World-Class Photo Galleries Not to Miss

By Chris Lombardi, 7-09-07

It’s inspiration time.

Several prestigious photography organizations have put up photo galleries recently, chock full of powerful images to inspire.

For the nature lovers, there’s the Nature’s Best contest gallery put together by the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Here you’ll find the top 40 images from a field of 24,000 submitted to a Smithsonian contest last year. My faves: Bottlenose Dolphins and American Alligator.

For those with a strong stomach, there’s the gallery of The Press Photographer’s Year, a competition for photojourmalists working for UK publications. Many of the images come from the various conflicts around the world, so be warned against the blood and heartbreak, and the gallery has a frustrating lack of information about the images. Still, some interesting stuff here.

PDN (Photo District News) has a gallery of their annual awards. The Photojourmalism category is again, excellent, but filled largely with images of humans inflicting suffering upon one another. The Personal Work category is my favorite, featuring incredible work from some of the most creative minds in the game.

If you’re feeling nostalgic, the Monroe Gallery is well worth the clicks. This gallery out of Santa Fe, NM, specializes in historical photojournalistic images and their collection is full of classics. Their exhibition ”Speak Truth to Power” contains some all-time greats.

Finally, if you’re ready to get into the game, American Photo is accepting entries for its 2007 competition. The deadline is September 14th. Check out the winners from last year to see what you’re up against.