Photos of the Year-Chris Vlahos

I enjoyed scrolling through the pictures of the year on poy.org. As usual my first instinct was to look at the Sports Photos of the Year. I had seen a few of the photos before, but for the most part this was the first time I had seen many of them. In my opinion some of the best sports pictures are taken in black and white. This is somewhat ironic because in a day and age where HD TV and cutting edge video quality rules the market, black and white may sometimes capture the essence of the moment better. I enjoy looking at black and white sports photos because I feel they illustrate only what the athlete is doing and the viewer’s eye is drawn to the task the athlete is performing rather than the vivid color scheme of the court or field.
What struck me as I scrolled through the other non-sports themed photos was the photojournalist’s ability to show an individuals emotion without becoming obtrusive or obnoxious. The shots were taken from far enough away as to not invade the individual’s space, but close enough so the viewer could understand what was going on. I liked the framing in many of the pictures as well as the sense of timing when to take the photo. Specifically there was a photo of pigeons flying over the Turquoise Mosque as pilgrims visit the Holy Shrine on the day of Naw-Roz (Islamic New Year) on March 21, 2007 in Mazar-e Sharif, Afghanistan that illustrated great shooting. The eye is drawn to the intersections of most pictures (Rule of Thirds) and in this picture the photographer waited for the pigeon to fly in the right spot and snapped the photo so the shrine is evident in the background and the pigeon is in the foreground.