Keep 'em Coming

It seems to me that no matter in what medium photographs are portrayed they have the power to move us. That said, however, the internet allows for the rummaging-through of thousands of photographs while sitting in one place and without the piles and piles of tree detritus upon which printed photographs make their mark. I took a look at two very different photography websites: World Press Photo and MSNBC's "The Week in Pictures" feature.

World Press Photo
Here's the skinny on the WPP website: the photographs are beautifully displayed and each comes with a little caption giving background info such as the photographer, the location of the photographs, and the circumstances under which that photograph was taken. However - those little captions? They intrude upon the actual photograph and in a couple of instances actually hide a very important part of the photo!

Another complaint I had with the WPP photo-site was that there is a too-long-for-my-internet-age-instant-gratification-please wordy introduction before you even get to the whole shindig. No thanks... just give me the pictures, please.


Also, the intro-page has every picture hidden behind the year in which it was the Photograph of the Year, and so one has to guestimate the time period in which the photograph one is looking for was taken and scroll over every year until their photo materializes. Again, my patience wears thin.



However, one cannot deny the compelling and powerful photographs presented on this particular website and one must admit that the presentation thereof is really wonderful, albeit a bit time consuming. The photos really evoke a photo gallery.





MSNBC Photos of the Week

First off, I agree with so many of you who have said that the lack of thumbnails in the slideshow menu at the bottom is disappointing. It goes back to the problem with the WPP hide-and-go-seek approach to finding the photo you want to go back to - you have to do some guestimating. And no one likes that.

However, there is something to be said for the element of surprise right? Nah, didn't think so.

The photographs they chose were nice and they had a good selection of photographs pertaining to current events. But, come on? A photograph of a horse fight? When the world as we know it is collapsing around us in nearly every sector? And where was the picture showing Wall Street on its knees? Sorry, folks - the horse fight was just so much more interesting.