Image © Beso Uznadze, winner of the portfolio category in the British Journal of Photography’s 2008 International Photography Award.

Six highly respected figures from the UK photography industry have signed up to judge the BJP's International Photography Award.

Monica Allende, picture editor of The Sunday Times Magazine; Alex Sturrock, photographer and picture editor of Vice UK; and Lisa Pritchard, from the Lisa Pritchard Agency, have all signed up to judge the single image category of the prize. Francis Hodgson, photography critic for the Financial Times, Nick Galvin, archive manager for Magnum Photos' UK office; and Michael Diemar, of Diemar / Noble gallery will judge the body of work category.

Photographers have just five more days to enter both categories to hit our final deadline - 05 October. The prize for the body of work prize is now a £5000 voucher to spend at Robert White, a professional photography specialist with kit from every manufacturer from Nikon to Rodenstock. The single image prize, meanwhile, is a professional standard compact, the Sigma DP2. Both finalists will have their images printed by Spectrum Photographic, one of Europe's finest labs, and exhibited at a leading London gallery. 30 of the best single image entries, meanwhile, will be printed into a book by Blurb.com.

Michael Kay needs your help. This professional photographer has been the victim of a robbery. 'My studio in Croydon was broken into this week and below is a list of the main items that were stolen, together with serial numbers.' If you happen to stumble upon any of the following, please contact Michael at Solar Studios: +44 (0)20 8664 8500 or http://www.michaelkayphotography.com.

Hasselblad 120mm macro lens: 7ESU14388
Hasselblad 50-110mm lens: 7GSU15498
Nikon D2X camera body: 5031401
Nikon 28-70mm 2.8 lens: 408420
Nikon 20mm 2.8D lens: 651109
Nikon 25-85mm ED lens: 2002074
Sigma 14mm 2.8D lens: 2004750
Sigma 170-500mm lens: 2024601
Mamiya 645 AFD body: BL3885
Mamiya 645 80mm 2.8 lens: CA1374
Mamiya 645 35mm 3.5 lens: CB1089
Mamiya 645 45mm 2.8 lens: TC1159
Mamiya 645 150mm 3.5 lens: CF1058
Mamiya 645 55-110mm 4.5 lens: CB1109
Apple Mac Pro computer: CK8023YFXYK
Apple Macbook Pro: W88440C01G0

BJP has learnt that Associated Newspapers - publisher of the Evening Standard, Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and London Lite - has started syndicating freelance photographers images without their consent and without the appropriate copyright

The newspaper group started syndicating its image archive through Rex Features on 23 September – including, say freelance photographers, pictures that they don’t own.

‘They are syndicating more than 100 of my images, which surprised me because I haven’t done any commissioned work for them in over 18 months,’ one former contributor (who wishes to remain anonymous) told BJP. ‘They are really going back into the archives. I never signed anything regards copyright – there was never any question of it [that he would sell it to Associated Newspapers].’

The archive, which contains around 80,000 images and dates back 100 years, has been transferred to Rex over the last two months. BJP understands that Associated Newspapers guaranteed to Rex that it held the copyright to the images, and gave permission for them to be licensed worldwide. However, Rex says it is now working with photographers to remove images that have been included in the archive without permission.

For more on this story, visit the BJP website.

We’ve come a long way since the daguerreotype and collodien plate. 35mm seems a distant and fading memory. We are now witnessing not only the rise of citizen photography, blurring the line between professional and amateur, but also an increase in photographic knowledge and image awareness. (In the words of Lewis Carroll, on the introduction of negatives and subsequent demise of the collodian plate, ‘someone has let the rabble in’).

Manga Blackbox is proud to present the first ever photography tutorial available exclusively on the iPhone.

Professional fashion photographer Diego Indraccolo has put his practical, technical and creative knowledge into the application, making up a how to guide to photography. This is aimed at both beginners and advanced amateur photographers who have a basic understanding of photography but are interested in creating a professional body of work.

The tutorials are designed to guide photographers through a fashion shoot without a huge budget and still get good results. Topics covered include; testing, how to find a team, equipment, lighting and editing.

For more see iphonetutorial

Vice magazine and four famous ladies are launching ‘stories of the eye’, an exhibition at London’s prestigious HOST Gallery. Celebrating the 50th birthday of the Classic Olympus, and to mark the release of the new Olympus E-P1, Vice’s new show is open from the 08-14 October.

The exhibition was inspired by a photography project carried out by the famous four; Alice Dellal, Love Foxxx, Daisy Lowe and Miquita Oliver. They all started out by documenting with the new Olympus E-P1, using the themes Style, Travel, London and Do What I Want.

These themes were then used to attract submissions to an open competition, and the best of the bunch were picked out for the show. Four photographers were also selected to win an E-P1: Kingsley Iffil, Josh Moore, Douglas Bell and Max Mallender. Check out the Vice site to see more of their images, plus the shots by Dellal et al.

We continue with our foray into iPhone photography applications with Athentech Imaging’s ‘one click’ Perfectly Clear app. One major criticism iPhone users have for its camera is the low resolution of its sensor. Apparently, Athentech seems to have found a way to optimise iPhone images for exposure, colour accuracy, sharpness and depth using a single touch, the company says. The application allows the camera phone to correct images and save at a full resolution (1600x1200).

For more information, visit www.athentech.com.

PDN has published an article about the US military in Afghanistan changing its media embed rules to ban pictures of troops being killed at war. Originally a document was released 23 July that stated the ‘media will not be prohibited from covering casualties’ as long as a series of conditions are met.

It now states: ‘media will not be allowed to photograph or record video of U.S personnel killed in action’. According to a military spokesman this is more ‘ a clarification rather than a rule’.

The change supposedly occurred on 04 September, following the release and distribution by the Associated Press of an image of a mortally wounded Marine in Afghanistan. The image that was taken on 14 August by AP photographer Julie Jacobson, was released as part of a series about the death of Lance Cpl. Joshua M. Bernard. Both U.S. Secretary of Defence Robert Gates and Bernard’s family had asked the AP not to release the photo.

Read the PDN article here.

UPDATE: Canon has asked Vincent Laforet to remove his video. We will update this post once it is back online.

Vincent Laforet has been able to get his hands on a Canon EOS 1D Mark IV camera in the past few weeks and he (along with around 50 technicians) has worked on this short movie. 'Not a single external light source was used / added,' he says. 'The ISO stayed locked in the 6400 ASA range - with a very few shots hovering 1 stop above and one or two set to 3200 ASA because we had TOO MUCH depth of field…(on the bridge.)...' See for yourself:

Nocturne from Vincent Laforet on Vimeo.

The photographers behind the Caliber blog are recounting their latest encounter with the security guards at 555 California in San Francisco. Needless to say, the security guards were not happy to see two photographers taking pictures of their building. Read the Caliber account here.

Of course, as it is the case in the UK, security guards have no right to prevent photographers from working in front of their buildings, as while it might be a private property, the sidewalk or plaza in front of these buildings are not. The public has a right of way, and unless you somehow prevent their business operations, you are in your legal right to take photos there.

• Rapper Kanye West has been cleared of criminal charges after smashing a photographer’s camera and flash, the BBC reports. He did have to attend an anger management course, though.

• PDNPulse continues with its coverage of everything Obama-related with a report of White House photographer Pete Souza work with the Obama daughters. Read it here. PDNPulse also has the first official presidential family portrait here, shot by none other than Annie Liebovitz herself.

• Today, James Estrin of the New York Times showcases the work of Marco Baroncini. The Italian photographer has been portraying Roma people in Rome, which, he says, Italian are ignoring despite the fact they live ‘around the corner, so close to you.’

• Flickr now allows users to label people in their photos. The move mirrors a popular feature available on Facebook, but Flickr says, it has taken it further by allowing people to control who can tag them. More details at CNET here.

• A photographer’s car collided with Brad Pitt’s motorcycle, sending the actor to the ground, reports the Examiner.

If you were wowed by the full production quality of Vincent Laforet's film Reverie, shot on a Canon EOS 5D MkII, take a look at what Bill Frakes achieved with a Nikon D3s:

Shot on assignment for Nikon in Australia, and presented at the European launch of the D3s in St Andrews, it tells you much more about how photographers will be using DSLR cameras to capture video alongside stills in the near future. Reverie shows just what these cameras (and an army of assistants) are capable of, but it's a movie. Frakes' film tells me much more about how shooters can combine stills and motion to create really effective multimedia presentations that add more of a story element to their published pictures, and how online can work with and enhance the printed story.

Frakes, who shoots for Sports Illustrated, told us that as many as eight million readers see his pictures in the magazine, but his multimedia stories garner as many as 50 million hits, which drive visitors back to the magazine. (And who says multimedia doesn't pay?)

Frakes has used the D3s in extreme low light conditions in the film, but what's really interesting for me is that as they're combined together, the stills jump out from the video footage, proving that photographs still hold their arresting power in this environment.

There are, of course, many other examples of the effective use of stills and motion (Media Storm is a pretty good place to start your search), so let us know what's impressed you.

Naomi Campbell hasn’t always been on friendly terms with photographers, as her privacy case against the Daily Mirror has shown, but now, the top model is looking for the world’s best new fashion photographer.

Collaborating with Talenthouse.com, a global community for talent in music, fashion, film, art, and photography, Campbell will be holding a competition to find the best new model and the best new fashion photographer.

‘For all you photographers out there who have dreamed of working within the fashion industry and have been searching for your first big break, now it may be closer than you think,’ says Talenthouse.com. ‘The challenge is simple. Submit a fashion story working with the theme of glamour. The brief: Be creative, bold, daring, stylish and most importantly be fashionable.’

Deadline for entry is 05 February 2010. For more details, visit www.talenthouse.com.

A Photo Editor today relays a post by Greg Ceo, a photographer and lecturer. Ceo took 'an informal survey in Business Practices for Photography Class at Savannah College of Art and Design. It’s called: “When was the last time you bought a newspaper?”'

Of course, barely anyone raised their hands. Young people now tend to read their news online, refusing to pay for a newspaper or a magazine. Ceo asks three important questions: “If you won’t pay to see someone else’s work, why do you expect people to pay to see your work?” ”How do you expect to make a living as a photojournalist?” ”Who is your audience?”

Read his post here.

What can be done to change young people's perception in regards to the value of news and photography? In France, the government has unveiled plans that will let everyone between the ages of 18 and 24 to get a free subscription (one issue a week) to the national newspaper of their choices. The hope is for these young people to take on a full subscription once that one-year is over. It has also been devised to boost the newspapers' numbers and to attract more advertisers to this struggling industry.