Just received Photo District News‘ Photo Annual. Slightly thicker than the usual monthly installment, this issue is packed with some amazing photography. I'll dive into it and see if there are any gems to share with you. Several frames from Ami Vitale's work in Kashmir are included. If you are in a rush, though, check the gallery PDN has posted online.

Via Reuben Abraham

“Came across Cerebration, a webzine edited by Amrita Ghosh and ex-NDTV producer and host, Smita Maitra. Cerebration hosts writing from around the world on topics ranging from politics and science to literature and music. They also invite submissions for their poetry and short story sections. Other NDTV-ers involved include Barkha Dutt (editorial board) and Vishnu Som (who has submitted a poem). Figured some of you may be interested in reading and some interested in submitting amateur writing.”

A couple of days back I wrote about how the power of images is shifting public opinion. Here is the promised link to the Deborah Norville Tonight show's transcript.

According to the DNT show three images have set the tone of this war in Iraq. What do you think?

I still don't get it why a photojournalist wasn't asked to be on the May 11 panel.

Thanks to friend and fellow photographer Kalpesh Lathigra in the UK, a few days back I came to know of Suki Dhanda‘s beautiful photography. Suki is a London-based photographer who often contributes to The Observer.

The web site isn't terribly intuitive (my only carp); the navigation arrows are in subdued grey melting into a white background and Suki's email and other information is buried somewhere inside her portfolio. Once you hit the site, however, you will have to click on Suki's name and then go from there.

I love her portraits. Regardless of her use of soft window light or strobes, you can at once tell her subjects trust her completely. They are so much at ease, making it sometimes appear that they do not even know that she is there. This comes out of a sense of respect for the photographer. Given Suki's long list of clients and documentary photography experiences, I can tell she has earned it.

The magazine world is a funny business. It's as cantankerous as Mother Nature; destroying and rejuvenating at the same time. I cringed as DoubleTake magazine shuttered its doors (not completely, I hope). It was a fine magazine, over-reaching in the writing at times but the photography was always excellent. I saw it sputter to its last breath and felt that the glossies had finally won, killing off all that was good in the world. But as I said the magazine business is fickle and when one dies there is at least on other to take its place.

I have come across two very interesting magazine projects which may or may not fill DT's august shoes. One Story magazine delivers readers a single work of short fiction every three weeks. In today's NYTimes I read about Topic magazine, now located in editor David Haskell's apartment in Williamsburg, New York. Topic promises us a chance to experience the writing and photography of a diverse group of people.

As always here are links to their submission guidelines: One Story and Topic.