Your BAG

As I mentioned in the threads the other day, I’m going to be away through Wednesday.  I’ll be completely unplugged, taking a break from the pics, the keyboard and even the U.S. of A.

This stretch, however, offers the chance to do something I really look forward to, and which we’ve done successfully several times before.  For five days, I’m turning The BAG completely over to you.  (Because I’m told people come here as much to hear your take as mine, I say, all the better.)

While I’m gone, I plan to auto-post five 2008 World Press Photo winning images, one each day.  (The awards, acknowledged as a mainstay of photojournalism, were announced just last week.)

I hope you’ll consider each image, first and foremost, for its own elements, then for its political and media commentary, and its relevance to now.  Although you might have more to say about one than another, I’ve tried to choose photos that are as visually interesting (if not odd or provocative) as they are politically and culturally relevant.

By the way, I know I’ll be missing Wisconsin and Hawaii on Tuesday, but that means more energy when Ohio and Texas rolls around.

The line-up:

Saturday: Christoph Bangert, Germany, Laif for Stern.

German Army sniper practice target, Kunduz, Afghanistan, 27 April

Sunday: Emilio Morenatti, Spain, The Associated Press.

Rockets launched from Gaza City towards Israel, 22 May

Monday: Platon, UK, for Time magazine:

President Putin of Russia

Tuesday: Michael Kamber, USA, The New York Times.

Searching for missing soldiers, Latafiya, Iraq, 18 May

Wednesday: Philippe Dudouit, Switzerland, for Time magazine.

PKK fighters, Northern Iraq

Note that this post will stay in place at the top of the blog.  Each new offering will appear below.

To old friends and new, I know I’m leaving the place in good hands.