In a recent comment it was pointed out that Theblogger.net has lifted the Photoblogs.org design.

Does anyone know anything about these people or their site?

What they did is uncool.

In other threads I've pointed out that sometimes we spend too little time on non-English sites. Perhaps it's because we feel a stronger relationship with the photographer when we have supporting dialog, and sole English speakers can't achieve that on a non-English site; but pictures should stand on their own, don't you think? Consider this my little effort at promoting diversity: it's the first of a series of posts I'll do every two or three weeks on a non-English site you may/not be aware of.

Pavel Mžourek of mzourek.net lives in Prague, always has, and at age 23 approaches it with exuberance, not just the steady love of a lifetime resident. His photos are full of the city's beauty — his recent series of black and white photos of the city in the evening will make that apparent as soon as you click-through — and you'll quickly start to see it as you would if you were visiting it. Grand city scapes, architecture, and so on.

But dig deeper into his archives and you'll see more, such as a city's resigned observance of the floods; dig into his celebration of manufacturing and construction ("Technique") and you'll see Escher-like stairs and a vehicle cab's steering wheel. A partially submerged chain evokes a wide mix of emotions in me, and his lamp is pure grace.

There's much to enjoy in his site. Before closing out, I want to also say I laughed at this office toy, was impressed by the construction of this shot of a rock climb; I liked the depth of field in this dessert shot. I also noeed to point out that not all of his shots are from Prague: for instance, this one from Sweden.

So far, only two people have listed mzourek.net as a favorite. I think that's due more to language than photgraphy, and I hope you'll add it to your watchlist at least. (His profile is here.) (By the way, he does speak English, and can carry on a conversation; he just prefers to post in his native language.)

Someone asked me why we didn't syndicate the entire blog post in our RSS feed. Couldn't really think of a good reason why not, so I flipped the switch to make the full entry available. (Hopefully, it worked.)

Let me know if you have any preferences either way.

I want to thank the readers of Photoblogs.org for their contributions and submissions to FILE. The response -- both feedback and submissions -- have been outstanding.

One of the problems with publishing just one or two images a day is that we are forced to be selective; this means that everyone who would like to participate may not be able to. With this in mind, we have created a new feature on FILE Magazine called Karaoke Camera. Like The Collection, we are looking for images that treat subjects in unexpected ways; unlike The Collection, Karaoke Camera has pre-selected categories so you don't have to try to figure out what that means.

Like a karaoke contest, we play the tune and you sing the words. Anyone may enter as many times as they wish. The only requirement is that you stay on topic, which means, to strain the karaoke metaphor even further, you may not sing the words to "Subterranean Homesick Blues" when the tune is "Papa Don't Preach." The opening categories are "Stumped" and "Wild Carts". We hope everyone enjoys this collaborative project, and if you have any ideas for future categories, were open to suggestions!

Hi everyone! I'm Tom, (aka this is diopter) the newest addition to the people posting on the Photoblogs weblog. I've got a little story, followed by a question. Feel free to tell your own story!

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As an amateur photographer, and not a National Geographic Expert type of person, my own experience might sound weird, but I swear it happened!

I was in Uganda in June this year, to visit my parents, who were over there working at the time. I got to go on some really interesting wildlife trips while I was there, and one such trip occurred at the Kyambura Gorge, a sub-environment in the savannah-type landscape of the region - basically, the gorge is a subtropical rainforest, and anything from hippos, crocodiles, chimpanzees, and monkeys of various kinds can be found there. And lone bull elephants that have been rejected from their herds out on the savannah. And that's what my experience revolves around.

So there we were, in the Kyambura Gorge forest, and we stumbled across (and nearly into!) a very large and steaming pile of...um, crap. For the sake this story, we'll be polite and call it "dung". The local guide and wildlife / conservation expert we had with us (with his AK-47 strapped to his shoulder) informed us that it was elephant dung, and "would you care to see if we could track down the elephant, which was probably nearby?" Deciding that seeing an elephant up close was a once in a lifetime experience, we decided we'd see if we could find him. We set off, following some broken bushes and branches...and then we encountered some very large footprints. We were on the right track. We kept on going, the guide ahead of us, who suddenly froze, and slowly held up his hand, signaling us to stop. I was last in the line, my parents being behind the guide (it was only the 4 of us).

My parents started to wave at me and hiss at me, telling me to "look, look at the elephant, it's right there, look, look!!". But when I looked, I couldn't see it. And I moved, probably a bit too fast, trying to get my camera ready for a shot. And then, I saw this huge black shape move. It snapped its head and shook its trunk and the branches around him snapped loudly. "Don't mess with me, don't come anywhere near me", he seemed to be saying, "or I'll mow you down like you're not even there".

We'd almost had enough. Our guide had his rifle up, safety off, ready to shoot in case this behemoth of an elephant decided to charge these puny humans out of his space.

Then the elephant shook his head and stuck his ears out, and snorted. We'd all had enough, the guide mouthed at us to start moving out of the area, the guide himself coming last of all, ready to turn around and shoot the magnificent beast, and protect the tourists, not hesitating for a moment to put himself in danger. The elephant didn't pursue us. I don't think he'd even come close to that point; all he'd wanted to do was to scare us. Which he did. I was trembling. And I dropped my new, beloved camera. While unbroken, it just made me flip out even more. And he hell of it is, I didn't get a photo in. Except for the photo in my mind. And of course, this story. And for that, Mr. Elephant, I am truly grateful. But I'm also guilty. I don't think we'd be too happy if strange creatures came to our territory to stare at us.

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What's the riskiest situation you've found yourself in, while on the quest for a photo?

Vincent Thian's gallery says it all.

Well hello there! My name is Stijn, I'm from Belgium and I'll be your (occasional) host here today. Sorry, got caught in the moment. Looks like I'm a new contributor to this blog.

Actually I have a fairly simple question: Say you're having a barbecue. How do you photograph friends and family?

You see, when I point my camera they turn their faces away or start making strange expression that won't make a nice picture. Do you ask them to 'pose' for you? Or do you just point and shoot in automatic pilot hoping there will be a good shot among them?

We've done image theft and copyright infringement, but we haven't really discussed design 'imitation' in the same detail. Anyway, my reason for this post is that I got an email from Jessyel this morning drawing my attention to Leisure.Time Story which, by some strage coincidence (not), looks almost identical to my blog, chromasia (the main page is almost identical, as is the comments popup, and the CSS is an almost verbatim copy of mine). Admittedly, there is an acknowledgement in the code as follows:

<!-- This template is made by chromasia.com, just say thanks to him. -->

... but I don't remember ever saying that I would be happy for people to copy my design wholesale.

What do people think about this issue?

I know how much everyone here loves cat photos, so I'm sure this will be well received:

The Infinite Cat Project

Go directly to the fun by visiting the first cat... now keep hitting the "Next Cat" button.

So this may not be the most pressing issue that photographers deal with day in and day out...but I'm wondering how everyone carries around their camera?

Even since I made the switch to digital I found that I have to have at least one camera on me at all times. This was easy back when my digital camera was a tiny pencam, but now I carry around a Canon G3 which is heavier and bulkier. I've tried carry around a separate camera case along with my normal daily bags but found that to be too difficult and camera cases are just way too bulky (and scream "steal me!) I now keep my camera inside a small bag to protect it, and keep that bag inside a messenger bag I carry to and from work, etc every day.

Problem is sometimes my camera ends up on the bottom under books, wallet, etc which I'm sure isn't good for it. Plus sometimes I want to take a spur of the moment shot and end up fumbling through my bag and can't pull out the camera very quickly.

Since my camera is with me all day I really need to figure out the best way to carry it that is convienent but will also keep it safe. I want it to be there when I need it, but also out of the way when carrying groceries, sitting in a bar, etc.

So far the messenger bag has been the best solution I can come up with. I'm curious to know how all the other photobloggers out there transport their cameras around day in an day out? Any great solutions? Any particular bags/cases that do the trick?