Time Pictures of the Year 2008

Photograph © Livia Corona/Time-All Rights Reserved
Yes, 'tis the season for the "photos of the year" fever. Time magazine has just published it's Pictures of the Year feature, which showcases 47 photographs its editors believe are reflective of 2008.

Incidentally, Barack Obama has made it as Time's Person of the Year. Not a great surprise...if not him, who?

As for the Pictures of the Year feature, I'm glad to see that one of the images chosen is that of the Afghan mother nursing her child photographed by Alixandra Fazzina. It was chosen as TTP's Photo of the Year just yesterday!

The above photograph is made by Livia Corona, and is of Gregory Gochtovtt of Philadelphia who, laid off from his job at Wachovia Bank in March, decided to enlist in the National Guard. He shipped out to Iraq in December. His Homer Simpson's slippers complete the story, don't they?

Travel Photographer of the Year 2008

Photograph © Charlie Mahoney-All Rights Reserved
TOPTY has just published its winners of its annual competition to crown the travel photographer of the year. Entries were received from photographers in 61 countries, and shortlisted entrants from 33 countries went through to the final judging round. Category winners for 2008 come from Australia, Italy, the UK and USA, with photographers from Kenya, India, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Sweden and Switzerland among the other prizewinners.

The Young Travel Photographer of the Year category was won by Daniel Rooney of the UK, while Charlie Mahoney, the American photojournalist who won the TPOTY New Talent category in 2007 has returned this year to win the Life portfolio category.

Congratulations to Canadian landscape photographer Darwin Wiggett for deservedly winning the TOPTY crown, but well deserved kudos to Charlie Mahoney for his beautifully evocative series involving two Irish brothers and an intimate insight into their lives as farmers. His photo essay, Ancestral Calling, was featured on this blog in September, and the post is here.

In the post, I wrote : "The photographs in this gallery are just superbly composed, and the Irish light is perfect." I'm glad the contest judges agreed with me.

MSNBC's Year In Pictures 2008

MSNBC has just published its Year In Pictures slideshow, which is in two parts; News and Sports, and allows viewers to cast their vote. Many of the bylines under the News photographs are of well-known photojournalists.