The Best Photo Essays of the Year

People take photos of things they care about and want to remember. Going by that logic, this year we were a planet preoccupied with wasted teenagers, Thai monarchs, revheads, and the faded glory of our own youth as we quietly take our place as a cultural footnote. Sorry, too much? There were also heaps of parties and hot bods.

Over the past 12 months VICE has hosted the work of dozens of photographers from around the globe. Chances are you didn't get to check them all out while your boss was taking a long lunch, so here are some of the best pieces from this year.

Strangely Beautiful Photos of Saturday Night on Chapel Street

Brook James does Chap Laps of South Yarra's notorious late night party street and encounters clubbers, vomit, photo booths, and kebab lines in the process. There's an odd quietness to these images of drunk friends posing under the warm streetlights frozen in time. Maybe Chapel Street isn't so bad?

Positions Taken

Collaborating with a group of men from the Fordham section of the Bronx, Dru Donovan stages a series of photographs that take his subjects back to scenes of encounters they have had with the NYPD. The accompanying interviews reveal the racially-motivated contexts behind the images, and the fear the subjects live in.

Night Rooms: Al Zana, Gaza

Grey Hutton's work concentrates on the destruction of lives and buildings in Al-Zana, Gaza. Eerily lit by his car headlights, this series captures homes that have been destroyed by Israeli tanks. Grey is particularly interested how this damage impacts the experiences of children and families in the region. The images are quiet but chilling.

Small Towns, Big Trucks: Rev Head Family Bonding in Country Victoria

In a photo series that will force you to seriously reconsider your alienated city lifestyle, Louis Mitchell visits the South Gippsland town of Korumburra to attend its monster truck show. Witness a small town come alive as regional families gather to enjoy chiko rolls, beer, motorbike tricks, and fireworks. Oh, for a country pub lunch.

[In Byron Bay Schoolies Is a Teen Dream ](http://www.vice.com/en_us/read/in-byron-bay-schoolies-is-a-teen-dream)

Byron Bay is the new party location of choice for high school grads, and these dreamy photos capture the young love, friendship, smashed bottles, and tetchy-looking police that have come to characterize the notorious week of post-exam celebrations. Bonus: This interview with the inventor of Schoolies.

Searching for Thailand's Missing Monarch

Thailand's King Bhumibol is rarely seen in public, but his image is ubiquitous in the country. In fact, you'll see his portrait in gaudy gold frames on every street corner. Rose Marie Cromwell finds his face commercialized on posters, murals, statuettes, and Coke bottles. This guy is really good at personal branding.

The Cobrasnake Looks Back On a Decade Shooting Hipster Parties

Heavy framed glasses, black skinny jeans, Motorola Razrs, and Kanye West. For better or worse, these were the hallmarks of a generation. The Cobrasnake is as definitive an expert on early 21st century party culture as there is. Here he reflects on a decade photographing people like Alice Glass and Agyness Dean all over the world. His flash flooded images evoke hazy memories of having to bring your shitty early 2000s digital camera to parties because smartphones didn't exist.

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