Flathead Valley Looking Glass: Kalispell, Montana News

Here is a brief – by no means comprehensive – roundup of some of this year's best of 2009 in photography galleries. If there are other Web sites I have missed, please post them in the comments section or feel free to e-mail me a link.

The New York Time's The Year in Pictures – This was my favorite gallery as far as Web site interface. I love how you can follow along with the time line.

Time Magazine The Year in Pictures 2009

Los Angeles Times 2009 in Focus: Best of Times photography – Memorable moments captured by Los Angeles Times photographers in 2009

National Geographic Traveler Best Photos of 2009 – This slide show is accompanied by commentary by Kieth Bellows, Editor, which gives a different kind of insight into the images.

The Wall Street Journal 2009 Year in Photos – I like how the WSJ breaks the images up into categories including The Journal's Best, Obama's First Year, Remembrances and Fashion Trends, to name a few.

MSNBC 2009 Year in Pictures – again with audio, MSNBC uses news broadcasts, the voices of those pictured and a little music to push the drama.

Former Montana photographer Robin Loznak is featured this week on the National Press Photographers Association Visual Student blog. A staff photographer at The Daily Inter Lake from 1994 to 2004, Loznak is best known for his outstanding wildlife and nature images. I personally became a fan of the work he did while covering Montana wildfires for the Great Falls Tribune. Currently, Loznak is a solo staff photographer (something I can very much relate to) at The News-Review in Roseburg, Ore. Some of Loznak's images are on display at the Museum at Central School in downtown Kalispell.

From The Visual Student blog:

The relentless hunt for good stand-alone feature photos would often drive me to look for wildlife. Because it was Montana, we always seemed to have animals around. Something I really enjoyed photographing in Kalispell was the interaction between people and wildlife....

I don’t really think of myself as a nature photographer. I think of myself as a photojournalist who takes nature pictures. I guess the difference is that I try to tell stories and capture moments in my nature photos.

Read the entire post here.
Visit Robin Loznak's Web site here.

I love bumping into local photographer Chris Peterson when I'm on assignment. He is not only a gracious shooter who always shares his photographic space – it's usually a press conference or news event where there are a number of us bumping lenses – but he always has a story to tell about his last hike or visit to Glacier National Park. I was so pleased to see that the Boston Globe blog The Big Picture profiled a number of Peterson's images from his 100 days in Glacier National Park project.

Help-Portrait has organized a massive movement for photographers – professional and amateur – to give instead of receive. On Dec. 12, photographers from around the world will photograph people in need and simply give them the pictures.

It's that simple.

See a video after the jump.

Friday's, Nov. 20, lead story on The Washington Post Web site featured a slide show show shot in Missoula by Post photographer Linda Davidson. The images from "Recession Legacy: Returning home after college" are of Missoula native Melissa Meyer who, after graduating Suma Cum Laude from George Washington University, moved home to live with her parents. The images are nice and the story is the usual one about taking time after college to figure things out and not being able to find a job during the recession even though one has a quality resume.

What surprises me is that the Post was willing to fund sending a photographer to Missoula. I have many friends who are professional photogs – sure, some of them may be living with their parents in Missoula as well – who really could have used the freelance and it could have saved the paper a few bucks in the process.

Check out the slide show on The Washington Post Web site.

World Series Time-Lapse by Robert Caplin from Robert Caplin on Vimeo.

Photographer Robert Caplin, 26, combined over 5,000 images from 3 different cameras and about 25 separate locations to create this mesmerizing time-lapse video. Caplin said he shot a total of 12,000 still images which equates to about 125GB of RAW footage.

"Given that the time-lapse consisted only of still images and not video, the files were 3-4 times the size of HD video! Needless to say, my computer spent a good chunk of time rendering all the data." – From Robert Caplin's photoblog

The night is scored to Chopin's Waltz No. 5 which adds to the feeling that we're watching an old movie, something that fits very well with the sensibility of baseball.

Click here for Rober Caplin's Photoblog.
Read about Robert Caplin's time-lapse on the New York Times LENS Blog.

After six days of judging at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Mo., this year's College Photographer of the Year competition winners have been announced. After viewing over 12,000 still images and 226 multimedia projects submitted by 607 students, Ryan C. Henriksen from Ohio University was named the 64th CPOY winner. Henriksen was awarded the gold in the portfolio and a silver in sports portfolio categories.

See a full list of winners as well as their winning images at the College Photographer of the Year Web site.

For those young and young at heart, where can finger painting really take you? Well, throw in iPhone technology and Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum in Times Square as a muse, if you're artist Jorge Colombo, it can get you to the cover of The New Yorker.