It's Friday, which means it's time for another "Corner Member Close Up" photographer interview. This week we meet Larry Shone, aka Cyclops, from England. We've got 20 great photos below along with the interview - enjoy!

There’s been a lot of voting going on around the Corner lately (see the 2011 Photograph of the Year contest), but not to be lost in the shuffle was the voting for the February Photograph of the Month. Last week we cast our votes, and with almost 20% of them, “Eye of a Fighter” by Cpt easily took top prize and will be featured on the homepage for the month of February.

The contest was sponsored by our friends at DayMen Photo Marketing (an innovative manufacturer and distributor of high quality imaging products and accessories), Acme Made (best known for incorporating innovative textiles and materials with contemporary styling to produce attractive bags, cases and sleeves for laptops, eReaders, smart phones, and digital cameras) and Lowepro (inventors and designers of popular camera bags, photographers and lovers of the natural world who take our reputation as The Trusted Original™ to heart). Since Gabor was not a Premiere Member, he will receive a Lifetime, Level I Premiere Membership!

To see a larger version of the winning photograph, head on over to the award thread in the forum and congratulate Gabor on his win. To see one of your photos in the running for the next Photograph of the Month contest, all you have to do is post it up in the galleries or the forums, and hope a Premiere Member nominates it (or you can also get a photograph in there by winning a Premiere Project - become a Premiere Member (for HALF PRICE this week only) and start participating in the Premiere Projects today!).

Premiere Projects, hosted in the Premiere Corner every couple of weeks, are group photography projects where Premiere Members challenge themselves to grow as photographers by participating in themed “assignments.” Each projects outlines a topic for the members to photograph. The photos are then submitted for discussion/critiquing/reactions. At the end of the project period, a vote is held to determine which photo best represents the theme while maintaining high photographic quality. If you follow along closely in the forums, you’ve probably seem some of the winner announcements in the Conversation Corner.

This week, we take a look at the Premiere Project winning photographs from the past year, and the community is voting on their favorites. Originally the vote was only going to be among Premiere Members in the Premiere Corner, but the Premiere Members wanted to open voting up to the community at large in attempts to encourage non Premiere Members to support the Corner and become Premiere Members themselves. So for the next week, Lifetime Premiere Memberships will again be on sale for HALF PRICE for the duration of the contest. Learn about Premiere Membership here, and sign up to become a Premiere Member for HALF PRICE here.

The contest is being sponsored by our friends at Think Tank Photo - a group of designers and professional photographers focused on studying how photographers work, and developing inventive new carrying solutions to meet their needs. By focusing on “speed” and “accessibility,” they prepare photographers to Be Ready “Before The Moment,” allowing them to capture those historic moments that reflect their personal visions and artistic talents. For some companies, it is only about the product. For them, it is more: It is about supporting photographers doing their job. If Think Tank can design products that help photographers travel easier, take pictures faster, and organize their gear more efficiently, then they will have accomplished something beyond the bags themselves. As a special offer to members of PhotographyCorner, when you order $50 or more of Think Tank gear through this link, at checkout you will be able to select a product to receive for free!

The winner will receive a Think Tank Photo Retrospective® 5 camera bag (Valued at $137.50)! Voting ends at approximately 4:30pm EST on Wednesday, February 8th, 2012 (9:30pm GMT), so head on over to the voting thread to check out the 26 Premiere Project winning photographs from 2011 and cast your vote today!

The “2011-Photograph-of-the-Year Edition” of the Corner Newsletter is out in inboxes across the world as of a couple of hours ago. If you’re a member of the Corner, it should be in your inbox waiting for you. If you’re not a member of the Corner (you can sign up here), or you somehow missed it, you can, as always, read the newsletter online in the Newsletter Archives here. It definitely has a “Photograph of the Year” vibe to it, but next month I promise it will be back to normal.

The newsletter was sponsored by the New York Institute of Photography. NYIP is the world’s largest and oldest photography school and offers 3 affordable home-study courses. Founded in 1910, they have trained more successful photographers than any other school in the world. NYIP uses a combination of lesson books, CDs, and DVDs, plus access to professional photographers as your teachers and student advisors to give you a high-quality photography education without the hassle of commuting costs, deadlines, or due dates. Study on your own time, at your own pace, from anywhere in the world and get the photography training that you deserve! To get your Free Course Catalog and find out how we can help you, click here.

Usually the day before each Corner Newsletter goes out (look for the 2011-Photograph-of-the-Year-Edition Newsletter to come out later today), we take a couple of minutes to recognize and award members of the Corner who have hit posting milestones over the past month. Commitment Awards are handed out to those who have shown great community dedication & commitment, and have reached a specific post-count milestone (1k, 2k, 5k and 10k). We have one member receiving an award this month: Sharna! Sharna is one of the most active and helpful members of the site (look for her to be added to the Mod Squad soon!), and is constantly helping the Corner to run smoothly - a well-earn award to be sure!

Usually, the "SmugMug Corner" photographer interviews, sponsored by SmugMug.com, show up on the Corner Blog every other Friday... but due to the 2011 Photograph of the Year hub-bub that was going on last week, we decided to move the interview from last Friday to today. But it was definitely worth the wait - we have over 2 dozen photos that accompany one of my favorite SmugMug Corner interviews to date (and we've had over 100(!) of them). Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like for you to meet Howard Brown.

After a month-long entry period, followed by a preliminary voting round that featured over 225 photos, which was followed by a 1-week FINAL VOTING ROUND, it’s finally time to announce the WINNER of the PhotographyCorner.com 2011 Photograph of the Year Contest!!!

The WINNER of the PhotographyCorner.com 2011 Photograph of the Year Contest is alvibasit with his photograph Tales to Tell, Tears to Shed!!

After a month-long entry period, followed by a preliminary voting round that featured over 225 photos, which was followed by a 1-week FINAL VOTING ROUND, it’s finally time to announce the winners of the PhotographyCorner.com 2011 Photograph of the Year Contest.

The 1st Runner-Up (2nd Place) in the PhotographyCorner.com 2011 Photograph of the Year Contest goes to william88 with his photograph Yosemite Valley View!!

After a month-long entry period, followed by a preliminary voting round that featured over 225 photos, which was followed by a 1-week FINAL VOTING ROUND, it’s finally time to announce the winners of the PhotographyCorner.com 2011 Photograph of the Year Contest.

The 2nd Runner-Up (3rd Place) in the PhotographyCorner.com 2011 Photograph of the Year Contest goes to floridapix with her photograph Trying to Get Away!!

After a month-long entry period, followed by a preliminary voting round that featured over 225 photos, which was followed by a 1-week FINAL VOTING ROUND, it’s finally time to announce the winners of the PhotographyCorner.com 2011 Photograph of the Year Contest.

The 3rd Runner-Up (4th Place) in the PhotographyCorner.com 2011 Photograph of the Year Contest goes to SNiedzwiecki with her photograph Gaze!!

After a month-long entry period, followed by a preliminary voting round that featured over 225 photos, which was followed by a 1-week FINAL VOTING ROUND, it’s finally time to announce the winners of the PhotographyCorner.com 2011 Photograph of the Year Contest.

The 4th Runner-Up (5th Place) in the PhotographyCorner.com 2011 Photograph of the Year Contest goes to Bozzzzz with his photograph Castle Hill at Dusk!!

After a month-long entry period, followed by a preliminary voting round that featured over 225 photos, which was followed by a 1-week FINAL VOTING ROUND, it’s finally time to announce the winners of the PhotographyCorner.com 2011 Photograph of the Year Contest.

The 5th Runner-Up (6th Place) in the PhotographyCorner.com 2011 Photograph of the Year Contest goes to Alamsyah with his photograph Circle for Togetherness!!

After a month-long entry period, followed by a preliminary voting round that featured over 225 photos, which was followed by a 1-week FINAL VOTING ROUND, it’s finally time to announce the winners of the PhotographyCorner.com 2011 Photograph of the Year Contest.

The 6th Runner-Up (7th Place) in the PhotographyCorner.com 2011 Photograph of the Year Contest goes to william88 with his photograph Harmonic Cheers!!

After a month-long entry period, followed by a preliminary voting round that featured over 225 photos, which was followed by a 1-week FINAL VOTING ROUND, it’s finally time to announce the winners of the PhotographyCorner.com 2011 Photograph of the Year Contest.

The 7th Runner-Up (8th Place) in the PhotographyCorner.com 2011 Photograph of the Year Contest goes to Putunetika with his photograph Flying to the Sun!!

After a month-long entry period, followed by a preliminary voting round that featured over 225 photos, which was followed by a 1-week FINAL VOTING ROUND, it’s finally time to announce the winners of the PhotographyCorner.com 2011 Photograph of the Year Contest.

The 8th Runner-Up (9th Place) in the PhotographyCorner.com 2011 Photograph of the Year Contest goes to Vampirica with her photograph Angel!!

After a month-long entry period, followed by a preliminary voting round that featured over 225 photos, which was followed by a 1-week FINAL VOTING ROUND, it’s finally time to announce the winners of the PhotographyCorner.com 2011 Photograph of the Year Contest.

The 9th Runner-Up (10th Place) in the PhotographyCorner.com 2011 Photograph of the Year Contest goes to nrshapiro with his photograph Jade!!

As if you didn't already have enough voting to do (*hint, hint* go cast your vote in the 2011 Photograph of the Year contest *hint, hint*), since it's the last week of the month, it's also time to vote on the Photograph of the Month for February 2012. Every month here at the Corner, we gather up the best photographs posted in the forums and galleries and vote on which one we think is the best (the Premiere Members nominate their favorites, and I whittle them down to 10-15 - then the community votes).

You can browse through the dozen photos up for PotM honors in the February 2012 Photograph of the Month Photo Gallery, then make your way over to the poll posted in the forums here. Voting ends at approximately 6:00pm EST on Tuesday, January 31st, 2012 (11:00pm GMT).

The contest is being sponsored by our friends at DayMen Photo Marketing (an innovative manufacturer and distributor of high quality imaging products and accessories), Acme Made (best known for incorporating innovative textiles and materials with contemporary styling to produce attractive bags, cases and sleeves for laptops, eReaders, smart phones, and digital cameras) and Lowepro (inventors and designers of popular camera bags, photographers and lovers of the natural world who take our reputation as The Trusted Original™ to heart).

If the winner is a Premiere Member, they will receive a Lowepro Terraclime 100 Camera Bag or an Acme Made Kindle Hardback Folio case. If the winner is not a Premiere Member, they will receive a Lifetime, Level I Premiere Membership.

You have until the end of the month to cast your vote... but it's going to be a tough choice, so you may want to start narrowing down the choices sooner rather than later! ;)

Every other Friday we get a little up close and personal with a member of the PhotographyCorner community - we browse through some of their favorite photographs and ask them a bunch of questions. It's a great way to get to know some of the most active members of the community. This week we meet Orv Salisbury (you may know him simply as OrvSal). If you're experiencing winter right now, this interview with either make you feel a little warmer, or very jealous. ;) Either way, enjoy!

It’s down to the final stretch. Crunch time. We’ve narrowed down over 225 photos to 30 (congrats to the 30 photographs that have photos in the final voting round!). Now we have to whittle down those 30 to 10. 10 photographers will walk home (ok, we’ll technically mail the prizes out) with over $10,000 in prizes (and the 1st-overall winner with $3,250 in prizes!). But before we get to the prizes, we need you to vote on the photos.

Every year, I am blown away by the quality of entries we receive. Even if you’re not a member of the Corner, or don’t want to vote, take some time to browse through the 30 photographs in the 2011 Photograph of the Year Photo Gallery - the photos are outstanding. And don’t forget about our fantastic group of sponsors, including Depositphotos and SmugMug, so be sure to browse through all the sponsors in the sponsors list here and thank them for sponsoring the contest here.

The final voting round ends at approximately 4:00pm EST on Thursday, January 26th, 2011 (9:00pm GMT). So once you’ve browsed through the entries in the 2011 Photograph of the Year Photo Gallery, head on over to the voting thread in the forums to cast your vote.

Good luck to everyone in the final voting round - and congratulations to everyone that has participated so far this year - it’s been an amazing contest (now go vote already!).

The first "SmugMug Corner" photographer interview of 2012, sponsored by SmugMug.com, features HDR-specialist Frank C. Grace from Massachusetts. We've got over a dozen photos below, along with a great read. If you love HDR photography, you'll really enjoy browsing through this one...