Larger version of this picture is available here. If you want the original file without the text (3500 pixels width, 4 MB in size), then please let me know.

This picture was taken from this year’s Plantation Fair where I went on Saturday. You can check out rest of the of flower and cactus pictures here.

I was looking forward to get myself a Flickr Pro account for the last couple of weeks, and today Omi bhai gave me a pleasant surprise by gifting me one.

I can now store unlimited pictures, create unlimited sets and collections, archive high-resolution images, replace photos, access visitor statistics, and have much more fun! Woohoo!

If you want to use it, then please back link to it’s Flickr page.

Bangladeshi websites and newspapers has a nasty tendency of stealing photographs and graphics from Internet. What these ignorant people doesn’t tend to realise that it’s a serious offense, and they could be penalised for copyright and intellectual property infringement.

Leading Bengali newspaper Prothom Alo published a creative work of mine without permission and without giving any credit. That work was released under full copyright, but they didn’t bother to care. Almost all photographers in Bangladesh has a similar experience to share, where their work has been used illegally by these thieves.

I no longer release my photographs under full copyright, but under a Creative Commons license which states that you’re legally entitled to use my photographs for both your commercial and non-commercial needs; you’re entitled to modify them anyway you want to to suit yourself; and distribute them anyway you like; provided that you put my name on the credit line. You don’t have to take my permission, nor you’ve to pay me, all I want is you is to give me proper attribution.

I’d like to present you guys with one site that has used two of my photographers for their banner and in return gave me the credit:

Thanks to the developers behind this site for respecting my license. I hope fellow Bangladeshi countrymen and media would start to realise that copyright infringement not a harmless act but is a crime. The sooner this happens, the better.

Bangladeshi Photographers (BP) is the newest photographers’ association in the country. It was originally a Flickr group, where few members including the founder Hasan bhai wanted to take it one step forward in shaping it into a “real life” organisation. The first meeting of BP was held today at the Hasan bhai’s studio at Siddeswari where 17 Flickr addicts were present.

We discussed about a lot of issues including overall management of the newly formed association, website issues, photography exhibition in December and a competition in 2008 and so on. The committee hasn’t been formed yet, but I was given the informal responsibility of the treasurer. I’ve also agreed to volunteer as the webmaster as well as work on to making the constitution for BP.

After comparing all the available ultra compact digital cameras on the market, and I finally bought myself a Canon Digital IXUS 70. This credit card sized gem is an upgrade of Digital IXUS 60, featuring 7.1 megapixel CCD sensor, DIGIC III image processor with iSAPS technology, 3X optical zoom lens, 2.5″ LCD display, ISO range of 80 to 1600, and less than an inch in thickness!

Other than the size what attracted me the most is the face detection function, which automatically locates human faces in a shot and adjusts the autofocus, exposure and flash to provide the best results. Experts say that this is the next best thing to the image stabiliser function, which this camera lacks.

Here are some stuff about the camera that you guys might want to know about:

Memory card: You can use MMC, SD, or SDHC cards with this camera. A 32 MB SD card is included with the pack, but using a 512 MB or 1 GB is recommended.

LCD display: The 2.5″ silicon TFT color LCD unit is large enough. I bought a screen protector for myself, and so should you.

Battery: The rechargeable lithium ion battery (model: NB-4L) seemed to last comparatively longer than the cameras using AA batteries. It takes around one and half hour to recharge from fully depleted state.

Video recording: Capturing is smooth and can record upto 4 GB at a maximum resolution of 640 x 480 pixels at 30 frames per second. Upto 4 GB of videos can be recorded (compared to 1 GB limit of the it’s predecessor IXUS 60).

TV output: You can connect the camera to your television with the supplied AV cable to view the photos and watch the videos. The image sideshow feature comes very handy in this case.

Released in March 2007, this camera is known as Digital IXY 10 in Japan and PowerShot SD1000 Digital ELPH in Europe. If you’re a Canon fan (or not) and want a light-weight pocketable camera, then get one for yourself! I’m sure that you won’t regret!