There are 249 entries sitting in Flickr for the January "Cold" contest -- the most ever, although I haven't de-duped multiple photos from the same person, if there are any. Our very first contest, "At the beach" last August, drew 238 entries, so let's see if we can't beat that mark.

A reminder: The deadline is midnight tomorrow (Saturday, Jan. 31). We'll give Flickr a few days to find new accounts, then I'll ask photographer John Blanding to winnow the field to the best 50 for you to vote on.

I'll start posting the entries this afternoon and keep adding.

Meanwhile, Essdras Suarez of the Globe staff critiqued a portfolio yesterday; we'll post that early next week. And I have a tipsheet from Mark Wilson about taking photos in the cold -- how apt! I'll also get that posted ASAP.

By Denise Taylor
Globe Correspondent

One basketball hoop stands alone before a vast cornfield. The next pops up unexpectedly in a forest, its rim slapped onto a sheet of plywood and nailed to two trees. Another sturdy hoop abuts a stone bomb shelter in Israel, the backboard's white rectangle echoed in the shape of warning sirens tucked into nearby trees.

For the past five years, Newton photographer David S. Greenfield has turned his lens on a cultural icon that he says "cuts across all strata" - the basketball hoop. It's a simple theme, but in his solo show, "Hoopla: Basketball Rims Are Everywhere!" which opens Tuesday at the Newton Free Library, Greenfield captures more than metal rings and backboards. His striking black-and-white and color images kick up that easy sense of hope and unity that erupts on so many basketball courts. At the same time, they telegraph the simple beauty of one net and one rim.

Boston photographer rendered the essence of his subject into an exacting art

By Bryan Marquard
Globe Staff

A street troupe caught Al Fisher's eye more than 20 years ago as he shopped at Quincy Market, and as one of Boston's best commercial photographers, he studied the performers with a more penetrating gaze than others who stopped to watch the show.

By Dominic Casserly
Holliston

I found photography, like many people, by accident. My sister is a photographer and she always had photos and camera equipment all over the house. Although it was always around, I was never interested in photography until I began to travel.

Just 4 days left to enter the January contest, with the theme of "Cold". Read more about the theme and how to enter. I'll start posting the entries in a gallery soon.

I have another Photographer of the Week feature; I'll post that Wednesday.

Also this week we're getting a new tipsheet on taking photos in the cold from Globe staff photographer Mark Wilson.

On Thursday, Essdras M. Suarez, another Globe photographer, will sit down with RAW vice president Eric Bauer to choose one of your portfolios for a critique. Look for that early next week.

Finally, in a few weeks we're introducing a new monthly feature on RAW that will provide head-to-head camera and lens reviews. More on that later.

By Cate McQuaid
Globe Correspondent

The photographer Olivia Parker's mystical confabulations at Robert Klein Gallery begin with old texts: an Ethiopian book of curses, a child's manuscript, and tribal books from Southeast Asia, among others. Working with a digital camera and further manipulating her images in Photoshop, Parker imbues these texts with light; they glimmer.

The four artists exhibiting in "The View From Here", a show at Springstep in Medford, blur the lines between realistic and abstract, natural and man-made, and personal and universal. Medford photographers Will Tenney and David Harris join forces with photographer Lisa Tang Liu of Quincy and Newton sculptor Paul Sears to juxtapose their photographs and sculpture and reveal visual connections. Tenney's shots of rock formations (such as "Dancing Antelope" above) show a variety of patterns, colors, and forms illustrating a contrast with their hard composition. Sears's wood sculpture resembles a flowy piece of fabric.
Springstep, 98 George P. Hassett Drive, Medford 781-395-0402
8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday
Exhibit on display through April 13. Free.

Kati Seiffer writes to tell us about the Griffin Museum of Photography's 15th Juried Exhibition. They are accepting entries from Feb. 1 to March 31, and each photographer can submit up to five images for consideration. You have to join the museum to enter, and if you do so during February, you can submit six images.

For guidelines for digital and print submissions, captions, and entry fees, visit:
http://www.griffinmuseum.org/downloads/15thJuriedExhibition.pdf

Another helpful tip from a RAW Dawg: Dan Sullivan says that since many of you seem interested in critiques of your work, check out PopPhoto Flash, a blog by the editors of Popular Photography & Imaging magazine.

"I signed up awhile ago to receive regular e-mails from PopPhoto which include numerous equipment/book reviews and daily critiques of submitted photos," Dan writes. "These critiques or not very involved or lengthy, but still I find them interesting and helpful."

Here's a link to the critiques.

This Friday, Jan. 30, is the deadline to submit up to three entries in the Town of Chelmsford's annual photography contest. There are categories for students, amateurs, and professionals, but you must be a resident of the town to enter. All photos will be displayed next week at the Community Center as part of the town's WinterFest, sponsored by the Chelmsford Cultural Council. More details and a submission form can be found on the town website. Town Hall is at 50 Billerica Road and the phone number is 978-250-5201.

"Women/Sisters/Friends," an exhibit of black and white portraits by photographer Richard Warren Buckley, opens at the Marblehead Arts Association this Saturday (Jan. 31) and runs through Feb. 22. An opening reception will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. next Sunday (Feb. 1). Buckley, of Marblehead, was the 2008 winner of the Marblehead Festival of Arts Best in Show and the People's Choice awards for color photography. Marblehead Arts Association, 8 Hooper St., Marblehead. 781-631-2608

If you visit the current Singer Editions Gallery portrait photography show, "Gaze", you'll notice that every subject in the display is staring straight forward. That's because the "Gaze" title refers to a scientific discovery that your brain processes a person's face better when they're staring right at you. Artists include Blake Fitch, who captures the puzzling gaze of a young woman on a staircase (above), and Ashley McDowell, whose shot features the gaze of her Nana. The show is up through May 1. Singer Editions Gallery, 300 Summer St., Boston. 617-423-3484

JOHN COPLANS + AMANDA MEANS: Distilled
Howard Yezerski Gallery
460 Harrison Ave.
Through Feb. 3
617-262-0550

By Cate McQuaid
Globe Correspondent

Photographers Amanda Means and John Coplans became friends more than 20 years ago, but they've never shown together before. Coplans, a generation older than Means, died in 2003. Their work at Howard Yezerski Gallery looks exquisite and shares a fascination with a monumental look at small, ordinary things - a vision that pushes toward abstraction.

By Lynn Asinof
Globe Correspondent

Heather and Jesse Ciras have a dream. The couple, who have a fledgling photography business shooting weddings on weekends, wants to build their part-time venture into a full-time operation.

Boston-based artist David E. Paez is exhibiting his photos documenting his trek through several Latin American countries, including Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, and Peru. His exhibit, "Viajes," is showing through March 4 at Casa de la Cultura / Center for Latino Arts, 85 West Newton St., Boston, 617-927-1742. A talk by the artist is scheduled for 6 to 8 p.m. Feb. 18.

Photographer Kerry Brett of Hingham is offering a portrait package for January and February to raise money for the Ellie Fund, a nonprofit dedicated to providing breast cancer support. Brett's portrait program has raised more than $100,000 for the fund since 2001. The $150 package includes a one-hour studio sitting and a black-and-white 8-by-10 portrait; payment goes directly to the Ellie Fund. For information, call Kerry at 781-749-8205 or e-mail info@brettphotography.com.

THREE WISHES: An Intimate Look at Jazz Giants Compiled and photographed by Pannonica de Koenigswarter Abrams Image 317 pp., illustrated, paperback $19.95

By Mark Feeney
Globe Staff

If jazz were Oz, Pannonica de Koenigswarter (1913-88) would be its Glinda the Good. She was the Jazz Baroness, a Rothschild heiress who was drawn to America after World War II by her love of the music. One look at the back-endpapers photograph of "Three Wishes," which shows her joyfully gazing at the pianist Teddy Wilson, and it's not hard to see why she crossed the ocean.

With three major works of documentary photographs to his credit, Glenn Ruga of Concord has long been aware of the need for a virtual repository of similar exhibits that explore the human condition. His new website, socialdocumentary.net, provides a forum for photographers to post their work and viewers to learn about social issues worldwide.

The Holbrook Public Library is hoping to resume its position in the community as a backdrop for the display of art, according to library director Ruth Hathaway. Hathaway is urging area artists, not just those who live in town, to use the walls in the adult section of the library to display their framed photographs, paintings, needlework, and other work. Artists are welcome to list the price of their work and their contact information. The library has featured exhibitions in the past, and is looking to resume support of the local arts community, Hathaway said. The only exhibit booked so far is an informational display on foster care in February, she said.

By Elsa Dorfman

My love of Polaroid began in 1962 when I met photographer Nicholas Dean at the Grolier bookstore in Harvard Square. He worked at Polaroid as a technical researcher, and part of his job was to test new films. On his lunch hour and after work, he would drop by the store, then as now a destination for poets, and take pictures of anyone who was hanging around. They were black-and-white photos. Peel apart, with a stick of preservative to fix the image from the ravages of light.

A settlement was reached in the fight over seven photographs taken during Marilyn Monroe's "Last Sitting" in 1962. The pictures were among 2,500 erotic shots Bert Stern took of the movie star for Vogue magazine just before her death. Two photographers approached Stern last year to make a deal involving seven film transparencies from the shoot. Stern sued because he believed the items had been stolen. Photographers Donald Penny and Michael Weiss said another colleague found the transparencies in curbside garbage in Manhattan in the 1970s. Under the settlement, nine sets of photos will be jointly produced and sold. (AP)

Officials in Manchester-by-the-Sea are seeking photographs of the town to be included in the annual town report. Submissions must be original pictures taken of Manchester landmarks and/or town-related events. Selected photos will appear on the front and back covers and inside the report, which will be distributed to residents before Town Meeting in April. Submit photos to Beth Heisey, the selectmen's administrative assistant, as prints mailed or brought to the Selectmen's Office, Town Hall, 10 Central St., Manchester, MA 01944, or by e-mail to heiseye@manchester.ma.us. Include your name, address and phone number; those submitting prints should list that information on the back of the photo. For more information, call Heisey at 978-526-2000.

"Into the Sunset: Photography's Image of the American West": New York's Museum of Modern Art brings together some 120 photographs in this exploration of how America's most photogenic region has been seen through the camera lens. Artists with work in the show include Timothy O'Sullivan, Carleton E. Watkins, Edward Weston, Robert Adams, and Cindy Sherman.
March 29 through June 8
11 West 53d St., NY
212-708-9400
www.moma.org

RAW denizen fairnsquare passes along a tip about what looks to be terrific multi-venue photo exhibits in Lowell next weekend. Seven Lowell galleries, museums, and arts organizations will host photo shows as part of Lowell Photography Weekend Friday, Jan. 30 through Sunday, Feb. 1.

Some of the shows feature the work of one photographer; others were open to all and juried. Here's the lineup:

This Food gallery is done -- whew! You certainly are enthusiastic about taking food shots. We'll have to have another call for food photos in the summer or fall. Use the "Full-screen" link to see the images full-size.

Now I'll turn my attention to the January contest. Just one week left to submit your best "Cold" photo.

Meanwhile, enjoy the food:

I promised you a list of New England food blogs; here are links to about 25. Many have some very good photography.

A food blogger in Montreal who spotted our call for your food photos offered to write a tipsheet. She also included some of her own excellent food photos.

By Jennifer Bartoli
Chocolate Shavings blog

Food photography can be tough. It's a unique challenge to try and convey smell, texture, and taste with a flat, untouchable photograph. Here are couple of tips that I hope will help next time you want to photograph some wonderfully appetizing food.

A classic winter scene -- outdoor skaters on a frozen pond (or, in this case, a frozen bog) captured the top prize in December's 'Tis the Season themed contest. Our judge, professional photographer Melissa Robotti, was fulsome in her praise for this shot:

Had some coffee and vanilla tea with photo judge Melissa Robotti last night as she chose the Top 10 finalists in the December 'Tis the Season contest, and reviewed your votes as she made her choices. I'm in the process of putting that entry together now and will post it as soon as I'm done.

It was interesting to hear her thought process as she made her choices. She clearly was looking for good composition as well as creativity. It was important to her that a photo reflected a lot of thought on the part of the photographer and was more than just a snapshot. You'll hear more from her when I post the winning photos.

Meanwhile...

Wow - you are inundating me with your food shots -- it's great! I'll continue to post them until early next week, so if you haven't sent in your best food shot yet, just do so by emailing it to raw@boston.com.

By the way ...

Should you set your camera to shoot in black & white, or should you shoot in color and convert later?

Is high-contrast lighting, which can wash out colors, better for B&W shots?

And without color to create drama or attract the eye to an element of your photo, how do you retrain yourself to focus more intently than usual on shapes or texture or patterns?

All questions that I know you'll answer with some great photos in black and white, the theme you chose for February. The deadline is midnight Feb. 28. Here's how to enter.

Hi everybody -- I want to explain two issues that have cropped up in some comments from a few of you:

By Hilary Nangle
Globe Correspondent

PORTLAND, Maine - Rock 'n' roll will never die; photographs and the memories of those who snapped them assure its immortality. "Backstage Pass: Rock & Roll Photography" at the Portland Museum of Art presents nearly 300 rarely seen portraits of rock legends, from Chuck Berry to Kurt Cobain, Aretha Franklin to Madonna, the Ramones to the Rolling Stones.

(See photo gallery at the end of the story.)

M-C Lamarre's muse is a ballpark - Fenway Park, to be specific...

The Globe carried an LA Times story today about how in the Gaza conflict in the Middle East, Arab media are using a potent arsenal of photographs to try to influence public opinion about the conflict. You can read it here:

Honestly, I don't want to stress out all of you! There's just one photo not showing up in the Voting Machine because that photog has his Flickr setting set to not allow the Flickr API to grab his photo. I've sent him an email via his Flickr account; hopefully he'll get it and respond soon. So hold tight ...

This month's judge, Melissa Robotti, finished reviewing the 82 contest entries and narrowed the choices to the Top 25. We'll load them into the Voting Machine and open voting later today. Meanwhile, here are Melissa's thoughts on the photos she judged:

The initial judging for the December "'Tis the Season" contest will be done this afternoon. The judge is Melissa Robotti, a former Boston.com producer who now is a professional photographer. She specializes in boudoir photography; that's where women pay her to take sexy photos of them that they give to their boyfriends, fiances, husbands. So before you look at her website, make sure there are no young'uns around.

The other major part of Melissa's business is wedding photography. She also takes portraits, landscapes, etc. -- a wide variety of photos. She's successful enough at the wedding and boudoir business that she's about to pursue it full-time.

By the way, I added three more photos to the December gallery that were uploaded to Flickr before Dec. 31, but weren't found by Flickr's search until this past week. They will be part of Melissa's review.

Once Melissa cuts the entries down (she'll trim to 25 since we have just 82 entries), I'll track down Jared Novack to write the Voting Machine code for me and I'll post it as soon as I can.

January is allegedly Diet Month, a designation surely foisted upon us by the same people who have declared March as "Adopt a Rescued Guinea Pig" Month and September "Pleasure Your Mate" Month. However, Diet Month does make sense, falling as it does in the month of New Year's resolutions that often involve eating -- or rather, not eating.

So I was thinking: Since we're finished with the Moon shots (see the entry right below this one), and it's rather nippy outside, why don't we try food photography -- something you can practice right in the warmth of your own kitchen?

Several of you sent in more moon shots over the holidays, and I've added them to our gallery. That'll do it for the moon shots ... thanks for the contributions!

In the gallery below, use the "Full screen" link to see the photos full-size.

When we see the best pictures, no words are necessary. The images say it all. But sometimes it's nice to know what went into capturing those moments. The Jan. 4 issue of The Boston Globe Magazine takes you behind the lens, hearing from the photographers of the Globe staff who shot the most memorable photos of the year.

Steve Centamore's family has owned Bromfield Camera since 1966. He knows a thing or two about film, repairs -- and Robin Williams.

A Q&A by Courtney Hollands
Boston.com Staff

Do people still buy film cameras?
Ninety percent of our business is in digital cameras. But we also sell dinosaurs that still use film; about 8 to 10 percent of our customers are looking for film cameras. There's a certain romance about film cameras; they render colors differently, with depth.

As printed snapshots vanish, we're losing more than shoe boxes full of mementos

By Dushko Petrovich

One hundred years ago, one of Paris's richest men had a quixotic dream. Returning from a personal trip to China and Japan, the banker Albert Kahn decided to build a huge visual archive of the planet. Kahn believed that mutual misunderstanding was the source of world conflict, so in 1909, he began funding scores of photographers as they set out across five continents. By the time the Great Depression finally bankrupted him 22 years later, Kahn's intrepid operateurs had managed to document almost 50 countries, returning to France with 120 hours of film footage and 4,000 black-and-white pictures. This alone would have been a remarkable legacy, but the real jewels of the collection were printed on glass, in a full spectrum the world had never seen. The recently invented technique of the autochrome - which made portable color photography possible - meant that Kahn's emissaries could also amass a staggering total of 72,000 color plates.

Scituate photojournalist's images captured drama of the Obama campaign

By Mark Arsenault
Globe Correspondent

Sometimes a news story becomes so big, so compelling, that its every twist makes not just headlines, but history. On the trail of that kind of story, there's almost no hardship a journalist will not endure.

By Paul E. Kandarian
Globe Correspondent

Israel Arbeiter is 83, and the memory of Nazis taking him away from his parents, who would die in a German death camp, has never for a moment left him. His father's last words were, "Carry on the Jewish life and Jewish traditions."