So time to get thinking as with Mother’s day just 2 few days away. Seriously, please do it.

Taken over the course of eight days in November 2009, the images present contrasting images of the slums of Mumbai and the fabulous wealth of Dubai. These cities were chosen as Henry believed that the locations would really test the potential of the N86 8MP. Mumbai in particular was the photographer’s favourite location because of the fantastic mix of colours available.

To create the panoramic shots, Henry used between 10 and 100 images which he then merged together. He says that some images took a matter of minutes to finish whereas others took months.

Our view - this is a totally interesting project as not only does it showcase good photography but it also challenges the preconceptions made about mobile phone cameras. It’s also quite weird (cool?) to have an exhibition like this at LHR T5.

Find out more at www.reichholdarts.com until May 2010.

It’s time to celebrate that special lady we all call mum as Mother’s day is just around the corner.

Mums are not looking for expensive or flashy things from their children to tell them how wonderful they are. Creating a personalised card full of sentimental worth is a great way to say how much you care. Just use an old photo or one of our beautiful Mother’s day images and make a unique card that your mum can cherish forever. We guarantee she will love the effort and thought that you have gone to.

Here are some beautiful new Mother’s day card designs we have added to our gallery.

So get cracking you’ve only got one mum, make sure you spoil her!

Every week we get a number of artists, illustrators and photographer’s offering to enrich our image gallery with their work. This week our favourite artist is Raj Pattini, a truly talented woman who’s work can be described as abstract, warm and dynamic, perfect for creating beautiful mother’s day cards.

Raj grew up in Tanzania and Kenya and it is obvious from her work that much of her inspiration comes from living in such beautiful, colourful locations. Amazingly her talent is self taught, a talent that obviously comes naturally and instinctively to her.

Raj feels that art is a natural thing to do, she believes that painting is almost like another part of her senses and that it was her time spent in the beautiful and wild environs of East Africa that helped to form her style. She finds that each turn and twist of her brush and each stroke of colour allows her to possess the power to capture figments of her imagination and bring them to life on canvas.

Her favourite image is the Golden Elephant as seen below, which is an important part of Hinduism, representing, luck, strength, wisdom and fortitude.

Raj continues to paint and we look forward to seeing more beautiful and inspiring work from her in the future.

Till next time!

With mother’s day coming up soon, lots of us have been looking through our old photos and reminiscing on good times. We all know how much our photos mean to us so it is important that we look after them, as no matter what, old prints fade. And although digital photos may stay fresh, they are only just one technical hiccup away from oblivion.

So, I have put together a few handy tips that may save you from some lost photography tears.

What do I do with my old photos?

Replace your albums. High humidity may have already ruined your pictures therefore, you will need to buy albums which have pages that are acid-free and adhesive-free and then just make sure to store them in a cool, dry place.

Scan your old photos. By scanning your old photos you can bring them back to life, all you need to do is:

1. Scan your photos
2. Open the scanned picture within an image-editing program
3. Fix the picture by adjusting the colour and increasing the contrast
4. Crop out dead space
5. Increase the saturation and sharpness to make the image more vivid
6. If the colour is still very faded, just convert the photo to black and white
7. Finally, save the edited image as a new file

What to do with your new photos?

Print your favourite new ones, and back everything up. You can store your pictures:

1. On your computer’s internal hard drive
2. On an external hard drive
3. Burn DVDs of your images

It’s that easy and honestly, you will feel a lot better once you have done it!

Good luck!

There are so many fantastic photographers providing us with great exhibitions at the moment, that it is so difficult to choose which one to visit. The photography exhibition “Where three dreams cross” however reveals very interesting and beautiful works that are definitely worth seeing.

The exhibition gives an inside view of modern India, Pakistan and Bangladesh through the lens of inspiring photographers. It showcases photography from Indian-run photographic studios that were established in the 19th century and tells the story of photography’s development in the subcontinent with over 400 works brought together.

Topics such as social realism and reportage of key political moments in the 1940s, amateur snaps from the 1960s and street photography from the 1970s can all be found, as well as first time seen private familial images. The photographs also incorporate a mix of digitalization to offer a more contemporary feel in the modern art world.

So if you feel like going, the exhibition will continue till the 11th April.

You can check it out on the website: www.whitechapelgallery.org

Enjoy!

Here at Touchnote, we’re always trying to make card sending as easy and as enjoyable as possible. With this in mind, we’ve recently introduced user accounts, with a wide range of features cleverly designed to make ordering your cards really efficient and fuss-free!

So, what’s in a user account and how does it help me?

My addresses

No more rummaging around for your addresses!  You can now store all of your addresses in one place and addresses for all cards ordered on the website are saved automatically. Just fill in your contact’s details and you can send them a card at the click of a button!

My prepay

Paying is now easier and cheaper! Put money into your account so that you don’t have to get out your credit card each time you order a card.  And each time you top up your credit, we’lll add on 25% free!

My reminders

Never get into trouble again for forgetting a special occasion with reminders! When you create a reminder of special dates in your Touchnote calendar, we’ll send you an email a few days before. So no need to worry about when Grandmas birthday is… we’ll let you know!

My images

View all of the photos and designs you have used.  And any cool adjustments you have made in our new image personaliser - they’ll be there too! You can then turn them into cards at the click of a button!

My orders

View all the previous orders that you have made. You won’t go sending the same card to the same person twice ever again!

And don’t stress about not making a card on time, just pre-order it! When you order a card, you can now specify when you want it posted! (Now there really is no excuse to forget!)

So, why are you waiting any longer to register?  Get cracking!

Register here

Too busy, can’t decide, or just plain forgot? Whatever the reason for the delay, you haven’t prepped for Valentine’s Day. And unless you can come up with something quick, you may end up spending the night all alone.

But not to worry, Touchnote is here to save the day. We now offer guaranteed next day Special Delivery* within the UK, as well as special delivery to the rest of the world.

This means you really can get the card there “tomorrow” if you need to. Hopefully this will keep you all out of trouble.  All “special delivery” items are trackable anywhere in the world.

We hope this makes life easier. And leads to many happy endings.

We are extremely excited to announce that we have just launched our brand spanking new Touchnote site.

This has been a long time coming. There ‘s some new functionality available that will allow you to create some really original card designs.  There really is no limit to your creativity now.

We’ve also worked hard on designing an ‘easy on the eyes and mind’ site layout. Just to make your Touchnote experience that much simpler and pleasant.

We are also excited to announce that there is a new product available, the Touchnote Greeting Card! A really beautiful, glossy card perfect for those special occasions. 

We hope to take your card making to another level. So get ready for it.

We can’t wait to hear what you think!

The Touchnote team

Most people would shy away from the idea of stepping out in the winter to take photographs, in fear of the icy cold. However, photography in the winter months is by far one of the best times to get snapping.

Taking photographs in the winter is unique and completely different from the rest of the seasons, as there are so many unusual designs available from the newly fallen snow. Just stepping in to your back garden can present an entirely new landscape.

What you must do, is keep your eyes and ears open. Learn to recognize what photography opportunities might be available based on the type of day that it is. Listen for animals or neighbours and friends playing in the snow as these will all provide interesting scenes.

For example, a sunny day during the winter will create fantastic bright light or might lead to a fast running waterfall over an icy ledge. The sunlight during the early morning and late afternoon will offer particularly unique reflections and colours, so try and get an early start. Night photography can also be accomplished as the light of the moon will reflect off the white snow. Also, don’t forget to add some colour to your landscape as this will create a dramatic effect with the white snow.

If you fear the cold, just dress appropriately, honestly your pictures will be your reward!