Last night I visited Bic Camera to have a play with the new 5-megapixel Canon PowerShot G5 digital camera which has just hit the stores in Japan. To buy or not to buy? For me, it was basically a no-brainer (I realised that I can live with its shortcomings), so I'm now the proud owner of a shiny new black G5. While it's nowhere near being one of the lightest or smallest digital cameras on the market, I decided that what I sacrifice in portability, I gain in terms of a full range of features and functionality that meet my particular needs. I'll begin posting images shot with the G5 once I launch v3 of this site in late summer.

Orcagirl shot a lovely collection of ocean-side images while sailing around Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve (Queen Charlotte Islands) in Canada for ten days (via the newly redesigned Pixelsurgeon).

Tom Stoddart won the World Understanding Award in the Picture of the Year competition for his photo essay on the AIDS crisis in Africa.

My Red Self is a uniquely presented photography portfolio by Helena Kvarnström (via Design is Kinky).

KnoxPix uses a quirky and fun ViewMaster and reel metaphor to allow the viewer to see the images. Elizabeth Knox's site also won a PDN/Nikon Self-Promotion Award for Digital Promotion in 2002 (via Scene 360).

Zoozoom, an online magazine for fashion photography, creates digital backgrounds for many of its photoshoots. The 'zine is also collaborating with Adam Harvey on the Internet Portrait Project to "create a snapshot of the Internet audience" by collecting thousands of headshots which will be "compiled, layered and compressed".

Kyle Sackowski shot this interesting photo essay on the drag queens of Tokyo, mostly performers at the former drag bar, Blue Oyster Lounge, in varying states of dress and undress.