The 2012 World Press Photo Winners

Photo by Samuel Aranda

The international jury of the 55th annual World Press Photo Contest has selected a picture by Samuel Aranda from Spain as the World Press Photo of the Year 2011. The picture shows a woman holding her wounded son in her arms, inside a mosque used as a field hospital by demonstrators against the rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, during clashes in Sanaa, Yemen on 15 October 2011. Samuel Aranda was working in Yemen on assignment for The New York Times.

The contest draws entries by professional press photographers, photojournalists and documentary photographers from across the world, with 5,247 photographers from 124 countries participating this year with 101,254 pictures submitted by the mid-January deadline. A group of 19 internationally recognised professionals in the field of photojournalism and documentary photography convened in Amsterdam from 28 January until 9 February 2012 to judge the entries.

Check out a selection of some of my favourites below:

Photo by Vincent Boisot

A model poses in front of tailor stalls in the center of Dakar, Senegal. She wears the creation of a designer, Yolande Mancini, participating in the 9th edition of Dakar Fashion Week.

Photo by Johnny Haglund

A girl fishes in the Congo River, just outside the city of Kisangani in the Democratic Republic of Congo. She holds the fish in her mouth, a common practice among people there, because the chance of losing it is less than when holding it in her hands.

Photo by Francesco Zizola

A scuba diver near Carloforte, Sardinia, shoots photos of tuna in the local Tonnara, a maze of nets traditionally set to channel tuna into an enclosed space where they are killed.

 

Photo by Ray McManus

Action from a rugby match between Old Belvedere and Blackrock played in heavy rain in Dublin, Ireland.

 

Biggest Teahupoo Ever

I’ve posted some of the luscious Phantom ocean footage of Chris Bryan before – and here’s his latest. It was 27 August 2011 during the Billabong Pro at Teahupoo. Bryan was fortunate enough to be there working for Billabong on a day that will go down in the history of big wave surfing. The French Navy labeled the day a double code red – prohibiting and threatening to arrest anyone that entered the water. Kelly Slater described the day by saying, “witnessing this was a draining feeling being terrified for other people’s lives all day long, it’s life or death. Letting go of that rope one time can change your life and not many people will ever experience that in their life.” All images where shot by Chris Bryan using the Phantom HD Gold camera. Phenomenal. And the track, in case you’re wondering, is “Lower Your Eyelids to Die with the Sun” by M83.

The News In Lego 2011

Osama Bin Laden's capture

A reproduction of some of the pivotal events in the news of 2011 using Lego. You can see more here.

Occupy Wall Street

 

The death of Steve Jobs

 

The Royal Wedding

 

Google Zeitgeist 2011

What mattered in 2011? Zeitgeist sorted billions of Google searches to capture the year’s 10 fastest-rising global queries and the rest of the spirit of 2011. And what made number 1? Rebecca frickin’ Black. She made a big splash on the Internet with the release of her 2011 pop single “Friday.” The music video catapulted the then 13-year-old to celebrity status after the video went viral, receiving over 167 million views on YouTube.

Forbes Magazine’s Annual List of the Highest Paid Actors in Hollywood

Here’s some mildly interesting yet perfectly useless pop cultural information that you can drop at a dinner party this weekend. Forbes Magazine has released its annual list of the highest paid actors in Hollywood. At the very top of the list is Leonardo DiCaprio, who has apparently raked in $77 million in the past year. Johnny Depp was a not particularly close second, with $50 million.

1. Leonardo DiCaprio ($77 million)
2. Johnny Depp ($50 million)
3. Adam Sandler ($40 million)
4. Will Smith ($36 million)
5. Tom Hanks ($35 million)
6. Ben Stiller ($34 million)
7. Robert Downey, Jr. ($31 million)
8. Mark Wahlberg ($28 million)
9. Tim Allen ($22 million)
10. Tom Cruise ($22 million)
11. Jim Carrey ($20 million)
12. Daniel Craig ($20 million)
13. Robert Pattinson ($20 million)
14. Brad Pitt ($20 million)
15. Matt Damon ($18 million)

Forbes state, “To compile our earnings numbers we talked to agents, lawyers, producers and other industry insiders to come up with an estimate for what each actor earned between May 1, 2010 and May 1, 2011. Earnings consist of pretax gross income. Management, agent and attorney fees are not deducted.”

2011 Archibald Portrait Prize

Ben Quilty won Australia’s most prestigious portraiture prize today, the Archibald, with his painting of esteemed artist Margaret Olley (above). Check out the images below for some of my favourite pieces from finalists in the 2011 Archibald Portrait Prize at the Art Gallery of News South Wales, Sydney.

Robert Jacks AO by Jeremy Kibel

Me by Ken Done

Waleed Aly by Abdul Abdullah

John Coetzee by Adam Chang

Charlie by Adam Cullen

 

10 Websites to Watch in 2011

Mashable has compiled a list of the 10 websites they predict will make a splash in 2011. The list includes:

1. Kickstarter

2. OpenLeaks

3. Klout

4. Hipmunk

5. Gilt

6. Diaspora

7. Quora

8. Grooveshark

9. Drupal

10. foursquare

The Pantone 2011 Colour of the Year

Pantone released their pick for the “colour of the year” for 2011, Pantone 18-2120. Also known as Honeysuckle:

While the 2010 color of the year, PANTONE 15-5519 Turquoise, served as an escape for many, Honeysuckle emboldens us to face everyday troubles with verve and vigor. A dynamic reddish pink, Honeysuckle is encouraging and uplifting. It elevates our psyche beyond escape, instilling the confidence, courage and spirit to meet the exhaustive challenges that have become part of everyday life.

“In times of stress, we need something to lift our spirits. Honeysuckle is a captivating, stimulating color that gets the adrenaline going – perfect to ward off the blues,” explains Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute®. “Honeysuckle derives its positive qualities from a powerful bond to its mother color red, the most physical, viscerally alive hue in the spectrum.”

Read more about Pantone’s colour of the year here.

[via PSFK]

Happy new year…

Image by Paul Ocatvious

[via Today and Tomorrow]