If you had to pick the coolest place in the world to have your favorite photograph showcased, where would it be?

“How about a trendy local coffee shop?”

Naw, think bigger.

“Maybe that swanky gallery downtown?”

Nope, you’re not thinking big enough.

“What about on the homepage of PhotographyCorner?”

Well, that’s pretty big… (sucking up will only get you so far)… but think even bigger…

Give up? How about in Times Square in New York??! How amazing would that be?! I know what you’re thinking: “There’s no way Tim could pull that off… could he?”….

You bet I could. It may even be your photograph showcased in Times Square. But I’ll tell you about that in a little bit. We’re going to switch gears for a little bit and talk about printers (I promise I’ll get back to Times Square… bear with me).

Since the emergence of the digital photography era, most of us have started taking more and more photographs. No more film to buy, no more buying expensive prints just to see if your photographs turned out. When we see something we want to capture, we just snap away… and take 3-4 more shots, just to make sure. For those of us that used to shoot with film, do you print as many photographs as you had in the past? Sure, we have 1000’s of photographs on our hard drives, but do you ever get prints any more? I bet if we took a survey, we’d find that we have fewer prints floating around.

What about printing them up on your own printer? We probably don’t print many photographs on our own printers because it’s too expensive (I get my printer ink pretty cheap – I do have some connections after running this site for almost 4 years, you know - and it still costs me hundreds of dollars/year). Maybe the quality just isn’t the same as having a lab do it. Maybe it’s because when you print a photograph from your printer, after a couple of years, they just start to fade. For whatever reason, computers and digital cameras have made technological leaps and bounds over the past 10+ years, but printers have become the “weak link” in the chain.

Until now.

Kodak (you do remember Kodak, don’t you?) is back in the game, and they’ve brought with them something that may just change your opinion about that “weakest link.” Imagine this: a printer where ink isn’t a complete rip-off (think half the cost), a printer that’s easy to use, ink that doesn’t fade over time. Sounds pretty good, eh?

“Yeah, but it’s probably like $1000 or something. If they’re not making money off the ink, they’re probably way over-charging for the machine.”

You’d think so, but it’s actually competitively priced (think less than $200). The printer I’m talking about? The Kodak EasyShare 5300.

One of the features that helps keep the ink price down is that the printer has a permanent printhead in the printer itself, whereas most manufacturers have them in the cartridges (which drives up the cost of the ink cartridges, obviously). So that’s why the inks are about half the cost. The new Kodak inks are also pigment-based instead of being dye-based. They are dry almost instantaneously and won’t fade for a lifetime - much better than the year or so with the dye-based inks of other printers. With this printer, you won’t have to worry about your photographs from the trip to the Grand Canyon last summer looking like your photos from the trip to the Grand Canyon in 1974.

“Wow, Tim… that printer sounds pretty cool. But what does this have to do with getting one of my photographs up in Times Square?”

Ah, right. Thanks for reminding me. I’ve been chatting with Tom over at Kodak, and we came up with a pretty neat idea for a contest. Here’s the deal:

You write a paragraph (5-10 sentences) telling us why you would want a printer that has “ink that is half the cost, easy to use and that creates prints that last a lifetime.” Email that paragraph to me (twalker@photographycorner.com) with the Subject “Kodak Contest” along with your PhotographyCorner username and you address by November 16th, 2007. A couple of days later, we’ll announce the winner and post up all the entries.

And now, for what you’ve been waiting for. The prize (it’s always about the prize, isn’t it?!). We’re actually going to have two winners: One from the USA/Canada, and one from everywhere else. The top international entry (maybe you!) will get their best photograph (along with a photographer credit) featured in rotation for a day on the giant Kodak electronic display in Times Square!!! The winner from USA/Canada will receive a FREE Kodak EasyShare 5300 printer, and, they will also get their best photograph featured in Times Square for a day!! How cool is that?! Imagine, your photograph up for display in one of the busiest, most populated, most popular places in the world for a whole day!!

Ok, wipe the drool from your face. Let’s recap. First, write a paragraph telling us why you would want a printer that has ink that is half the cost, east to use and that creates prints that last a lifetime. Second, send it to me with the subject “Kodak Contest” along with your PhotographyCorner username and your address by November 16th, 2007. Thirdly, wait impatiently while we pore over all the entries. Finally, if your write-up is the best (Tom and I will pick the winners), you get your photograph displayed for a day in Times Square (and a sweet printer if you live in the USA/Canada).

So what are you waiting for? Get writing!!