Fotoviva Art Prints

Over the weekend the floods hit across the country and even our quiet little village was cut off from the rest of civilisation! The main road from Pershore to Evesham had a 30ft section just disappear as you can see from these photographs. The road left a 30ft deep hole so I can’t imagine they will be fixing this in a hurry!

We lost power and water for nearly 24hrs and were stranded for a couple of days, though thankfully our house did not flood - although other residents were not so lucky. A friend of mine spent the night in his car on the M5 motorway, whilst another had 3ft of water in his house - and there are reports of more rain yet to come over the coming week

Is this all to do with global warming or just good old Blighty weather? I could understand it happening during the rainy season but not July! It should be BBQ weather not floods.

Since launching the Fotoviva Blog it has steadily gained a strong following and now gets more and more hits each week. Whilst this is great we have discovered a downside to this! As the blog got more visitors it also got more spam

Too many comments made from automated spammers trying to sell gawd knows what - from viagra to holidays and gambling - you know, all the stuff we love to get in our inboxes every morning! Why do these people even bother? Does anyone actually click their links? You’d have to be pretty dumb to do anything but delete them.

So regretably we have had to add an anti-spam method for posting comments. Don’t worry, it’s just a simple plugin where you have to add up a simple maths equation such as what is 329×7445-154%+339 - nah just kidding! Something like ‘what is the sum of 5+4′ is all you’ll encounter. It just makes sure that you are indeed human when posting a comment. Feel free to take it for a test drive if you don’t have anything better to do with your day

Are you off on your travels over the summer, or have you been and come back with a collection of pictures you feel the world should see? Well Travel Photographer of the Year has announced that the overall winner of TPOTY 2007 will have the unique opportunity to spend up to two days photographing His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, the Tibetan settlement in Northern India.

This opportunity to photograph the daily life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama is part of an unforgettable visit to India, much of which will be spent in and around Dharamsala, the seat of the Tibetan Government in exile, allowing the winner time to capture a superb photo essay. But it doesn’t stop there! In addition, the Travel Photographer of the Year 2007 will receive an Apple MacBook with Aperture 1.5 software, Adobe CS3 Web Premium software, a £2,500 TPOTY bursary, and a Plastic Sandwich leather portfolio book. Hows that for a top prize?!

TPOTY organiser, Chris Coe, said, “We are honoured to be able to offer such a magnificent prize for the overall winner of this year’s competition. The High & Wild trip to Dharamsala offers everything a serious travel photographer could wish for; incredible mountain and forest scenery, historical architecture, fascinating Tibetan, Buddhist and Indian cultures, the Tibetan Children’s Village, amazing people photography and, of course, a priceless opportunity – the chance to document a day in the life of the Dalai Lama.”

“This trip, together with the other elements of the prize, provide a once in a lifetime experience and one that travel photographers across the world would want to win. We very much look forward to seeing the entries submitted for this year’s competition. In order to give people as much time as possible, we are extending our closing date to October 3rd.”

TPOTY 2007 also offers splendid prizes for the winners of the three Portfolio categories and the One Shot category, including trips to Tanzania, the Swiss and French Alps and China, the latest professional-level photographic equipment and software, TPOTY cash bursaries and an exhibition at a central London gallery. In addition, TPOTY 2007 has a New Talent category, designed to kick-start or to give a major boost to a new career in photography, and a Young Travel Photographer of the Year category, for those aged 16 and under.

Entries for TPOTY 2007 are now open and close on October 3rd. The competition is open to amateur and professional photographers, and full information and entry forms can be obtained from the website.