PhotoBlogs of note: Lens, InFocus, LIFE, White House and others

I was asked via email yesterday what my favorite photo sites were. The answer was long. Here is a list of photoblogs I visit on a regular basis:

• Flickr: The White House's PhotoStream — Love Obama or hate him, the White House Flickr page is a comprehensive site from the White House's official photographer, who gets the best access to POTUS, FLOTUS and the rest of the cabinet. (In official White House press releases, especially the ones with live updates, the President and first lady are called POTUS and FLOTUS, the OTUS stands for "of the United States.") The site features a wide variety of pictures: from mundane meetings and the formal meet-and-greets to the remarkable and spontaneous, like this shot of the Obamas sharing a tender moment. Some shots are quite simply remarkable. Best of all, the site allows downloads of the full, original pictures. There are some guidelines, like no editing and no using them for commercial purposes, but these rules shouldn't interfere with most viewers. The Flickr page was started under the Obama administration, though hopefully in continuous under all future administrations. 

• Lens, The New York Times — The Times' photographers are some of the best in the world. And they're seemingly everywhere all at once; last week when they were covering border issues in Israel they were also El Mirage covering the holding-steady foreclosure rate. Lens brings all their work together in an easy-to-use interface that presents the photos like the great works they are. And as far as I can tell, Lens isn't behind the Times' new paywall, so you can click and view as much as you want without hitting your monthly free-viewing quota. I especially enjoy flicking through galleries to see the different styles of photographers. You can easily go from gritty wide-angled black-and-white images of war violence to subtle, more thoughtfully composed environmental portraits. The site also links to the stories and occasionally to multimedia elements that include video, slideshows and graphics. 

• LIFE iPad app — LIFE has been the go-to for amazing photography for many decades, and their new iPad app, titled simply LIFE, is exceptional. Not only does it feature current news stories, but it is super easy to bring up old galleries from World War II, Vietnam or the Moon landing. The app allows basic keyword searches, or navigation through an interactive map that allows gallery choices based on major cities or areas. It also has daily top picks, editors picks and most-popular galleries that change frequently. Some of the gallery recommendations veer too frequently into celebrity topics ("Tragic Celebrity Car Wrecks," "Cheating Scandals of the Stars" and "Plastic Surgery: Before and After"), but the sheer number of classic shots more than makes up for that. Consider these: Robert Capa's D-Day shots, comprehensive 9/11 galleries, Larry Burrows' Vietnam shots, and so many others. Navigation within galleries is done by swiping the iPad screen, which just feels so right. Oh, did I mention it's free?


• InFocus, The Atlantic — Alan Taylor's Atlantic photoblog is amazing at every level. It's simple, elegant and always stunning. Taylor takes news events and compiles photos from Reuters, Getty, AP and other agencies and presents them on one page. The pages tend to take a bit to load, but the small wait is more than worth it. You'll not find a more comprehensive photo record of an event online. Just check out these news events on InFocus: Iceland's volcano eruption, testing of nuclear weapons, flooding on the Mississippi, and one of my recent favorites, scenes from China's growth. Of note are also the numerous galleries on the Japanese tsunami, including this recent one. Taylor has a wonderful eye for good photography and he compiles a wide variety of shots that accurately tell a story. Of all these site, this one is my favorite. 


• Moby-Dick Drawings — This one isn't news, not even photography, but I love it anyway because it's silly and fun, and altogether beautiful. Artist Matt Kish drew a picture for every single page of Herman Melville's Moby-Dick. He finished the book not long ago, but every page is still up on the site for viewing. This is your break from the news.