South African photographer Mikhael Subotzky is making some of the most interesting photographs of post-apartheid South Africa that I have seen. Documenting both the imprisoned and post-prisoner, Subotzky's captures a historical institution representing racism and political oppression, and the outcomes that the result from the system. Subotzky also taught photographic workshops within the prison system, showcasing those images alongside his own photographs.

He published a book this year, and has a show currently up at MOMA in New York. His images can be seen here.

Since we are coming to the end of the year, it's only appropriate to make a year end best of list... But rather than make a fresh attempt at a specific category, Ive gathered a podge of some of my favorite fashion-photo-centric tidbits from 2008...ten of them in no particular order....

1) Vanity Fair, Year in Pictures part one and two-- From an American Solider in Afghanistan to that questionable picture of Miley Cyrus, the Vanity Fair wrap-up is one of the best around. With a staff of photographers consisting of Annie Leibovitz and Mark Seliger it would be silly not to over-promote the images.... Along with the magazine greats, the museum show 'Vanity Fair Portraits' launched in February at the National Portrait Gallery in London, and will continue to travel throughout the year.

2) Juergen Teller shoots Marc Jacobs-- The esteemed grit of Juergen Teller once again belongs to Marc Jacobs. I fell in love with Teller after reading a piece in New York Magazine about his career. Opposing the glamarama of traditional fashion photography, Teller paved the road for the stark and full-flash look that is now ubiquitous in fashion ad campaigns. My personal favorites the year? M.I.A for Marc by Marc Jacobs in the spring campaign, and Victoria Beckham's dangling legs.

3) Terry Richardson: From Supreme to Tom Ford--Two campaigns represent the diversity in Richardson's work for the year: the oh-so-youthful Kermit the Frog shoot for Supreme, and reaching over to the opposite end of the spectrum, the semi-pornographic campaign for Tom Ford. How can you not love a man that can jump from the muppets to smut in the blink of an eye!

4) Eva Mendes for Vogue Italy shot by Steven Meisel-- I love Italian Vogue. It makes the American version look like a Disney Movie to its X17. The semi-nude photo shoot of Eva Mendes provoked a lot of buzz on the blogs, but in reality, the images were absolutely fantastic.

5) Italian Vogue The Black Issue- Vogue began in 1916, and a black model didn't grace its cover until 1976... and there has been a disproportion ever since. When The Black Issue was released earlier this year, it accounted for an explosion in the fashion world, causing magazines to rethink the disparity of black models NOT gracing their covers.

6) The Sartorialist in Chelsea-- A street-style trend hit the interwebs in 2008, promoting an August Sanders-esque look at street-life in urban centers. The most popular of these street-fashion blogs was 'The Sartorialist' written and photographed by ex men's fashion director Scott Schuman. The New York Times Magazine recently came out with an article listing some additional street-style sites "Face Hunter, Style-Arena, Stockholm Street Style", but none quite match up to the fame of The Sartorialist. With a blockbuster show at Danziger Galleries in New York, and an additional inclusion in Danziger's most recent show 'Sander's Children', Schuman made the leap from DIY blogger to successful fine art photographer.

7) ICP's announcement, The Year in Fashion-- The International Center of Photography is kicking off their 2009 season with a fashion-centric showcase. Seven exhibits featured over the course of '09 will examine how fashion imagery has effected women over the last 90 years. "Weird Beauty" kicks off the year, and will explore how modern technology, digital manipulation, and the overabundance of the airbrush, have changed our fashion standards.

8) The New York Times Style Magazine: The Videos-- From the beautifully simple and rough-cut "Screen Test" series, to the improvisational T Takes shot mostly at Sundance, the Video section of T Magazine online is a fresh assortment of multimedia. Although T Magazine launched in December of 2007, I think the continuously growing video section of this online fashion magazine is one of the strongest in the style world.

9) Superheros: Fashion, Fantasy, and The Box Office-- Superheros: Fashion and Fantasy was at the Metropolitan Museum of Art earlier this year, an exhibit juxtaposing superhero prototypes to their runway contemporaries. The graphic body, the patriotic body, the virile body; Bernhard Willhelm, Catherine Malandrino, Alexander McQueen... And we saw this obsession with the virile, the armored, the paradoxical within Edward Norton's The Hulk, Robert Downey Jr's Iron Man, and Christian Bale's Batman. It was a year for the superhero, even though the economic downturn matched the bleakness of Gotham City, and not the indestructibility of Iron Man.

10) Michelle Obama- A Future Fashion Icon-- It seems like there hasn't been this much positive buzz (including articles titled, Why the Fashion Industry Needs Michelle) around the wardrobe of a First Lady since Jackie O. From the website 'Mrs. O' to the 'Michelle Obama Fashion Retrospective' on the Black Snob, to the buzz building around inauguration choices (we are thinking Tracy Reese...) Michelle's attire is photogenic. And, according to a bit of gossip news, Michelle might grace the March cover of Vogue... an interesting tie-in to #5 on my list for the year.

These are some of my favorites, please post if you have anything else to share...

In case you haven't noticed... Pixcetera has teamed up with the NPPA (National Press Photographers Association) to host the award winning monthly clip contest. In case you haven't seen the first housed gallery on the site check it out here.



Check back for more gallery features every month, courtesy of the NPPA.

Now in its third week, the community curated blog too much chocolate is a nice addition to the photo blogosphere. The concept is simple-- the blog is a domino curatorial effect, allowing each photographer displayed to choose the following week's portfolio. It's a site creating a community of curators more so than a solitary voice creating a community of photographers.

Curation has surpassed conventional definitions of its previous invariable stature. Opening the forum instead of promotion via an inclusive voice offers a salon-style narrative. Perhaps we are more interested in seeing "hey look what I found guys" instead of 'definitive' work.

Thus far the photography has been solid. Although reminiscent of a particular style of photography, the interest lies in the anticipation for next week's work instead of relying on something predictably formulaic. I'm interested in seeing how the work iterates, and what future ventures iterate from too much chocolate.

Tonight, Aperture held an event featuring Tina Barney explaining the trajectory of her career. With debonair ease, Barney meticulously described the start of her photographic endeavors as a curiosity catalyzed by an amazing high-school teacher. She went through her entire history of development-- working in black and white, moving to larger format, photographing families, her own family, the Europeans, editorial. Barney is a noted photographer with works in a myriad of famous museums and magazines; listening to her speak reinforced the idea of continuous, forceful progression instead of instantaneous success. She noted it took her 6 years, between 1983 and 1989, to build up enough strength to simply have her subjects gaze directly into the camera.

Barney reminded us that young photographers can't all be Ryan McGinleys. We cant all have a genius banner hung above our heads without going through year after year of ceaseless learning...and even after that, no promise is made.

It was refreshing to hear Barney, so incredibly talented, openly speak about her somewhat lengthy development time-line, and that a few key ingredients were her keys-- not technical training, not working as an assistant for top names and top connections, but understanding the matching colors of interior design and the beauty of renaissance art. The same set of rules to getting it right obviously don't exist.

I was recently sent a virtual camera cake by a coworker of mine, and it compelled me to look elsewhere for a collection of camera cakes.... apparently they are quite a popular delicacy, specifically on the delicious camera site, Flickr. If you need some holiday confectionery inspiration, I would recommend a visit.

Pixcetera's new full screen release follows a trend that people want BIG pictures. Not just petite thumbnails, but all-screen-consuming images that compete with magazine doubletrucks... I mean, I get it...

PDN's Photo of the Day and Boston.com's The Big Picture remain two of my favorite MASSIVE sites. I would recommend adding them to your blogroll for a fascinating daily dose.

The New Yorker recently ran an audio piece about foods that photographers have tried while on assignment in foreign places...Some interesting cuisines.

I was reading the blog aphotoeditor tonight, and I noticed something that I should have definitely taken note of in July... Rob Haggart, blogger behind aphotoeditor, launched aphotofolio this summer as an alternative powerhouse website service for photographers.

I have talked to many young photographers who arent savvy with flash or coding, and are desperately trying to find someone to build them a sustainable site. Many professional photographers have turned to livebooks as a resource, but the hefty charges for livebooks arent always feasible.... so what's the alternative? A friend learning dreamweaver on Lynda.com and throwing something together, or spending three grand? It seems to me that Mr. Haggart has found himself in a nice position, offering a complete service and a monthly hosting fee for an understandable price.

The backend editing software looks completely intuitive, and the flash formats are simple yet elegant. I like the fact that Haggart mentions SEO information on his main page-- the most important thing for a photographer's portfolio is searchability, and Haggart explains the importance in laymans terms, debunking certain myths about ruining the possiblities of appearing in Google's top five results.

I have to explore the site a bit more, but if you are a photographer looking for a visual alternative, I might snoop around aphotofolio for a bit....

A few days back The Big Picture ran a massive photo of something microscopic... Obama. Although Obama and microscopic make for an oxymoronic duo at the moment, University of Michigan researchers decided to use Obama's mug to represent nanotechnology. According the The Big Picture "For visualizing the scale, most measurements below are in microns - one micron is a millionth of a meter - human hair is approximately 100 microns thick. " Obama is in the ether.

The Big Picture also constructed a gallery of other microscopic visions...

After talking to Matt Sayles last night, we both agreed that Callie Shell should become Obama's personal photographer. Her intimate portraits of the next president are unparalleled. Check out her work on The Digital Journalist.

Last week (I know, the time delay is despicable) I attended a Humble Arts Foundation show curated by John Feinstein at New Century Artists. According to the artistic statement, the photographic show featured a peculiar and idiosyncratic body of work paralleling the peculiarities and idiosyncratic nature of contemporary life... The blog 'subjectify' extrapolated additional themes of the show which apparently included the reaction against "office entombment" and our gratification with "mundane interactions with nature". But is this demand for comprehension in an an exponentially unraveling world materializing in 'strangeness', disillusionment with physical realities, and a general dip into nihilism? I mean, come on, do we really have to go there?

It seems basic to me. A common theme that's discernible everywhere from stock imagery, advertising, art, to the ever-growing green movement, is 'back to basics'. I personally work in the 'entombed office environment' that subjectify analogizes to Eric Percher's office portrayals-- and it's really not as suffocating as it's so often proclaimed to be. What I find smothering is not the homogeneous physical environment that Percher visually captures, but what all of us, ESPECIALLY photo bloggers, deal with everyday-- multitasking our facebook with our email with our blog rolls with our iphone with our ipod with our newsalerts. This influx in technology translated as information is where the concept of liberation becomes entombment-- we inundate ourselves and frenetically suffocate.

I see 'Things are strange' as less about a look at the paranormal, but as more about a revisiting of antiquated normalcy. Most information is attainable in our contemporary world, so incomprehension through a disconnection is an attractive prospect. We have a need to revisit undiluted curiosity apart from our current satiation thanks to wikipedia... Maybe we want to be confused.

When I think about these things, my attention turns to photographer Lee Materazzi. Materazi creates abnormal situations where her subjects find their heads dislocated in unnatural positions. The appeal of imagery comes from the aesthetics of the content, but also from the fact that Lee doesn't use any Photoshop manipulation. Technical trickery is laid aside for unadulterated content. Back to basics, where the image is just plain strange and where the mystery isn't spoiled by a modern toolbox.

Last night I attended the panel discussion "Louped In: The Photography Editors" held at FIT. On the panel: Lisa Berman from Entertainment Weekly, David Carthas from Blender, Nancy Jo Iacoi from Orchard Represents, Michele McNally from The New York Times, Michael Norseng from Esquire, Zana Woods from WIRED. The smorgasbord of talented editors was fairly un-diversified, due to the fact that all but one of the editors mostly work in a particular genre of imagery-- editorial portraiture. It was interesting to hear anecdotes about Britney Spears in Esquire, or publicists leading their clients astray, but the salient question wasn't overtly asked. Are all of the publications that you are representing going to soon disappear?

When a question was ambiguously proposed concerning budget cuts, the answers were muted... Considering that CondeNast and Time Inc. just underwent some severe 'alterations', the question seemed like a pertinent topic. It was eclipsed. Michelle McNally from the New York Times was the only panelist to directly address the question, in what I thought was an enlightening answer. She mentioned that there are more opportunities for journalists now more than ever before because of digital outlets, that photographers are becoming videographers, multidimensional producers and artists. Embrace the tools. After such dismal predictions-- the end of newspapers and journalism as we knew it-- Michelle firmly claimed no.

With plans to consolidate titles-- Men's Vogue into Vogue, the newly launched Portfolio, practically gone-- it seems like the blockbuster news-stand is diminishing... Hopefully, the long-tail portals and the smaller mags wont overtake the giants, or absolutely disappear, but coexist with the venerated publications. It's a tricky time, and we're all learning how to extend play time into the future. Ill trust in Ms. McNally's point of view.

I attended a fantastic presentation of images from Magnum photographer David Alan Harvey's workshop "At Home with David Alan Harvey". Harvey held classes in his Brooklyn based studio and invited guest speakers such as David Griffin, Director of Photography at National Geographic, and Mary Anne Golon, past editor of Time Magazine, to present during the last workshop. The images were diverse, but the body of work was solid, considering the one-week time frame students were permitted. One of my favorites was a dreamscape series shot by photographer Kyunghee Lee, who traveled all the way from Korea to attend the workshop.

Jennifer MacFarlane's Images from Cambodia

Jennifer MacFarlane, of pixcetera blog fame for her images of Manu Chao, had an opening last week at (Eco)Compassion featuring images shot for Glamour Magazine of the sex slave industry in Cambodia. MacFarlane traveled with reporter Marianne Pearl to shoot the story. The images are striking portraits of precocious children, forced into the industry at age seven. I previously interviewed Jenn about he project, and that piece can be found here.

Earth From Above, an exhibit by photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand featuring environmental images 4 ft by 6 ft large, is coming to New York next Spring. I wanted to generate buzz about the images, considering the literal magnitude of the prints, as well as the stunning nature of the content they contain. I especially enjoy the Iraqi tank graveyard, which looks like a confused beetle colony....

The Boston Globe's Big Picture blog has the story.