Representatives from Christie's, Philips de Pury and Sotheby's say they have seen a sizable increase in auction sales of photographs, compared to this time last year.

The most notable item was Edward Weston's nautilus shell print, which sold in April for $1.082 million, the second-highest-grossing Weston print to date. The print was originally purchased from Weston by amateur photographer Bernice Lovett for $10 in 1927 and has never before appeared on the market.

Other photographs included a collection of 70 Irving Penn prints valued at $3.8 million, collected by Penn's close friend Patricia McCabe, and an Edward Steichen image, "Wheelbarrow with Flower Pots," which sold for $194,000.Overall, the three auction houses totaled more than $18 million in sales.

Kodak will be unveiling its Ektar 100 fine-grain color film in 4×5- and 8×10-sheet formats this April.
With high saturation and ultra-vivid color, this new film uses Kodak’s finest grain of film and is ideal for enlargements. Prices have yet to be announced.

Lexar Media has released its Professional 600x CompactFlash card, which has a write speed capability of 600x (90MB/s) when paired with a UDMA 6-enabled device. The 600x card is designed to speed up workflow with minimum sustained read speed of 533x (80MB/s), or faster when paired with a UDMA 6-enabled reader. The cards are available in 8GB ($199), 16GB ($299) and 32GB (not available) capacities. Card readers retail separately for $45.

Delkin Devices has created four new, larger CompactFlash cards in its 420X PRO line. The cards, available with 8GB, 16GB, 32GB and 64GB of memory, are all compatible with high-resolution images and HD video. Each of the cards has a transfer rate of up to 63MB/s and a built-in Error Correction Code that automatically detects and corrects any errors that might occur during data transfer...

Grin&Stir, a Lightware Direct company, has released the FourSquare speedlight mounting system to handle up to four speedlight flashes at once.

The system includes a LightSquare light bank that can be converted into a soft white reflector by removing the front diffusion panel. The light bank can also capture and diffuse the light emissions for any of the attached flash devices. The FourSquare is compatible with light stands, shoe-mount strobes, the LightSquare bank and collapsible...

Bibble Labs has updated its image management software with Bibble 5 Pro Workflow. The program’s main features include selective editing of complete or partial areas of images, photo metadata organization and cataloging tools, and up-to-date RAW support.

Compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux systems, Bibble 5 Pro retails for $199 and can be upgraded from Bibble 4 for $99 or purchased in a Bibble Pro 5 Lite version later...

Focal Press, a division of Elsevier, has published "The Photoshop Darkroom" by Harold and Phyllis Davis. This guide includes information on understanding Photoshop darkroom workflow and working with RAW files, enhanced editing skills and new coloring effects.

Using large, colorful images and step-by-step instructions, the Davises help photographers learn how to do masterly...

Lensbaby has added two new products to its Optic Swap Creative SLR line — a fish-eye and a soft-focus lens. Unlike prior models to hit the market, the two new lenses have a flatter and sharper field of focus overall, while the other four lens options capture images with a sharp focal point and dramatic blurring around it.

The fish-eye lens, which captures a 160-degree angle by convexing an image to fit on the screen, has an ultra-wide 12mm focal length and works with a variety of Lensbaby’s interchangeable aperture disks, ranging from...

Landscape photographer Elizabeth Carmel has published her second book on California's Sierra Nevada region, titled "Changing Range of Light — Portraits of the Sierra Nevada." Created as a testament to previous generations who have helped preserve the Sierra Nevada, Carmel's book focuses on how climate change affects our natural landscapes. The book’s 136 pages include vignettes from...

SanDisk is now producing Flash memory cards with four bits of data in each memory cell — twice as many as in conventional multi-level cell (MLC) NAND (2-bits-per-cell) memory chips. With X4 technology, the 64GB NAND Flash chip is the highest-density single-die memory device on the market. SanDisk is currently producing 8GB and 16GB SDHC cards as well as 8GB and 16GB Memory Stick PRO Duo cards using X4 technology.