Our own Jules Bianchi is being auctioned off to the highest bidder.

Don’t worry, it’s not for keeps. And it’s for a good cause. The lucky winner, a novice photographer, gets to spend a 90-minute photography mentoring session in Las Vegas (during the WPPI convention) with Jules, learning the tricks of the trade, presumably starting with "Wear shoes with good treads."

Sweetening the deal is a certificate worth $200 to create your own custom Kolo album online at www.MyKoloAlbum.com ; Kolo photo albums worth $50-$100; a Kubota Image Tools flashdrive worth $600; Dane Sanders’ great new book for those trying to break into the biz Fast Track Photographer; and more for a total value of about $1,200.

What? Only $1,200? Did we mention the co-mentoring session with photography business expert, Jules' partner and twin sister Joy? Do I hear $1,500? Do I hear $2,000?

You can bid on other photographers and prize packages, too, but c’mon, why would you?

Proceeds benefit Thirst Relief International. Jules and many fellow pro photographers are donating their time and talent to support this worthy cause. You can get the whole scoop on Jules Bianchi’s blog. Bidding begins tonight (Thursday) at 10 pm eastern time (U.S.) 7 pm Pacific time (U.S.) and closes Sunday, Feb. 1 at 10 pm eastern time (U.S.) 7 pm Pacific time (U.S.). Show up online with a generous heart and wide-open wallet. Let the bidding begin!

Chicago is hot right now. Not because O’Leary’s cow knocked over another lantern, thank goodness, but because the city holds bragging rights for having produced the popular new U.S. President, Barack Obama (also famous for his doodling finesse, by the way).

And if you’re the creative sort, one of the hottest spots to be in Chicago is Blick Art Materials, most especially the Lincoln Park location. (And who knows? Being the creative sort himself, maybe even President Obama once shopped here...)

For nearly a century, Blick Art Materials has been a favorite among the artist community, thanks to their wide selection of art supplies, competitive prices and the hands-on shopping experience their several U.S. stores provide.

But like Chicago, the Lincoln Park store in The Windy City holds some bragging rights of their own:

This week they unveiled this cool new section for photography lovers -- professional and amateur alike. The colorful, industrial chic 130-square-foot department allows store visitors to peruse the entire selection of Kolo archival photo albums and boxes, to show how they work together as a photo-storage and presentation system. Examples of finished Kolo albums and the new book “Photo Album” provide inspiration, and there are plenty of knowledgeable staff members on hand to offer assistance.

Other cool brands are part of the experience, too, including Lomography cameras and Moleskine journals.

For directions to Blick Art Materials in Lincoln Park and the Chicago Loop, and more info about upcoming demo’s and workshops, visit www.dickblick.com

To see more photos of this department go here.

Ever wonder how long you might be able to get away with squirreling away your photo prints in shoeboxes, on shelves, stashed away here and there all over your house? How long before some poor innocent is buried in an avalanche after unwittingly opening the door of an overstuffed closet? Our friend, photographer Kelli Taylor, decided not to find out.

As a photographer, my life has always been filled with photographs. And as a pack rat, my home has forever been flush with them, too. For years I was overwhelmed with the sheer volume of my prints, and would often keep them in their original photo envelopes, in plastic bags or storage boxes, tucked into any bare space that seemed safe. They hid in drawers, in cabinets, under the bed, and only occasionally in photo albums.

Two years ago, I discovered Kolo Havana Boxes, and have never looked back. Once I rounded up all of those decades-worth of photo envelopes, it took 15 minutes to transfer the shots to the boxes. (I mostly use the medium size that comes with dividers.) The boxes are organized according to year, and I keep them on a shelf in our living room. They're always within immediate reach whenever I feel like creating a new album or laughing over old pictures with guests.

They've also become something of a conversation piece, since people are always curious about what's inside. It's funny how much I treasured those photographs, but for so long, didn't let myself enjoy them after they were taken.

Most people keep a treasure box of one kind or another. It seem’s Kelli’s are archival boxes filled with photographs. Other Koloists have shared a variety of examples of their treasure boxes, such as those you can see here… here… and here.

If you have treasure box, what do you keep inside?

Look for Visual Interest: Soaring verticals, slashing diagonals, and seemingly empty space can give pictures power. Find shots that force the eye to keep moving around within the frame or that draw the viewer to look more closely at what is happening.

That's one of the photo editing tips from the new book by Cahoon Hollow Press called Photo Album, The Essential Guide to Sorting, Sharing + Keeping Photos. The book is now available in Japan at ITOYA and in the United States at Aaron Brothers Art & Framing, Barnes & Noble, Blick Art Materials, and Paper Source, as well as online at www.kolo.com

In this book (previously mentioned on Koloist here), world-class designer Vanessa Holden and renowned photographer Susie Cushner share their expertise (and tricks of the trade) to show how fun and easy it is to make photo albums that are beautiful, rich and impactful. As the authors explain:

In Photo Album we help you restore the magic to your inventory of pictures. We explain how to cull the very best, the way professional photo editors sift through slides on their light boxes, and how to maximize their impact with artistic layouts.

Our Koloist friend Hildi was good enough to share these pictures of this photo album that her parents handmade.

My parents made this oversized photo album for my brother Mark when he was a toddler, around 1961. I love that first shot... he still has that slightly impish expression.

The photo album is about 9" x 7". My parents used pictures of his friends and family. They enlarged the pictures, mounted them to thick cardboard, drilled holes and bound the pages with twine.

I really need to do something like this for my son. Really I think a book like this should be the child's book, for them, to do what they please with, rather than a precious memento. I think that’s the hook. Most albums are not for touching, but this is their album... like a big book about them. Other ideas can be to shoot the things that are important in their life at that moment -- a stuffed animal, a pacifier, a blanket.

How cool that this book looks rugged enough to let a toddler handle without worries. It does look well loved.

A while back, Hildi posted another really good project idea, which you can see here.