Just for those of you that follow the Corner Blog, but are for some reason not actually a member of the PhotographyCorner.com forums (or for those of you that are members, but have chosen not to receive the Corner Newsletter), the July 2011 (Volume 8, Issue 7) of the Corner Newsletter has now been posted in the Corner Newsletter Archives for you to browse through - read it in its entirety here: www.photographycorner.com/forum/showthread.php?t=99994.

The newsletter was sponsored by our good friends at PrintedArt.com. PrintedArt was not only the lead sponsor of the 2010 Photograph of the Year contest, but they’ve also sponsored several of our Photograph of the Month contests (providing several members with FANTASTIC LOOKING prints). In addition, they’ve continued to support and invest in the growth of the PhotographyCorner community by advertising in the newsletter and on the site as well (I’m sure you’ve seen their banners around!). The best part about working with PrintedArt, however, is that the product/service they provide is superb (I just received my order of a 43” × 29” canvas from them, in fact - it looks fantastic!). For more information, and to see how good your photographs will look printed on aluminum dibond with acrylic, visit them at www.printedart.com.

It may well have been biante12’s “first star scape” but according to the voting members of the Corner, it was good enough to win the July 2011 Photograph of the Month honors. By only a couple of votes (check the final voting results here), John picked up his first Photograph of the Month win after being a member of the Corner for almost 6 years! It was a close race, and after you browse through the other nominations in the July 2011 PotM Photo Gallery, you’ll see why.

The contest was sponsored by out friends at DayMen Photo Marketing (an innovative manufacturer and distributor of high quality imaging products and accessories) 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 biante12 was not yet a Premiere Member, he has received a Lifetime, Level I Premiere Membership!

If you haven’t already, check out a larger-sized version of the winning photograph, and congratulate John on his first PotM win here in the award thread.

It’s true. Voting for the Photograph of the Month contest is often very close. Sometimes a mere vote determines the winner. One of the neat things about the contests here on PhotographyCorner is that the community votes on each contest and the winners are declared by popular opinion. Some stuffy “judge” doesn’t decide which photograph is the best - you do! It could all come down to your vote. It’s a heavy responsibility, I know. But I think you’re up to the task.

We have 13 photographs to choose from this month - take a browse through them in the July 2011 Photograph of the Month Photo Gallery. You have until the end of June to cast your vote in the voting thread here.

The contest is being sponsored by out friends at DayMen Photo Marketing (an innovative manufacturer and distributor of high quality imaging products and accessories) 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. If the winner is not a Premiere Member, they will receive a Lifetime, Level I Premiere Membership.

You vote could decide which photographer gets the accolades and prizes - cast your vote today!

I know it’s August already, but if you’re a member of the Corner, you should have at least received the July newsletter while it was still July. Maybe you didn’t read it or open it in July, but I did send it out in July. That counts for something, right? For those that may have missed it, don’t subscribe to it, or prefer to read it online, you can read the July 2010 Corner Newsletter here in the Corner Newsletter Archives.

The newsletter was sponsored by Tamron and their new SP AF10-24mm Di II lens, a high performance ultra-wideangle zoom which features an unprecedented 2.4X zoom ratio—the best in its class. This innovative lens is designed for Canon, Nikon, Pentax and Sony DSLRs with APS-C sized sensors and offers a 35mm-equivalent range of 16-37mm in a lightweight and compact design. With this versatile zoom, photographers can capture magnificent vistas and extraordinary close-ups, bold compositions and unique perspectives, creating imagery impossible with a standard wideangle. The advanced optical system features large-aperture, glass-molded aspherical elements, hybrid aspherical elements, and elements made of special low-dispersion glass, all of which combine to deliver high-quality imagery and performance. The lens uses a new optical system designed to confine the changing angles of incidences of light rays reaching the imager within a certain scope over the entire image field from center to periphery, addressing the effects of variances caused by zooming. Peripheral light fall-off that becomes an image-degrading factor in wideangle photography is minimized to ensure high optical quality across the image plane. Newly developed multiple-layer coatings and internal surface coatings to reduce image degradation caused by the reflection of light rays entering the lens front are incorporated. Because close-focusing capability is essential in wideangle photography, Tamron engineered a 9.4” minimum focus distance throughout the zoom range. This capability gives you freedom to create images with an exaggerated perspective at the 10mm ultra-wideangle end and shoot with a maximum magnification ratio of 1:5 at the 24mm setting, the best magnification ratio in its class.

Pretty cool, huh? Now go on and read the rest of the newsletter…

The July 2010 Corner Newsletter is due out in a couple of days, and before we send out each newsletter we always make sure to hand out Commitment Awards to those that have reached milestones with regards to their post-count in 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). This month we have 3 people receiving Bronze Commitment Awards. Check out the winners and congratulate in the comments below.

It doesn’t happen very often, but his first nominated photograph turned into his first Photograph of the Month win. Yeah, I’m talking about Vince Maidens, who’s only been a member of the Corner for 1 month (as of today), and has only been a Premiere Member for about a week. He uploaded this photo on the forums, and a couple of weeks later is taking home a $650 lens. Not too shabby if I do say so myself.

You can check out the final voting results here, and when you do, you’ll see that Vince picked up almost 40% of the votes - a clear favorite.

The contest was sponsored by Tamron, and because Vince is a Premiere Member, he’ll be receiving a Tamron AF 17-50mm F/2.8 SP XR Di II VC Zoom Lens (a $649 value!! - pick one up for yourself today!). Booyah!

Make sure to check out the winning photograph and congratulate Vince on his win here in the Corner forums.

It’s that time again - time to check out the best photographs posted in the Corner Forums and Corner Galleries over the past month. Nominations have been made, and the nominations have been whittled down to 15 photographs. You can browse through the 15 photographs that made the cut in the July 2010 Photograph of the Month Photo Gallery. Go on, check them out now. Quite a collection, eh?

That’s where the hard part comes in. Here around the Corner, during the last week of every month, the community (not a bunch of judges), decides who wins the contests. YOU decide who receives the honors and gets the prize. The Photograph of the Year contests, the Photograph of the Month contests, and the Contest Corner Challenges - the community votes and decides the winners. Now it’s your chance. You’ve checked out the photos, now cast your vote.

The contest is sponsored by one of our favorite lens manufacturers: Tamron. And they’re offering up a killer prize: a Tamron AF 17-50mm F/2.8 SP XR Di II VC Zoom Lens (a $649 value!! - pick one up for yourself today!). But you’ve gotta be a Premiere Member to win it (become a Premiere Member here if you’re not one already).

Voting ends early in the morning on July 1st, 2010, and the winner will be announced later that day. Head on over to the voting thread (make sure you log in), then select your favorite. Someone is going to win an awesome new lens, and your vote may be the deciding factor - so what are you waiting for??! GO pick the winner.

Just a quick blog post to let you know that the July 2009 edition of the Corner Newsletter (Volume 6, Issue 7) was sent out a couple of days ago. If you haven’t received it, you can update your mail preferences in the UserCP in the forums. If you want to read it online, you can do so in the Corner Newsletter Archives.

Also, don’t forget to check out our sponsor of the July 2009 Corner Newsletter, ColorRight. You can read a review of the ColorRight white-balance product here, and for a limited time, you can purchase a ColorRight of your own for a discounted price of $79. Buy yours today!

The July 2009 edition of the Corner Newsletter is due out tomorrow, which means it’s time to hand out Commitment Awards to those that have reached milestones with regards to their post-count in 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).

Not one. Not two. Not three. Or even four. Five. FIVE. FIVE!! That’s the number of Photograph of the Month contests Oneof42 has now won - and he’s only been a member of the Corner for less than 3.5 years. There were fourteen photographs that made it to the voting round for the July 2009 Photograph of the Month, but once the all the votes were tallied, Andy’s “Hard Day” won out with over 21% of the votes. You can check out all the photographs that were up for the July 2009 Photograph of the Month in the Corner Contest Gallery, and you can see the final voting results in the July 2009 PotM voting thread.

The contest was sponsored by a very cool company in MOO.com, and for winning the July 2009 Photograph of the Month, Andy picks himself up a MOO ‘Pro’ Pocket Portfolio Pack (prize valued at $210, which includes: 1 × 200 pack of Business Cards, 1 × 100 pack of MiniCards, 1 × 60 pack of Postcards, 1 × 25 pack of Greeting Cards and 1 x Leather Business Card Holder).

Make sure you drop by the July 2009 PotM award thread to congratulate Andy on his fifth Photograph of the Month victory.

Every month, during the last week of the month, the PhotographyCorner community gets a chance to browse through the best photographs posted to the Corner over the past month, and vote on which one they think is the best. June flew by, and it’s time to decide which photograph should be crowned the July 2009 Photograph of the Month. We have 14 photographs up for the honour (and prizes!) this month, including two by jaharris1001 and two by shutterbug2007.

You can browse through the nominated photographs in the July 2009 Photograph of the Month Gallery and then you have until the wee-morning hours of July 1st to cast your vote in the voting thread (you can also view the photos in the voting thread).

The contest is sponsored by MOO.com - a new type of online stationer where you can upload your own photography to print high quality Business Cards, MiniCards, Postcards and more (with a different photo on every card!). Make sure to check out all the products you can create at www.MOO.com.

If the winner is a Premiere Member, they will receive an a MOO ‘Pro’ Pocket Portfolio Pack (prize valued at $210, which includes: 1 × 200 pack of Business Cards, 1 × 100 pack of MiniCards, 1 × 60 pack of Postcards, 1 × 25 pack of Greeting Cards and 1 x Leather Business Card Holder). If the winner is not a Premiere Member, they will receive a MOO Pocket Portfolio Pack (prize valued at $97, which includes: 1 × 50 pack of Business Cards, 1 × 100 pack of MiniCards, 1 × 20 pack of Postcards, 1 × 10 pack of Greeting Cards and 1 x Acrylic Business Card Holder). Those prizes make me wish I had a photograph up for the July 2009 Photograph of the Month.

So what are you waiting for? Check out the photos in the gallery, and cast your vote before the end of the month!

While I’m still technically on vacation, I’m now back from my week of internet exhile (I was on Mayne Island off the coast of British Columbia, Canada - no internet access). I promised my wife (and myself) that I wouldn’t work too much while on vacation, so I’m trying to get the essentials done, and I’ll start on the catch-up process when I get back to the office at the beginning of August. This, however, couldn’t wait. I always hand out the bling in the middle of the month before the Corner Newsletter goes out. This month, the newsletter will be late going out (in case you hadn’t noticed), so the bling is late too. There’s only 1 person receiving bling this month, and it’s none other than our Contest Corner Challenge machine: Spicoli, reaching the 5,000 post milestone with a grand total of NINE Contest Corner Challenge wins… Wow. Thanks to everyone who continues to contribute to the Corner, and congratulations to Carl who is receiving the award below.

I just sent this post out as an email, but for those of you that have chosen not to receive emails from the Corner, or just subscribe to the blog, but aren’t registered for the Corner forums (what’s up with that??!), here’s the email that went out - wouldn’t want to leave you in the dark, now, would I?

We had a great line-up up for voting in the July 2008 Photograph of the Month, but there was 1 photograph that obviously stood out among the rest: Distant Fishermen by johno with almost 30% of the votes.

It’s the last week of June, so it’s time to vote for the July 2008 Photograph of the Month. We have thirteen fantastic photographs this month - it’s going to be HARD to choose just one!

What? A blog post? Isn’t Tim supposed to be on vacation…

Well, there’s a first time for everything, and it was bound to happen eventually. The choices kept getting harder and harder, and finally, you just couldn’t decide, and we’re left with a tie for the July 2007 Photograph of the Month.

Like I said in my previous post, we were going to start the voting for the July 2007 Photograph of the Month a couple of days late to accommodate my camping plans (man, does the whole site revolve around Tim??!). The couple of days late has come and gone (oops!). I was really only technically, at least by local time, 15 minutes late, though…

If you’re expecting the voting thread for the July 2007 Photograph of the Month today, you’ll be waiting a couple of days longer than normal.