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The Atlantic's In Focus publishes its Year in Photos 2012

Dec 7, 2012 at 21:18:16 GMT
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The Atlantic's excellent 'In Focus' photo blog has published the third and final part of its 2012 Year in Photos. The three-part series includes 135 images from around the world, covering a great breadth of events and subjects. As you'd expect of such a review, there are some occasionally graphic images that some readers may find disturbing but there are also some astonishing photos giving a surprising views of other countries and cultures.

We've chosen three of our favorite images from the three-part article, and you can click on them (or the text links) to see Atlantic's full selection. And as always, let us know your favorites in the comments. 

Space shuttle Discovery en route to its final home at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum, Washington, DC on April 17, 2012. (Reuters/Robert Markowitz/NASA)
Still in orbit, here is the International Space Station, 240 miles above earth. This is a composite image, assembled from a series of images taken from a camera mounted on the station. (NASA/Don Pettit)
President Barack Obama hugs his wife Michelle, after she introduces him at a campaign event at the Village of East Davenport in Davenport, Iowa, on August 15, 2012. Following the President's re-election this image became the most-Tweeted photograph ever. (Scout Tufankjian/Obama for America)

Comments

Total comments: 36
vFunct
By vFunct (6 months ago)

Lots of war stuff from the Atlantic.

Would have been nice to include some shots from some of the fashion weeks or Art Basel.

0 upvotes
hc44
By hc44 (6 months ago)

My faves,

I:7, Roger Federer. Looks like an oil painting.
III:29, Space shuttle/basketball. Great juxtaposition, though prob setup. I reckon you'd be watching the space shuttle rather than play ball at a time like that.

A few too many election photos, but otherwise great.

0 upvotes
Peter K Burian
By Peter K Burian (6 months ago)

Some of these images are absolutely stunning. (Of course, the word stunning is used for even mediocre stuff today, but I mean it in its original definition.)

0 upvotes
Schnee
By Schnee (6 months ago)

I'll never understand why it is regarded acceptable to depict death and violence but not nudity.

0 upvotes
Barney Britton
By Barney Britton (6 months ago)

You're talking about the aerodynamic fairing on the shuttle, I presume?

0 upvotes
chasg
By chasg (6 months ago)

Barney, that was funny as hell :-)

0 upvotes
LaFonte
By LaFonte (6 months ago)

The pictures are fantastic and inspiring,
just bang! right there in between them is wedged Angelina Jolie.... what is going on?

0 upvotes
showmetheprime
By showmetheprime (6 months ago)

What an incredible set!

0 upvotes
AV Janus
By AV Janus (6 months ago)

I just love seeing these All-American photos.
An all those conflict oriented pics to. It just warms my heart me that they always feature rebels in them.
Funny how a country that was OK by all is suddenly demonized, and how we all document the struggle of the little man...

LOL, Looking at those pictures is like looking at a good, summer Hollywood movie.
Oh, wait... duh!

1 upvote
onlooker
By onlooker (6 months ago)

This photo summarizes it all: http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/infocus/2012yip120512/s_y11_RTR3367C.jpg

1 upvote
Tape5
By Tape5 (6 months ago)

Obama inside the bus is good.

0 upvotes
Swinden
By Swinden (6 months ago)

Very inspiring, to see this beautiful, professional work!

0 upvotes
blue757
By blue757 (6 months ago)

Very impressive

0 upvotes
sbc
By sbc (6 months ago)

Beautiful photos!

0 upvotes
Cameron R Hood
By Cameron R Hood (6 months ago)

Hey, Neal!

0 upvotes
Neal Hood
By Neal Hood (6 months ago)

Great pictures that paint a world of contradiction.

0 upvotes
Tord S Eriksson
By Tord S Eriksson (6 months ago)

Many of these shots, and those from Afghanistan (also posted by the Atlantic) will remain in my memory for a long time.

0 upvotes
timedrun
By timedrun (6 months ago)

Photography seems to be something that I consider real, evidence, or sometimes even proof. To me that is what can make a photograph so powerful. These images highlight that perfectly.

0 upvotes
Jahled
By Jahled (6 months ago)

The line between astonishing beauty and utter hell seems to be almost infinitesimal in this world. Some great photographs though

0 upvotes
ERic Pouhier
By ERic Pouhier (6 months ago)

Thanks this is great !

0 upvotes
Superka
By Superka (6 months ago)

Not really. Would you try to help a man who was attacked by leopard, or try to help him? These photos are all about modern photographers.

Comment edited 45 seconds after posting
1 upvote
Pixel Judge
By Pixel Judge (6 months ago)

Thank you, DPReview.
They are all great photos. But my favorite has to be...
the 'Kitti-copter'!

0 upvotes
bobbarber
By bobbarber (6 months ago)

Thank you for the link. The photos were great.

0 upvotes
leerob
By leerob (6 months ago)

How much it costs?

0 upvotes
owenleve
By owenleve (6 months ago)

These are the best they have? Oh, right.... nobody hires photo journalists anymore. Everything is submitted and 'paid' with photo credit.

2 upvotes
OldArrow
By OldArrow (6 months ago)

All in all, good images. Mainly tragedies, wars, violence, presidents and an occasional beauty. What I'd like to see, and I'm surely not alone in this, would be for the percentages of those in reverse order.

5 upvotes
Boissez
By Boissez (6 months ago)

That's a bit egocentric IMO. You may not like the brutality of conflicts but the people involved in those tragedies and wars are thankful that these shots are deemed more newsworthy than beauty. In many cases it raises awareness and saves lives (photo #12, part 2, is probably the most obvious example)

Comment edited 3 times, last edit 3 minutes after posting
3 upvotes
OldArrow
By OldArrow (6 months ago)

I meant the occurrence, of course. So far, no quantity of war or violence images seems to be able to reduce their endless sources.
And instead of highlighting the life's beauties, the informative sources have conditioned us to accept the ugly side of life as something normal - until it happens to us.
Since the war has happened to me, I'm looking at it a bit differently.

0 upvotes
Boissez
By Boissez (6 months ago)

"So far, no quantity of war or violence images seems to be able to reduce their endless sources"
The photo I mentioned earlier pretty much dispels that point.

Frankly, that myopic view on life is a constituent part of what allows anything from bullies to dictators to rule in impunity. The sooner we embrace that fact and act upon it the sooner the usurpers of power will fall.
You mention being involved in a war, what is your stance then on truth and reconciliation commissions? - and the ugly squeletons uncovered by them?

0 upvotes
OldArrow
By OldArrow (6 months ago)

The original statement was clear enough.

2 upvotes
Tape5
By Tape5 (6 months ago)

go up go down be perceptive be sweary
but please please please
don't be boring.

1 upvote
Reilly Diefenbach
By Reilly Diefenbach (6 months ago)

Not a great advertisement for the human race by any means.

4 upvotes
AbrasiveReducer
By AbrasiveReducer (6 months ago)

I think the comment that was removed was rather perceptive, unfortunately. Things seem to be going pretty well in outer space so there's room for optimism.

0 upvotes
R Butler
By R Butler (6 months ago)

Perceptive perhaps but also sweary.

Comment edited 52 seconds after posting
2 upvotes
monkeybrain
By monkeybrain (6 months ago)

In space no one can hear you swear.

8 upvotes
wireless
By wireless (6 months ago)

They are good photographs. Better than the Reuters best of by far. Only problem they don't provide the nice technical detail Reuters does.

1 upvote
Total comments: 36