Monroe Gallery of Photography: best shot

The Independant: Landscape Photographer of the Year 2014

Weather Channel: Travel Photographer of the Year 2014 (PHOTOS)

National Geographic: Stunning Pictures: The Year's Best Wildlife Photographs

i09: Nature's Candids: The Best Wildlife Camera-Trap Photography Of 2014

TIME: Matt Black Is TIME’s Pick for Instagram Photographer of the Year 2014

2014 Winners - iPhone Photography Awards

Radio.com: 14 Best Instagram Photos Of 2014

POP Photo: See the Most Instagrammed Places of 2014

PerezHilton.com: The Numbers Are In — The Top 3 Most Liked Photos On Instagram Of 2014 Are…

Daily Mail: Most popular Instagram image in 2014 was Kim Kardashian’s wedding

Wall Street Journal: The 5 Biggest Social Media Movements of 2014

NJ.com: Best N.J. prom photos of 2014

British Journal of Photography: The Cool and Noteworthy issue: showcase of the people and projects that caught our attention this year

Photography Books

FlakPhoto Books of the Year 2014

Mother Jones: The 19 Best Photobooks of 2014

The Telegraph: Cheryl Newman on the photography books that caught her eye

Conscientious: My favourite photobooks in 2014

Elizabeth Avedon: BEST PHOTOGRAPHY BOOKS of 2014....and Some Honorable Mentions

The Independent: Books of the year 2014: The best photography books

FlakPhoto Books of the Year 2014

Blake Andrews: The Year in Photo Books

EMAHO Picks The Most Interesting Photobooks of 2014

Mother Nature Network: Best books of 2014 in conservation photography

L'Oeil de la Photographie: Special Books

PhotoEye: The Best Books of 2014

American Photo: Best Photobooks of the Year 2014

pdn: Notable Photo Books of 2014: Part I

The Guardian: The best photography books of 2014

a-n: Top ten: the best photo books of 2014

jmcolberg on Ello: Listmas: those final four to six weeks of the year, where it's all about being bombarded with "best of" lists

TIME selects the best photobooks of 2014

Wall Street Journal: The Six Best Photography Books

The Telegraph: Christmas Books 2014: best photography and art books to read

Huffington Post: 15 Great Photography Books For Under $15

Cameras, etc

Google: Year in Search

USA Today: The Best Photo Apps of 2014

The Phoblographer's Best Useful Photography Tips for 2014

American Photo: Editors' Choice: Gear of the Year 2014

POP Photo: Camera of the Year: Nikon D750

Imaging Resource: The best camera under 1,000 dollars: Best compact camera

C-Net: Best digital cameras of 2014

The Phoblographer’s Editor’s Choice Awards list for 2014. Here you’ll find the best cameras, the best lenses, the best lights, the best camera bags and a whole lot more

PDN's 30 2014 : New and Emerging Photographers to Watch

And a truly tragic list:

Committee To Protect Journalists: Slideshow: Journalists killed in 2014

Remember when? Recap: 2013 Year in Pictures and the..."Best of " Everything Photographic 2013

My Best Shot

Andrew Pulver

STEVE SCHAPIRO

In 1964, I went to the Museum of Modern Art in New York to shoot René Magritte. There he was inside, sitting on a bench. His wife and dog were with him, and they were surrounded by his pictures. I was doing Magritte, one of my favourite artists, for Life magazine and I only had an hour and half; but for each photograph, Magritte decided to become part of, or connected to, one of his works.

There was a painting of a big rock with a castle, so Magritte lay down on a bench in front of it, with his head on his hat; my photograph then looked like he was dreaming the picture. The one above works because Magritte actually resembles the protagonists in many of his pictures, especially the ones wearing that trademark hat. The challenge – always – is how to make a picture special. If you're working with someone imaginative, an artist operating at Magritte's level, it can turn into a collaboration. In this case, it definitely did. We were all in high spirits. We didn't talk much: our relationship was basically based on smiling. We did another shot of Magritte and this painting, with a hand coming in from the side holding Magritte's bowler hat over his head. It added our own surreal touch.

This was all done with natural light. I prefer that: when you don't have long, some of the energy between you and the subject can be lost if you start fiddling with lights.

At the time, most of Life was in black and white. I do feel it conveys emotion more strongly than colour. When you work for magazines, you often experience this kind of collaborative energy on a shoot. You become very close, but you may never see that person again. I didn't have any contact with Magritte after this, but I was extremely happy to have taken his picture.

Born: New York, 1934.

Studied: With Eugene Smith.
Influences: Henri Cartier-Bresson, Bill Brandt, Eugene Smith, Walker Evans.
High point: "Working with charis-matic individuals: Bobby Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Laurence Olivier, Samuel Beckett."
Top tip: "Look at the picture you're going to take, then see how you can make it better."

More of Steve Schapiro's photography here.

More of The Guardian's "Best Shots" here.

Related: REVIEW: "For anyone interested in the history of this mixed bag of a nation, "American Edge" the museum-quality Steve Schapiro photography exhibition at Monroe Gallery is not to be missed."

Monroe Gallery of Photography

Monroe Gallery of Photography Home Page

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

IT BEGINS: THE "BEST OF" PHOTOGRAPHY LISTS FOR 2014

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Guardian Newspaper Series: Photographer Steve Schapiro's Best Shot

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