Well, it’s the end of the year and, of course, the lists are starting to roll out. So, here is a photography related list. The 45 Most Powerful Photos of 2011.
I’m aware that these 10 X lists are just the opinion of the photos and if you ask a 100 different groups or different people, you’ll probably have a whole different group of photos with little in common.
I approached the photos from this point of view: I’d go through all of these photos and see how many of them I like, completely without context. In other words, I’ll give a quick judgement of which ones strike me on their own, completely without context. I came away with about 6 of 45. The rest were just snapshots, I thought, without context, which brings me back to my ‘opinion’ that it is rare that photos can stand on their own without context.
When I’ve brought this up before, I would get reference to the ONE example that might have disproved the point, the well-known National Geographic cover shot, Afghan Girl. It is most certainly a striking photograph, and can stand alone and be admired, but as what? When you add context, it breathes a whole new life into the photograph.
The balance of the photos, 39 of them, needed context, in my opinion. That said, I would say that the title of link could be: 45 of the most provocative/interesting/headline stories of 2011, with photos. 
I’m curious as to how many of these do you think can stand alone, in your opinion.
As for this photo, it certainly isn’t one of them. It’s just a shot that I took while standing in line this morning waiting to get my parking permit.
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You are absolutely right, of course. But it is an interesting exercise to see which photographs grab you without any additional context–it’s almost like the ultimate judge of what constitutes a great photograph rather than merely good. Strip away everything else and how do you feel about it? One quick look and you want to move on, or linger?
You bring up an interesting point, re: blogging though. I often just post photographs with a title and little else. My blog started out being a creative journal of my photography, so it seemed appropriate to “tack a print up” without anything else. I’ve often thought about writing more context with some photos in order to explain them to readers, but it does take more time. I’d have to find a balance there, I think. Anyway, interesting topic, thanks for bringing it up.
That’s what I was trying to do. I wanted to see if I could get a feel for those that I wanted to try to guess the story, or just simply move on … “Next!”. 6 of them stopped me, including the #1 photo.
I think the photos that have people (about 35) in them are the ones most in need of context. We want to know who they are and what’s happening to them. The others tell their own story and, while the context is helpful, it’s not necessary. But news photos have to have a description and a back story, otherwise it’s not news. Most of these photos will still retain their power with or without the story.
That’s a good point, Ken, about the people being in the photo and wanting more information. I hadn’t thought about that aspect of it.
Not to be too obvious, but did the author of this article see every photo taken in 2011 – and correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t there three weeks left in the year? These types of lists can be annoying at times, especially when they take the position of finality. It should have been ’45 of some of the most powerful”. Guess marketing doesn’t see things that way. However, there are some powerful images here – and some that just miss the mark (Washington D.C. comes to mind).
Yeah. You are right, of course, but the idea here is to be the first one on the list to get to the Top X lists!
Personal opinion, obviously: But I really don’t connect to most of the photos. They are not really strong, not even from a journalistic perspective. Mere snapshots, that only get some luke-warm life when you read the headline. Look at them, and forget them a second later. Perhaps the only exception might be photo 45 (for me).
Looking forward to the guardian’s photos of the year, they are usually much stronger. Here are the ones from 2010: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/gallery/2010/dec/23/2010-the-year-in-pictures
Btw, your photo definitely works for me! B&W together with square’ish architecture and patterns is nice eye-candy, and the lantern breaks up the pattern before it becomes too repetitive.
Thanks, Thomas. I wasn’t feeling them myself. There were very few that I really even liked, the rest, as I said, were pretty much snapshots.
I see collections like that is as more link bait than anything else. What the heck, it worked on me – I was curious and I looked, so I guess it worked. Can’t say I felt a connection with very many of those, they all seemed to be drawn towards violence and suffering. Is that what it takes to be a powerful photo?
That’s a great point, Mark, I guess that misery sells and it seems to be what people want to see, unfortunately. I’d love to see more photos and news coverage on the good things that happen in life, of which there are certainly many, but you’d never know by listening to the media.