Photography Thailand Forum

[Gregg Spradling]

According to Reuters, these are 100 of the best photographs of the year.
http://blogs.reuters.com/fullfocus/2011/11/21/best-photos-of-the-year-2011/#a=1

[Paul Whitehead]

I know its news photographs, but its sad in a way that so many of them portray violence, morbidity and death.

[Khun Hans]

Thanks, Gregg, for the link. Best, what means best? They should say 'Reuters news pictures of the year' As Paul said their pics are all about sensation though there is some excellent photo works among these 100.
Happy new year 2012 to all of you. Hope we will have another photo outing soon in 2012.
Take it easy
Hans

[Gregg Spradling]

Hans- I agree. Best of what should be stipulated even if it was somewhat implied. Many of the images are spectacular, but others are just horrible from a photography perspective.

[Marc Schultz]

I agree Hans 100%

Also, Paul you are right how its so sad that so many pictures of the year depict violence, death, and destruction. Usually there is some balance of images of man's tenacity for survival with these best of the year collections. This Reuters series though, although some moving images, seems to lack anything positive at all. Sometimes I also wonder if we really need to constantly be reminded of all the misery in the world. Often just knowing it is there is enough to make one think. Seeing it in living color isn't going to change the world or better it in some way like most war photographer's like to tout when justifying why they takes such powerful pictures of hard human suffering.

If you look back at some posts I made last year with links like this you will notice we all made similar observations about how the pictures last year were also filled with so much death and misery and nothing really triumphant at all.

As a balance to all this, it is worth watching a BBC series documentary that came out earlier this year called Human Planet. It is very inspiring about man's triumph for survival. Wonderful stories about man's survival in the deserts, jungles, along the rivers, in the ice worlds, and etc. Spectacularly shot as well:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1806234/

[Marc Schultz]

By the way, Sebastian Salgado was one of the few photographers I have seen photograph misery while doing it in a way that helped people by creating many images for UNICEF and other organizations like it to increase awareness.

[Marc Schultz]

Time magazine seems to have published the same with nearly all photos of misery from 2011:

http://lightbox.time.com/2011/12/19/times-best-photojournalism-of-2011/#1

As well as for the year before, 2010:

http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,2036245_2217598,00.html

[Marc Schultz]

The New York Times at least managed to add a small collection of photos at the end which show joy and triumph which they title as "Milestones". 80% of their pictures however all all focused on misery as well:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/12/25/sunday-review/2011-pictures-of-the-year.html#

[Marc Schultz]

The only real chance of seeing some beauty is from National Geographic:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2077382/National-Geographic-photo-contest-2011-Winners-capture-stunning-images-nature.html

[Marc Schultz]

Again more misery, but some triumph at least:

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/long-headline-gallery-1.996175

[Khun Hans]

Much more my taste except the last 2 or 3 

The only real chance of seeing some beauty is from National Geographic:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2077382/National-Geographic-photo-contest-2011-Winners-capture-stunning-images-nature.html

[Gregg Spradling]

The only real chance of seeing some beauty is from National Geographic:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2077382/National-Geographic-photo-contest-2011-Winners-capture-stunning-images-nature.html

That's more like it