As summer approaches, at least for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, a lot of us begin to make plans for our summer vacations (or the organized among us are getting ready to go on vacations they planned months and months ago). As photographers, though, we have a bunch of extra stuff we have to bring with us. Sometimes our point-and-shoot camera will do the trick, but depending on where you’re going, you may be packing most of your gear: a dSLR body or two, a bunch of lenses, filters, a cleaning kit, flashes, and a whole bunch more. But I can’t really tell you how or what to pack – we all have different bags, different gear, different destinations, and different photographic priorities. Instead, here are some general tips on traveling with your gear (from deciding what to bring, how to bring it, and what hotels to book).

We don't normally cover a lot of "news" here in the Corner Blog, but this particular issue is one that directly affects us as artists - as photographers. If you only read one thing today, read this article. I wanted to do this issue justice, so instead of writing it myself, I asked Karen, one of the great mods in the PhotographyCorner forums, research and write this, and she did an amazing job. Take the time to read it the whole way through, then pass it along to all your friends, post it on your blog, email it to anyone you know that is an artist, whether they're a photographer, graphic designer, painter, whatever. Seriously. It's that big of a deal. So, without further adieu, I'll hand the rest of the post over to Karen:

Over the past 3 months we’ve featured 14 great SmugMug photographers in our weekly feature SmugMug Corner. This week, instead of an interview (and don’t worry, there are lots more coming), we take a quick look back at the past interviews.

You’ve seen the newsletter sponsorships. You’ve seen the Photograph of the Month sponsorships. Now read an interview with Mike Caston of BIGFolio.