Each day, 95 million photographs are uploaded to Instagram alone. This insane amount of imagery living in the cloud makes it impossible to see all of them, and we know that we miss out on witnessing quite a few spectacular photographs. We are well aware that a small percentage of these are analog-based images; however, even if we assume .01% of these images uploaded every day are film-related, that is 3,467,500 images. With 2019 coming to a close we decided to present to you Analog Forever Magazine’s Top 40 images for your viewing pleasure. These images are curated by our staff and represent the images that made an impact on us throughout the last year. By no means do they represent the “best” images ever created, but are simply our favorites that we felt the need to shed some light on. Please enjoy our “Top 40” picks for 2019!

As you scroll these images we encourage you to visit every one of these photographer’s websites to learn more about them and their work. We also challenge you to pick your favorite photograph and reach out to the artist who created it, with the goal of offering them encouragement or to simply say hello. I promise you this will be the best part of their day and you will make a profound difference in how we interact as a community. Please make sure to leave your comments at the bottom of this page and discuss which images are your favorites and why!

Michael Behlen’s Top 10

This last year has allowed me to absorb an insane amount of analog photography. I have combed through the 1000’s of email submissions we have received, highlighted 100’s of them on social media, and personally corresponded and got to know countless photographers that I would have never met if I hadn’t started Analog Forever Magazine. These interactions were almost always started by me witnessing a photograph and saying to myself: “YES!”. When I see the below images I responded in a deeply personal way that created a sense of joy and exhilaration. I just knew these images deserved recognition. I don’t offer any apparent theme for my top 10 selection beyond the hope that all of these images bring a little bit of life into your world and inspire you to create something just as unique.

Michael Kirchoff’s Top 10

Over the course of this last year (and a little before, honestly) I had the opportunity to witness both online and first hand some beautiful and wonderfully abstract work in the form of some cameraless photographs by many inventive photographers. There seems to be a recent influx of this type of art in the photographic community, and I couldn’t be more impressed by it. From the materials used to the DIY attitude these artists have taken on, I felt it only right to highlight my Top 10 thematically. No cameras were used in the making of these works, only photographic materials, and an expanding imagination - all with the intention of creating something unique and individual as the artists themselves. I urge everyone to take a moment to investigate these ideas and processes further. Long live analog!

Niniane Kelley’s Top 10

It sounds like a simple assignment: make a Top 10 list, a year-end wrap-up of some of the great work you’ve come across. But with the thousands upon thousands of images that pass through our vision every day, and then multiplied by 365, where do you even begin? But there are artists whose work consistently makes you pause as you scroll though Instagram, or halt your step as you stroll through a gallery. The artists I’ve chosen to feature for my end of the year list are some of those who repeatedly make me stop and exclaim “Oh, I love that.” Here are ten photographers whose creativity and style stimulate me, whose images inspire me to strive more in my own journey, who I feel grateful and honored to be able to share with you.

Lynn Bierbaum’s Top 10

Within this last year I continued my own journey exploring new techniques within alternative process photography, so naturally many of these artists inspired me throughout the year by their beautiful works within those processes. While I tend to be drawn to black and white, working for Analog Forever Magazine has opened my eyes to many other beautiful forms of color analog photography, and I’ve now found new artists that currently inspire me to change up what I’m doing and look in other new and inventive directions. This group of artists I choose are just some of the people in this field I look up to and admire. I can’t wait to see what they, as well as other analog photographers are up to in 2020!

ABOUT ANALOG FOREVER MAGAZINE

Analog Forever Magazine is an online and print publisher of contemporary analog photography. Our mission is simple: we want to provide a global audience to photographers who use analog processes and techniques for their photographic work by giving them a voice via a biannual print photography journal, online features and interviews, monthly online exhibitions, and a community calendar. Our goal is to highlight the best of the best from the analog industry including artists, projects, galleries, and curators.

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