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The 45 Most Powerful Images of 2011
#1

Here are (arguably) the 45 most powerful images of 2011. Most cover the significant events of 2011 and are definitely emotion charged...
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/the-most-...os-of-2011

After viewing all those, here's something to lighten the mood...
http://www.petapixel.com/2011/12/03/how-...portraits/
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#2

Wow! These are great photographs. Thanks Shuttertalk

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#3

I'm not sure. They are certainly, given the accompanying bits of text, emphatic statements that are designed to persuade or to convey some moral point. I'm not sure that many of them stand up as images that can speak voluably, suggestively and on many levels entirely on their own legs.
Not many of them seem to be powerful enough images to allow the viewer to engage with them with complete free will; rather there's a sense of some emotional sledgehammer held over one's head, held by someone on higher moral ground than the viewer, so totally convinced of telling us that they are both right and that we are wrong if we don't join them.
To be honest, this heavy-handed didacticism is a little loud and strident, not far short of propaganda.
I'm presenting quite a polarised response, I admit, just to get the mix bubbling nicely. They are decent pj shots after all...but I have to ask myself: if the images are that strong, why supply the text? Fear that we might not engage our hearts with what we're supposed to?

(Time of the month) Wink

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#4

I think you're on to something Zig... they are certainly great photojournalistic shots but without the accompanying context, some (like #4 and #11) don't stand up on their own. Hard to tar the lot with the same brush though, there are some fantastic images in there.

Also, the claim is "most powerful", hence the emotional sledgehammer... Big Grin
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#5

Would tend to agree with Zig for the most part, but I certainly like the shot of the dust storm engulfing Phoenix.
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#6

I'm not far off from Zig on this one. I was looking at these today, and it struck me as a mixed bag. A few, like #10 – Phoenix in the dust storm – stand on their own without supporting information, others are astonishing photos of devastation that still need the caption, but there's no doubt about the intended audience for most of them. At best, the photos serve as shorthand for a significant event, but even that is a stretch for several of them. #40, the photograph of Harold Camping might have been included as a tongue-in-cheel commentary about the list itself, but it's certainly not significant. How many people still remember that he was briefly a pop-culture celebrity for his serial predictions of the end of the world?

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