The early-bird special deadline for the 16x20 print competition is January 11, 2008. Submit four prints and the fifth print will be free! Go to www.wppionline.com/competition.

Last month we announced the call for entries for the Hy Sheanin Memorial Scholarship, which honors the memory of the founder of Rangefinder Publishing and co-founder of WPPI. This scholarship is part of WPPI's tradition of excellence in education and continues Mr. Sheanin's visionary approach to photography. There's still plenty of time to get entries in.

To qualify, you must be new to professional photography (either as a photographer's assistant, a recent graduate, or a new or part-time business owner/operator). To apply, please submit: a portfolio of ten 8x8 or 8x10 images, a cover letter of 50-100 words on why you would like the scholarship, and a brief resume of no more than two pages.

The scholarship recipient will receive: round-trip airfare (within the United States) to Las Vegas for the 2008 WPPI Convention and Trade Show; registration to WPPI Plus, the WPPI Convention and Trade Show, and the Business Institute; eight nights lodging at the WPPI hosting hotel; and a one-year membership in WPPI.

If you are new to the profession, this is a great opportunity to learn about your craft and the industry, and to meet fellow photographers. Apply today!

Deadline for the 2008 scholarship competition is December 28, 2007. All entries must be at the WPPI office by this date. If you have questions, contact the office at (310) 451-0090 or excellence@wppionline.com.

Send submissions to:

WPPI
ATTN: Hy Sheanin Scholarship
1312 Lincoln Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90401

Registration for the WPPI 2008 Convention and Trade Show will be up and running on November 15th. Please check our website, www.wppionline.com, for more information. And don't forget to book your hotel rooms! The rates are the same as last year: $129 for Bally's (discount code SBWAP8) and $159 for Paris (discount code SPWAP8). We hope to see you in Las Vegas!

Ann Hamilton, who is featured in this month's Rangefinder, is a talented photographer based out of San Francisco. As her blog says, "Ann photographs weddings near and far, and as many dogs as she can in between." You can keep up with Ann and sample some of her wonderful photographs at www.annhamiltonblog.com.

Incidentally, Ann shares a studio space with Gene Higa, another talented WPPI member and a repeat speaker at this year's convention. You can follow Gene's destination wedding shoots on his own blog.

Photographer James Russell posted his first impressions of Nikon's new D3 over on Luminous Landscape. Russell took the D3 along to shoot a track-and-field event in Osaka. To get his thoughts and see some sample images, visit www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/cameras/d3.shtml.

In other news, it looks like a fix is on the way for the early Canon EOS-1D Mark III units experiencing autofocus problems. The culprit seems to be a misaligned sub-mirror. For more info, click here.

And finally, Laptop Magazine has a piece on the Best DSLRs under $800. If you know any aspiring photographers, they might find it useful. Click here for the article.

Just a quick reminder to check out our Calendar section, which features upcoming workshops by a number of notable photographers. For example, Yervant will be doing a safari workshop in Africa later this month. Next month Ming Tshing will explore what's new in Photoshop CS3 at the Julia Dean workshop in Culver City, CA, while John Paul Caponigro will teach his workshop on the Fine Digital Print in Cushing, ME.

WPPI 2008 Sponsors