Well, October has gone the way of the Dodo and we're well and truly into Autumn now. Just looking around outside I can see leaves on the ground everywhere and the trees have a very embarrassed look about them. Honestly, standing there naked like that - it's no wonder!

Anyway, on to more important matters. With the loss of October, it means that voting is closed on the Best of September competition. It would appear that not many of you took a lot of pictures in September as there were not a huge number of entries, however, quality of quantity as the saying goes. 

So, without further ado, the winner of the September competition is: Lobsterboy with his shot of Wheale Coates. Very well done Chris, if you can drop me an email with your address, I'll pop the book in the post to you. 

It was a close run thing this month, with MarkOne's wasps on an apple scoring the same in the voting. However, the prize goes to Lobsterboy as he had the same score but more votes. 

There's still a couple of days left to get your pictures into the Best of October competition and the rest of the month for you all to go and vote on the images that have been uploaded. Also, keep your eyes peeled for a November gallery to appear as well. 

Microsoft have announced the winners of the Future Pro Photographer competition, with the top prize going to Neil Losin from California for a great picture entitled Twighlight Flight.

 You can see a gallery of the winning images from each of the categories on the microsoft site, though personally I prefer the Sports and Photojournalism category winner by Thomas Simonetti over the awarded grand prize winner.

No disrespect to the 2009 winners, for they produced some great images, but I also prefer the selection of category winners from 2008 over the 2009 set.

Since it seems like much of the photo industry is either building new products in time for the expected late summer launches or simply out taking pictures. So it's time to get your camers out and shoot the great and the good that is the British landscape - sorry to all our non-UK readers.

From www.take-a-view.co.uk is news of the Sunday Times sponsored Landscape Photographer of the Year 2009 competition. According to the website...

Take a view, the Landscape Photographer of the Year Award, is the brainchild of Charlie Waite, one of today’s most respected landscape photographers.

With a total prize fund exceeding £20,000, plus an eight-week exhibition at the National Theatre and the publication of a full colour book of Best Entries, Take a view will continue to be a desirable annual competition for photographers of all ages for years to come. Britain’s heritage is celebrated by people around the world and entries are welcome from everyone, whether resident in Britain or simply visiting.

There will also be an award for the Young Landscape Photographer of the Year and each of the four main categories has both adult and youth sections.

With 10,000 pounds up for the overal winner, healthy 1,000 pounds prizes for each of the four category winners and 500 pounds for second place that's enough to make it worth your while. Judges also should know what they are doing with Charlie Waite and Damien Demoulder on the panel. The deadline for entries is near being 15th July 2009, but at least that gives you a couple of weeks of great early morning daylight and late evening sunsets to go out and get a winning shot.