Catherine Hall wears many hats: professional photographer, netcast co-host of TWiT Photo, seminar instructor, adventure traveler, blogger. No matter which role she takes on, she likes to immerse herself in the process. Her imagery is featured in publications such as The New York Times and National Geographic. And her eclectic projects have taken her to more than 30 countries.

Catherine shares her thoughts on creating content for online communities, reveals lessons learned from her mentor, and explains why a “discouraging teacher” inspired her vocation. Read it all in our profile.

Mary Ellen Mark is a legend of contemporary documentary photography. Her list of credentials is a bit beyond amazing: more than 50 awards; more than 100 solo exhibitions; 17 published books, plus the upcoming book and film Prom, launching in spring of 2012; and more than 60 permanent collections—from The Library of Congress to The Hague Museum of Photography.

Her evocative and humanistic images inspire fine art photography collectors, museum curators, fellow artists, workshop students and lovers of photography—including us. Read our profile on Mary Ellen Mark and enjoy a closer look at more of her intriguing work.

Editor’s note: Our worldwide photographer relations manager, Suzanne Caballero Knowlton, just sent us these images and event highlights from our first Lowepro Photography Workshop in San Francisco. Great instructors. Creative students. Fabulous prizes. And ideal weather. Sounds like everything aligned for a perfect day. Stay tuned for more special events from Lowepro. Thanks for the recap, Suzanne.

“We couldn’t have asked for a better day in the city by the bay to kick off the first of our very own Lowepro Photography Workshops. Today we hosted 25 friends from our photography community and lead a full day of instruction on Environmental Portraiture—guided by Lowepro’s own Derrick Story—and Action Photography taught by none other than Andy Kuno, the San Francisco Giants’ Staff Photographer.

This morning attendees were greeted with coffee and two, one-hour lectures by each instructor (this is also when we gave away four fabulous Lowepro bags, two each of the SlingShot 202 AW and the DSLR Video Fastpack 250 AW). During lunch there was plenty of opportunity for casual conversation among instructors and fellow shooters.

After lunch, we headed into the beautiful sunshine of San Francisco’s Embarcadero neighborhood to put to the test what we just learned from Derrick and Andy. Each attendee spent one hour with each instructor doing hands-on shooting using the tips and tools they discovered earlier in the day.

Of course, we had more prizes to give away in the afternoon from Joby, and each attendee headed out with (we hope) more knowledge about photography, plus a coupon for Fireside Camera, located just down the road.

What a great way to spend a day in San Francisco with some new friends from the Lowepro Preferred Photographer program and our old friends Derrick and Andy. Thank you all!”

You still have time to sign up for our first Lowepro Photography Workshop with professional photographers Derrick Story and Andy Kuno. The workshop takes place in San Francisco on Wednesday, December 28 from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm.

He’s kind of like the Indiana Jones of the outdoor-adventure photography world. Our friend and professional photographer Dan Bailey created this incredibly entertaining (and informative) video post on his recent day trips with the Photo Sport 200 AW.

Watch his in-action review while skiing at the Alyeska Resort in Alaska. Enjoy the view and the ride. Read his full review of the pack on his blog. Thank you so much, Dan!

We’re pleased to share the news that Bernard Brault (our friend and a long-time Loweprofessional) has won three Best Press Photo Awards from the coveted Antoine Desilets Prize. The award is named in honor of Quebec’s distinguished “father” of photojournalism, Antoine Desilets.

This prize is administered by the Professional Federation of Quebec Journalists and is awarded to photographers in five categories.

Bernard Brault took the honors in three of these: news, essay and sports. And he was kind enough to share the winning entries with us.

Best News Photo: Half-submerged trailer at Lacolle floods

Best Photo Essay: The forces of nature during the flood

Best Sports Photo: Michael Phelps at the Canada Cup

We love to read about what our friend Dan Bailey is up to. He’s a professional shooter based in Anchorage, Alaska who specializes in outdoor, adventure and travel photography for lots of clients who rely on his no-fear spirit to get the shots they need.

His recent blog post is timely—a top-ten list of cool, inspirational and practical gift ideas for the photographer in your life—just in time for holiday giving. Read his post and you’ll see a fast and lightweight idea for an adventure sports shooter (it’s number 9 on Dan’s list).