webby awards

This is the time of the year when the creme de la creme comes forward and we get to know some of the best web-based (or related) projects in the world, many of them which just appeared over the past 12 months, but also a few old blogs, on-line publications projects and Google invading many categories (jeeeez!). These are the Webbys, which have become the industry’s most famous awards.

We’ve already covered many of those projects in the past here @aqnb but it’s always good to discover some new fresh ideas that have been appearing lately on the net. Photoseed is one of the lucky 5 who made it into this year’s art website category, a new attempt to create an on-line mini-record like Smarthistory or Google’s famous Art Project (which is also nominated).

Photoseed however isn’t as ambitious as the Google project nor as comprehensive as Smarthistory, it simply hosts a wisely chosen selection of 19th & 20th century photography…. “a private archive with simple goals: beauty, truth, scholarship and enjoyment for all who visit“. Although their blog is a monthly-must visit.

David Spencer, a passionate photographic historian and leading collector of vintage fine-art photography, has managed to put together his personal collection (and more) with the help of Mark Katzman, Tyler Craft and a long list of friends and collaborators (a few from St Louis’ TOKY agency) all passionate about photography.

Much like big G’s AP, you can’t simply expect to experience Photoseed in less than 5min and only one visit, so please, take it as one of your main vintage photography references from now on, this is probably one of the best personal projects to cover photographic history on the web. Enjoy!