit Watch, a protest group that opposes police surveillance at demonstrations, were remanded to a women's prison for four days. Their arrests were captured on police surveillance footage obtained by The Guardian and posted on its website. The footage has also been submitted to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

Read more on BJP's website www.bjp-online.com.

Kodak has confirmed it is discontinuing Kodachrome, after 74 years of the much-loved colour film. It says that it's newer films are 'preferred'.

'Sales of Kodachrome film have declined dramatically in recent years as photographers turned to other, newer Kodak films or to the digital imaging technologies that Kodak pioneered,' says the statement. 'Today, Kodachrome film represents just a fraction of one percent of Kodak’s total sales of still-picture films.'

Read more on BJP's website, www.bjp-online.com.

This news is one-week old, but still of interest. The Telegraph wrote on 17 June that a school in Devon had banned parents from taking photos of and filing their own kids during sports day, 'claiming it was due to changes in child protection and images legislation.' Interesting, we didn't know there had been a change in legislation affecting photography (except maybe when it comes to taking pictures of police officers involved in anti-terrorism activities, as we've been reporting on since February).

Despite pleas from the majority of parents, who are afraid will lead to a ban for all school events, a spokesman for the school simply said: "It's a decision which individual head teachers come to, usually with consultation with governors."

Sad!

Computer Active, our sister publication here at Incisive Media, has reviewed the iPhone 3GS. The new phone now sports an improved camera. Computer Active's editor Paul Allen had this to say about the new features:

More people now use phones to take photos and the 3GS has an improved 3-megapixel camera. It has auto-focus built in so that you can tap a specific part of the screen to bring that area into focus.
The iPhone also adjusts colour and light settings to suit. The quality is fair for sharing photos digitally, but prints larger than 6x4in were average at best.
Users can also take short video clips and trim them. Once complete, photos and videos can be sent using MMS or email, while videos can also be uploaded to a Youtube account.

Love-Kim Verlie ©Michael G Dougan

This is one of the first images taken using the Fujifilm GF670 medium format film camera, or the Voigtlander Bessa III as it is known in Europe. It was taken by Scottish photographer Michael G Dougan for Japan Exposures. I'll let you read his review here, but in a few words, Dougan says that he is 'extremely pleased with the camera’s image quality' and that with 'several rolls of Neopan 120 in my pocket, it’s a perfect setup for me.'

Read the full review and see more sample images on Japan Exposures. You can also read our full report on the camera's release in the UK.

Edmond Terakopian, a freelance press photographer and BJP contributor, has had the opportunity to test the newly-released Olympus E-P1 MicroFourThird camera, and he is mostly enthusiastic about it.

‘Every once in a while a product comes along, out of the blue, that you’ve been wishing for. For me, the Olympus E-P1 is this product,’ he writes. Terakopian says it is sturdy, comfortable, ergonomic and well made. He also likes its retro looks.

However he does tell us later on that however good this camera is, it’s not perfect. The main problem, he says, is that it doesn’t have a built-in optical viewfinder, criticism that is being shared by a lot of reviewers so far.

As for the 17mm lens, Terakopian writes: “This little lens is superb though; it’s sharp, contrasty and performs well with flare. I just wish it was f/2 (or faster) and not f/2.8. With the smaller sensor, getting out of focus backgrounds is trickier as the smaller sensor increase depth of field; as a result, it would be preferable to have faster apertured lenses.”

So, who’s this camera aimed at? Terakopian asks at the end of his quick review. “It’s not a compact and not an SLR; think of it as a modern day rangefinder style camera. For me, its ideal for features / reportage and street photography. I would definitely recommend it as a second camera to an SLR user.”

Read Terakopian's review here.