Do you shoot film? Are you looking for an excuse to get out there and do something creative? Do you want someone to send you a roll of film? If so, this might be right up your alley...

The 36 Exposures Challenge

Our friends at File Magazine, Coudal Partners, and Flak Photo have put together a not-your-average-contest type of contest. From their site:

...we are asking you to use a film camera to explore Shore's concept of "conscious intentionality." Broadly speaking, we are challenging you to do two things: articulate a concept, project, or theme and then use a film camera to photograph the images to accompany it. There are, then, two parts: creating the idea and then acting on it. Sound interesting? Well, there is a catch (or two), and if you are interested, here are the rules...

Check out their site for all the details... The 36 Exposures Challenge

Over the past week we had our first Freebie Friday, which was sponsored by David and Libby over at Chromasia. They were kind enough to give one of our readers a free One Year Subscription to their new Photoshop Tutorials Area.

Everyone who left a comment on last week's blog post was added to the Magic Salad Bowl of Wonder...

After shuffling things thoroughly, we picked the lucky commenter...

Congratulations to Brad McGonigle... You are the newly appointed luckiest commenter on this blog! (We'll contact you shortly with details on how to claim your prize.)

And David hasn't forgotten about those of you who didn't win... He decided to give you all a 25% off discount coupon that will be good until December 31st. Nice!

Also... Do you have something fun that you'd like to give our readers for free? We're interested in doing more Freebie Fridays in 2008, so get in touch with us and we'll talk.

Introducing the first, of hopefully many, Freebie Fridays! There are so many amazing photographers in the photoblogging community, from the newbies to the seasoned pros, and each one has something to offer. Well, we’d like to spread the word about what some in our community are doing, and give one lucky PBO Blog reader the chance to try it out for free!

Who out there with even a remote interest in photography has not heard of Chromasia? The mastermind behind the sweeping Northern England landscapes and gorgeous portraits is David Nightingale, a former psychology teacher who quit his higher education position to run Chromasia full time along with his wife, Libby, earlier this year. David is known for his immense skill using Photoshop, and since he was often being asked how he worked his magic, he decided to share his knowledge through his tutorials.

Chromasia’s tutorials are based on David’s expert knowledge of Photoshop, and aim to teach even the novice how to create amazing imagery. There is a free section that covers the more basic tools and applications, which serves as an introduction to the more advanced subscription-based section. The subscription-based tutorials come with downloadable PSD files with detailed instructions on everything from Curves and Levels, to Toning, Black & White and even creating dramatic skies. The paid subscription also includes membership to the forums where members can share images and ask & answer questions.

David and Libby, are offering a discount coupon of £25.00 to one of our readers. The coupon can be used towards the annual subscription of £25.00, or it can be used as a discount towards the £75.00 lifetime membership fee.

Update: Just to clarify... They are giving away a free full 12 month subscription, but if the winner wants to upgrade to the lifetime membership, you will have that option.

All you need to do is leave a comment below. Next Friday, we will randomly select a winner from the comments and you will receive this generous gift from Chromasia!

Leave your comment and Win!

Update: Winner announced here.

This morning I was reading Robert Scoble's blog where he made some comments about Lane Hartwell, an active Flickr user and contributor to several publications. She decided to remove a large number of her photos from Flickr for copyright reasons. Here's an excerpt from Lane's explanation of her decision:

I’ve been a very loyal flickr user for almost 3 years. I had just under 5,000 photos here with almost a half million views. Most of my friends are fellow flickr users. I love sharing my images here and have really appreciated all the support and comments that I have received. This was not a happy decision I made and my heart was sinking as I watched 4000+ images disappear.

I don’t want to disparage flickr in any way over this. It’s not their fault that some people are dishonest scumbags who consider flickr a source for free photos. Flickr is clearly not a pro photo storage/gallery site. I get that. I *do* wish, though, that flickr would innovate a little more to keep up with the growing talents of the photographers here, who are producing higher quality images every day and are at risk of being ripped off. Did you know that someone can embed one of your sets as a slide show into their website, even if you disable downloading? That happened to me 2 weeks ago. My recourse was to remove the photos so the thieves would not have access. So I hope that flickr becomes aware of things like this and works harder to protect their photographers.

Robert's response is to say, "Steal my content, please!":

I’ve found that the more I give away my content, the more magical stuff happens to me anyway and if that means my photos or writings or videos get used in some way that I don’t really like, well, that’s a risk I’m willing to take. Lane obviously is not.

These are two very different approaches to internet distribution and copyright:

1. Try to keep control.
2. Let people do what they want and hope something good happens.

The first option appears to place more value on the content itself, whereas the second option makes the assumption that there's something of value beyond the content. Maybe there isn't a single "right" choice. Maybe these are just two different approaches/tools that creative-types can use to their advantage under different circumstances.

On a semi-related note, I wonder if Radiohead will continue to give away free digital downloads of their future albums the same as they did with In Rainbows.

Need a little holiday cheer? Take a moment to check out Justin Gaynor's collaborative photoblog, 'Tis The Season! With entries from some of the photoblogging community's hottest photographers, like Kathleen Connally, Diane Varner, and Michael Chu, as well as entries from Photoblogs.org's very own Brandon Stone, Susan Burnstine, Jessyel Ty Gonzalez, and even yours truly, this group effort will surely bring some holiday cheer.

See how photographers from all walks and cultures celebrate and commemorate the holidays through pictures. The site is updated daily between November 23 through January 1st. And it's not too late to contribute! Contact Justin if you are interested (justin.gaynor at gmail.com).

Happy Holidays!

photo by Travis Clancy

'TIS THE SEASON!!