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Following Matt’s lead, I’ve collected a few of my favorite photos of mine from 2009. It was a relatively good year, with a few assignments, corporate shoots, other gigs, and an award and exhibition or two. Always room for improvement in that respect, and 2010 seems to be off in full swing. The work here is mostly from China, with a little bit from the northwestern United States thrown in. These aren’t necessarily the best photos I took, or representative of everything I photographed, but they’re favorites nonetheless for various reasons.

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A young man in the Stara Gazela camp. "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere". August.

Girl at scene of arson, "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere". August.

The famous black birds of Kosovo in flight over Mitrovica. February.

Rally for President-Elect Obama, Wilmington, DE. January.

Victim of human trafficking, Albania. For the New York Times. June.

Morning of Obama's Inauguration, parade route. January

Souvenirs at Obama Inauguration. January.

The Washington Monument, Obama Inauguration. January.

Mill in Bosnia. May.

Northern Kosovo. August.

Inside the Stan Trg mine in Mitrovica, Kosovo. August.

Rally for national handball team, Sarajevo BiH. March.

Jasmin in Sarajevo. March.

An elderly man aboard a free public bus from Sarajevo to Srebrenica, 14th anniversary of genocide. July.

Families of Srebrenica victims gather at the Potocari memorial to bury the remains of their loved ones. July.

Children at the scene of a mining disaster, Zenica BiH. March.

Miners at the Zenica hospital following an explosion that killed a colleague. March.

The bus from Kosovska Mitrovica to Belgrade. February.

On the road from Prishtina to Mitrovica during large snow storms in Kosovo. February.

Reshat Zatriqi in his home in Mitrovica Kosovo with his son. February.

Kosovars celebrate the one-year anniversary of independence along Mother Theresa Street in the center of the capitol, Prishtina. February.

Bowring on my birthday. June.

Cat on my birthday. June.

Port of Durres, Albania. For the New York Times. June.

My friend Stojan and his crew, Nova Gazela camp. "Nowhere". July.

A boy climbs on to the roof of his family's home in the Stara Gazela camp to jump into their inflatable swimming pool. "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere". July.

Boys play on top of a garbage pile behind their home in Nova Gazela. "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere". August.

A young man along the train tracks in Nova Gazela. "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere". August.

Smoke from a trash fire looms over the Nova Gazela settlement. "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere". August.

Mourners of Serbian Orthodox Church Patriarch Pavle in Belgrade. November.

2009 was my first real year of living and working in Serbia and it was wrought with more questions than answers. I’m still trying to figure out what last year was and what the next will bring, in terms of life and my photos. But I think these pictures may show some of what this was about for me, my relationship to friends and strangers, places and stories. These are not just my “best” pictures but include many more personal. A visual taste of my year. And I’m ecstatic to be back for another take.

Of course, I am a month past due with this in part to recovering from the holidays stateside and setting up everything here for 2010. I’ll have much more to share in the near future on what’s new these days, including projects, collaborations and websites. As always you can see my work at www.mattlutton.com and dig through my archive (and buy pictures!) at archive.mattlutton.com.

Thanks for keeping up with my work and supporting us here at Dvafoto. Happy New Year!

Johan Bävman - 2009 UNICEF Photo of the Year

The 2009 UNICEF Photo of the Year award goes to Johan Bävman for his photo of Tanzanian children playing in a school (above). Honorable mentions went to: Mads Nissen, Jacob Aue Sobol, A. K. Kimoto, Irina Popova, Todd Krainin, Eman Mohammed, Anna Jockisch, Christian Als, Thomas Lekfeldt, and Daniel Berehulak.

Anthony Suau - World Press Photo of the Year 2008 - US Economy in Crisis: Following eviction, Detective Robert Kole must ensure residents have moved out of their home, Cleveland, Ohio, 26 March

World Press Photo has just announced the results of the 2008 contest (text list of winners’ names), and Anthony Suau has won the Picture of the Year. His picture, of a detective sweeping a house to make sure evicted residents have vacated their Cleveland home, was one of my favorites of the year, and it and the story it’s from, which won 2nd place Daily life, captured the economic crisis in a way that little other journalism did this year. Simply beautiful work.

Haven’t gotten a chance to look through the rest of the results yet, but the 3rd prize Portrait story, by Li Jiejun, jumped out to me as strange and intriguing.

Update/Addition (by Matt): I’ll probably post more on this soon but be sure to have a look at Suau’s archive. Amazing, I could look for hours.
And a story that PDN ran on him (which really isn’t comforting): “World Press Photo Winner Struggling To Find Work”