Photo by Sara Cwynar from the 2014 VICE photo issue
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."
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.
Photo by Awol Erizku from Power in the 2014 VICE fashion issue
Photo by Jacqueline Silberbush from Photos of the NYPD from Last Night's Protests
Photo by Frederick Paxton, from VICE News: Embedded with the Islamic Front in Aleppo
Photo by Contact Press Images from the 2014 VICE photo issue
Photo by Nina Berman/NOOR from Recuperating Memories in the Zaatari Refugee Camp
Photo by Zak Arctander from the 2014 VICE photo issue
Photos by Chris Steele-Perkins/Magnum from Strangeways Here We Come
Photo by Bruce Gilden/Magnum from The Face of Camden
Photo by Bruce Gilden from The Women of Wall Street
Cover of the Wall Street Issue by Michael Marcelle
Photo by Hobbes Ginsberg from 'MATTE' Magazine Presents
Photo by Cheyenne Sophia from Being Gay Is Beautiful in Oakland
Photo by Pawo Choyning Dorji from Samsara Is a Movie
Photo by Philip Heijmans from Fire from Above
Photo by Tim Freccia from Ebola: Disease Without Borders
Photo by Morgan Ashcom from Mossless in America
Photo by Aneta Bartos from her portfolio Dad
Photo by Kathya Landeros from Mossless in America
Photo by Tammy Mercure from Coondoggin' with Tammy Mercure
Photo by Walter Pearce from Walter Pearce's Photo Diary
Photo by Amy Lombard from My Week with Sydney
Photo by Amanda Dandeneau from My Parents Had a Party
Photo by Jaimie Warren from the 2014 VICE photo issue
Photos by Laurie Simmons (left) and Jimmy DeSana (right) from the 2014 VICE photo issue
Photo issue 2014 cover by Michael Bühler-Rose
Photo by Thomas Albdorf from the 2014 photo issue
Photo by Dana Giacchetto from The Real 'Wolf of Wall Street'
Photo by Curran Hattleberg from Mossless in America
Photo by Allen Frame from Goodbye David Armstrong
Photo by Annette-Lamothe Ramos from the 2014 VICE fashion issue
Photo by Fryd Frydendahl from The Camera Club of New York's Future
Photo by Robert Melee from A Dozen Roses
Photo by Scott Alario from What We Conjure
Photo by Ol' Skool Sean from Barbershops of Brooklyn
Photo by Esa Ylijaasko Under the Clouds of Süleymaniye
Photo by Juan Madrid from Mossless in America
Photo by Spot from Desolate Photos of 1970s LA
Photo of Blondie by Godlis from It's a Godlis World
Profiles Issue cover by Nick Veasey
Photo by Pierre Winther from Easter in Seville
Photo by Thomas Roma from The Waters of Our Time
Photo by Rose Marie Cromwell from Letters From a Lost Weekend
(Left) Photo by Miyako Bellizzi from Hood Housewife (Right) Photo by Bobby Viteri from Crooked Conduct
Photo by Elizabeth Renstrom from Tuning the Human Instrument
Photo by Maurizio Di Iorio from Papichulo
Photo by Pacifico Silano from Leather Grandaddies
Photo by Dylan Collins from his ongoing coverage of Gaza for VICE News
Photo of Porter Robinson by Sam Clarke for THUMP's
Photo by Lara Shipley from Mossless in America
Photo by Jamie Taete from Los Angeles Is a Paradise
Photo by PIXY from 'MATTE' Magazine Presents
Photo by Ben McNutt from Wrestling Is Gay
Photo by Chris Maggio from Male Chef on MUNCHIES
Photo by Brian Finke from US Marshalls
Photo by Peter Funch from Last Flight
Cover of The Evolutionary Resilience Issue by Neil Winokur
See more photos at VICE.com/photos
Follow VICE photo editor Matthew Leifheit on Twitter.