Analog Forever Magazine’s Top 50 Analog Photographs of 2020
Analog Forever Magazine Top 50 Images of 2020
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 2020 coming to a close we decided to present to you Analog Forever Magazine’s Top 50 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 50” picks for 2020!
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 past year had me living through other photographers’ eyes. Given the climate and restrictions of the pandemic, I often found myself daydreaming about being in someone else’s shoes, envisioning their adventures and lives as my own- as a way to escape the environment I had found myself in. To me, these photographs were my absolute reality, even if they were just momentary vacations. They transported me to places and feelings that I was aching for through most of 2020: beauty beyond a cubicle, love for something deeper, passion for the sake of passion, and in some cases entire other worlds where things just shined a little bit brighter. In sum, my top 10 images of the year aren’t just images, but entire worlds you can live in even if you are trapped in yours. (PS: You’re not.)
Michael Kirchoff’s Top 10
Previously, my end of year Top 10 list has been done with a more robust theme to reflect my interests in sitting with a particular type of work. For 2020, however, there often seemed to be no direction or course taken by anyone or anything. It was a chaotic and question-filled year that saw me finding images that stayed with me out of the noise and fray I experienced. It is only by looking back at this year that we can try to find a thread that led us to move forward and find that direction once more. It never truly left us, but it was so hard to see while amid seemingly endless weeks. For me, the bastions that held up over time were photographs that touched me and offered solace for different reasons. These are those photographs.
Niniane Kelley’s Top 10
Where does one begin to talk about 2020? It's been a rollercoaster of uncertainty, anxiety, fear, anger, and unrest. We've been physically and emotionally distanced from community and family, isolated and disconnected from the lives we were living ten months ago. When I began to compile image for my Top 10 of 2020 I found myself largely drawn to portraits and people, probably because I miss you guys. I miss hugging my friends, seeing your faces, hanging out and talking about the weird camera we just got. To the artists I've selected: thank you for creating; thank you for sharing; thank you for bringing art and life and beauty into our lives.
Tim Scott’s Top 10
Lynn Bierbaum’s Top 10
With how 2020 has gone, I, along with many others, were granted plenty of time on our hands. So, I choose to use this time to learn about many photographers whose work I hadn’t previously seen! The artists I choose are some that I responded to on either a technical, inspirational or personal level. I was attracted to artists similar to myself, who focused on bringing the 2-dimensional world of photography to the 3rd dimension with sculptural photographs. But also artists whose work was so beautifully portrayed through thought and technical execution. Every year I see thousands of new artists, and I can’t wait to see what new beautiful work I’ll be introduced to in 2021!
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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