As photo editor of the website you're looking at as well as VICE's print magazine, I see hundreds if not thousands of photographs every day. One time I tried to count how many images I had to look at critically before noon, but I got so dizzy I had to stop. Amid all that visual clutter, there are a few photographs from the past year that have burned themselves into my memory. Like old favorite songs, I call these pictures to the front of my brain whenever the world reminds me of them, or if I need to see them again. As legendary photographer Thomas Roma told me in an interview earlier this year, "Music is art, and when we need it, it's there for us. When you have a breakup or fall in love. When you're confused, when someone's been mean to you. There are different songs for those times. And I think the same thing works for photography; there are photographs that come to my mind when I'm going through different things."
Annons
Here are the best VICE photos of 2014—or the ones I return to, anyhow. Many of these were made especially for us, while others we had the privilege of debuting or featuring in some other capacity. Thanks to all of the great artists who have contributed work to VICE this year.