What’s the point of having a gillion-dollars of camera gear and a lousy monitor? As a digital photographer, where to you spent most of your time – behind the lens or in front of your monitor? I thought so. My friend, JP Caponigro, recently published an insightful online interview with Will Hollingworth, the Senior Manager for Product Development at NEC Display Solutions.  (And I thought I knew a lot about monitors before…)

Loads of photographers these days think that “traditional photography” means black-and-white, silver-based prints. I’ve argued that there really is no such thing as “traditional photography” because “traditional” is always relative to one’s perspective. As a counterpoint to all of the electron-wrangling done by digital shooters, it’s great to know that The Photographer’s Forumulary in Montana offers supplies and workshops for those looking to explore “alternative” photography. Carbon prints anyone?

CanonProfessional Services USA is on it’s way to catching up with CPS Europe in terms of providing informative materials to its pro members (finally). CPS is a program for professional photographers that provides an express lane for repairs, the opportunity to borrow gear for evaluation and a couple of other benies. For quite a while, I’ve subscribed to the CPS Europe online newsletter because CPS-USA had nothing to offer. If you are a Canon-based, pro shooter click here for information on the revamped CPS program in America. You might also want to check out the Canon Pro Network in Europe for some great photography and interesting articles.

Blurb recently announced the 2nd Photography Book Now competition. The grand prize is $25,000. Categories are open for Fine Art, Editorial and Commercial books. Deadline for entry is July 16, 2009. Complete details can be found on the Photography Book Now site. When you win, how about comping me a copy of your book, please?

Photoshop World will descend upon Boston in a couple of weeks. The three-day event features over 100 programs taught by 40 luminaries of the photo world. Learn the latest about Photoshop and Lightroom or just hang with friends from across the country. There’s still time to register and get a cheap airline ticket. The Photoshop World site has all the details. (Watch the intro video even if you’re not going. You’ll see me in the crowd shots three or four times if you look real close. Really.)

Aaron Johnson proves that he’s not superstitious. The mad genius behind the hilarious, photo-centric comic strip, What The Duck, proves that he’s not afraid of numbers by issuing strip #666 on Friday the 13th. Appropriately the panel has to do with wedding photography. Aaron lets readers suggest the titles for every strip. I pitched in “Tempting Fate” as my suggestion. Check out the latest WTD humor at WhatTheDuck.com.

Paso Robles Workshops still has a few seats available for the Joe McNally and David Hobby workshops in April. McNally will teach ‘The Hot Shoe Diaries’ workshop April 20-24. Hobby will teach a ‘Strobist’ 5-day workshop April 27 – May 1. No word yet on whether the mayor of Paso Robles will activate the bat-signal during those two weeks. Head to the Paso Robles Workshops site for more details.