Cyanotypes, gum prints, carbon prints, and many other photographic processes from the 19th-century are alive and well in the digital era. AlternativePhotography.com is a the clearinghouse to see the latest art and find supplies for many types of hand-crafted photography. The site is celebrating its 9th-anniversary this week. Look for the link to subscribe to their free monthly newsletter. The April edition features an article on running an alternative photography business in South Africa.

Traditional silver-based, fine art photography is also alive and well in the digital era. John Sexton continues to be a beacon of information through his lectures and workshops. John infuses the best that his mentor, Ansel Adams, had to offer with his own lifetime of work as a large-format, black & white photographer. Visit John’s site here.

‘Tell Us A Story 2009′ is the annual photo competition held by the New York chapter of the Advertising Photographers of America. If your world revolves around creating photos that sell things, you should check it out. Deadline for entries is April 16th, 2009. Read about the contest here. Visit the APA|NY site here (and subscribe to their free newsletter). Check out APA | National here.

Color geeks arise! ColorManagement.com recently lauched a blog. It won’t help you get your desktop inkjet to stop making everyone look green. It will give you a sense of what color management means to guys who drive million-dollar printing presses for a living. Always helps to have a bit of perspective.

‘Life’ has once again risen from the ashes. The weekly, then monthly, then occasionally magazine that so many of us grew up with has morphed into a picture-filled website. Life.com is a joint venture between Getty Images and Time, Inc. You’ll find literally millions of photos to look at. Fortunately, they are divided into galleries: News, Celebrity, Sports, Travel, Animals… There are even galleries where celebrities pick their favorite photos. Yikes. ‘Life’ will use the site to publish new photos and articles. Many of the historic photos are available for purchase via download. As a media brand and picture archive, Life is one of the biggest and most persistent. I’m sure they will reinvent themselves when whatever comes around after the Internet comes around. Now that the Life collection is online, many rare photos will come into the limelight — like this one of Joe McNally wearing a tie (one of only two known photos that depict this fleeting event).

Really Right Stuff has published a 2-part article in their newsletter on making tack-sharp images (part 1, part 2). Really helpful info there for guys with long lenses. Don’t know about RRS? They make precision gear for holding cameras in just exactly the right spot. Check out their camera plates, ballheads, pano mounts, macro gear and more at the RRS site. I’ve been a customer for years and would not use anything else.