Last month the International Photography Awards were launched in LA. As part of the competition, lifetime achievement awards will be presented to masters of photography in the fields of fashion, photojournalism, advertising and fine art. Richard Avedon, Helmut Newton and Sebastiao Salgado have been highlighted as potential inaugural recipients. The winner of the entire competition will be named International Photographer of the Year and will win US$10,000.

Kepek.creart.hu is a beautifully designed royalty-free stock photography site from Hungary. You can browse their collections of architecture, objects, animals and nature (via Coolstop).

Robert Mapplethorpe is in the news in Japan: Takashi Asai, publisher of the 1994 book, Mapplethorpe, a comprehensive collection of 260 of the photographer's black-and-white photos, is currently fighting a case in the Supreme Court of Japan to have the book legally brought into Japan despite the fact that it was published here and has already sold more than 1200 copies, without it being deemed as "obscene" and "harmful to public morals". While the district court originally ruled in his favour, the Tokyo Hight Court later reversed the ruling (via Brent on artkrush).

Rob Pegoraro discusses the pros and cons of film vs digital in this interesting article in The Washington Post.

Following a link from Consumptive to the Naked Tokyo exhibition, curated by Tim Porter, which is being held this week at Gallery Es in Omotesando, I unearthed a couple of other interesting Tokyo photography projects:

Carla Hernandez originally showed her Red Light series as part of The Red Spot, a virtual tour of the unknown side of Tokyo's urban subculture that encourages the users to participate in the experience of strolling on the streets of Tokyo night.

Tokyo Squint showcases the photographs and portfolios of photographers from around the world and provides information on photography-related events in the Tokyo area.