PhotoVision: Education & Solution for Photographers. I receive the quarterly CDs and there are some real gems in there. I believe if you join the PPA, you get them for a steep discount.

The man behind PhotoVision is taking the country by storm, visiting 68 cities. Ed Pierce is coming to Hartford and I'll be going to see him. He will be discusing lighting, workflow and marketing. Again, with the PPA discount, I believe his evening seminar called Captivated By The Light is down to $19. Not bad at all.

No, no, I am not selling the Tiffinbox domain for $80. This via Turbanhead –

“Design Within Reach has a tiffin set for, get this, $80. It must come with a tiffin wallah for a few months for that price.”

I'll say.

A couple of days has past since the former Prime Minister of Pakistan was killed by … well, by someone or something, depending on what the Pakistani government's PR folks want to sell you as “the truth.” From my limited perspective, I can only wonder how someone of her stature gets killed and there is no state funeral where dignitaries from other countries have a chance to say goodbye. The rush to bury her has a boat load of conspiracy theorists already in a tizzy. So, I won't dwell on this as it will only add fuel to the fire that is burning in South Asia.

The future of Pakistan is truly at stake now that former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said he will boycott any elections there. Ok, so the rationale is that by not participating in an election, you can usher in democracy? Sounds a little wonky to me. By stepping out of the election process, Mr. Sharif has simply given “President” Musharraf the green signal to do what he pleases. It will be a defacto dictatorship, without the military regalia. The political vacuum that will be felt in that country will have repercussions around the world.

Who will emerge as Pakistan's leader and when are the biggest questions as we turn the corner on 2007 and jump into 2008?

Thanks again to A Photo A Day, here is a link to a New York Times feature showing Benazir Bhutto's last minutes.

Do you have a Gmail account and own a website domain or two? Yeah? Then you better read this: How David Airey had his website hijacked, but got it back

Scott Kelby and his company is offering online training for folks interested in Photoshop, InDesign and possibly other cool graphic programs. Yes, it costs money but there are no free lunches … even at Tiffinbox

Howard, a physician by trade and a fellow photo-lover, has a blog called Motivation. He recently published a three-part series on using textures. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3. [Send me some examples of your work to be published here after you use textures on your images]

15 Tips To Use A Good Font

Frank W. Ockenfels III

There is YouSendIt and now PalShare (yeah, yeah, I know there are a bunch of these file transmitting services out there)

The Rule Of Photography Composition

If you are a frequent flyer, and I mean you are someone who is always at an airport, Amit Gupta suggests you get yourself a t-shirt

Many of you receive a RSS or subscription feed delivered right to your inbox. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for subscribing. Recently, however, I have noticed Feedblitz the current provider pushing unwanted advertisements (like for a service called WebJay Yahoo!) through my subscription list. While I have valued Feedblitz's help in the past in coordinating my subscription list, I am not thrilled about these new advertisements creeping up on my subscribers or me. Frankly, I am pretty annoyed by them and I suspect you are too. So, starting today, I am moving the subscription service to Feedburner (no guarantees they won't push advertising either).

If you would please re-subscribe, I would be grateful and of course honored. You will notice a new subscription box on the website (it has a thin white line around it). I am also going to try and import all my subscribers over to the new service but I am not entirely sure how successful that will. There may be limitations with the new service, technical issues and other bugaboos. I ask for your patience during this transition time. [Update: Does not look like I can import your email addresses, so please re-subscribe … I am terribly sorry about the inconvenience!]

If any of you knows of a service that works well with blogs such as this one, please let me know. I am all ears.

In 2008, I expect to have some design and layout changes made so that the site loads more quickly, showcases more great photography from around the world and provides some consistency in how external links to your favorite photographers or other resources are displayed. There is room for a lot of improvement. It's about setting priorities and finding the right amount of time to get it all done.

To more illuminating posts in 2008. See you then!

I have three book reviews to complete and I hope to have them done by the end of the year. The books are: Betsy Karel's Bombay Jadoo, Mahesh Bhat's Unsung and Steve Raymer's Images of a Journey: India in Diaspora.

Please click the links to find out more and to buy the books.

Foundry Photojournalism Workshop is “Six intensive days of classes, fieldwork, panel discussions, slideshows, portfolio reviews, multimedia creation, parties, networkng and more.” Read the about page. Some of the best photojournalists and photo editors are volunteering their timeI really wish I could go!

From Basement.org: “There's a little shop in Brooklyn's Park Slope called Asha Veza. Asha Veza (the name combines the words “hope” in Hindi, and “connection” in Bosnian) sells women's clothing but with a twist: all of the apparel is created by women surviving and at risk of trafficking or sexual exploitation in Calcutta and Bosnia. 100% of Asha Veza profits go to create sustainable economic opportunities for women with few options and little hope.” The online version of the shop is yet to open, but I have signed up to hear from them when they go live.

The ink is fading on this profession

Photo Rank is “a place to discover photographers, photographs and news about photography. Brought to you by Rob Haggart, A Photo Editor“

David Tejada is a photographer who shoots for annual reports and does a lot of commercial work. His YouTube-based clips are now legendary. Check them out. You will learn something (actually, a lot) about off-camera lighting. Brilliant!

A Visual Society are “musings of a photography agent in NY”

Do you practice “conscious intentionality”? Huh? Ok, that's photographer Stephen Shore's way of saying “being mindful when you photograph.” FILE magazine has a challenge for us digital types. It's to return to our film days when we photographed a whole lot more conservatively. The instant gratification of seeing our images appear on the back our camera's LCD panels comes at the cost of, well, not really creating anything special. Deadline for stage 1 of this competition is between now and January 6. Check it all out here. Glad I didn't sell my Nikon F100. But I have to scrounge around for film now. Sheesh!

“The Aftermath Project is a non-profit organization committed to telling the other half of the story of conflict — the story of what it takes for individuals to learn to live again, to rebuild destroyed lives and homes, to restore civil societies, to address the lingering wounds of war while struggling to create new avenues for peace.”

Love politics as much as I do? Then you will love what the Concord Monitor is publishing. No, it's not about that “phony” Mitt Romney. It's a photo blog called Primary Circus. The images are awesome!

A special thank-you to A Photo A Day, which is always full of great and inspiring links. Thank you Melissa!

… go hack yourself and give yourself a positive spin!

This is a must-see clip from TED [Technology, Entertainment, Design]: