Sign up to our newsletter and become a Club Huck member.

Stay informed with the cutting edge of sport, music and counterculture

Huck’s most popular photo stories of 2017

  • Text by HUCK HQ
Picks of the bunch — As the year draws to a close, we collated the best photography pieces of the year – as chosen by readers.

It’s been a good year for photography on Huck. From the big names to breakout talent, local stories to international reportage, we’ve been lucky enough to exhibit heaps of wonderful work – concluding, fittingly, with Rule-Breakers, the latest of our annual documentary photo specials.

So, as 2017 draws out, we’ve collated the stories that you liked the most over the past 12 months. Featuring Michael Wolf, Betsy Schneider, Constantine Manos and more, here are Huck’s most popular photo stories of the year – as chosen by readers.

 © Alexander Petrosyan

© Alexander Petrosyan

Street life, St. Petersburg style – Alexander Petrosyan

Street photographer Alexander Petrosyan spent decades discovering what makes his home town tick: the everyday drama of a city built on contradictions.

 © Michael Wolf

© Michael Wolf

Tokyo Compression – Michael Wolf

Michael Wolf spent years documenting the world’s busiest travel system – Tokyo’s Odakyu Odawara Line – capturing a claustrophobic nightmare in the process.

 © Julia Fullerton-Batten

© Julia Fullerton-Batten

Julia Fullerton-Batten – The Act

Julia Fullerton-Batten’s The Act captures women in the sex industry, putting them in theatrical scenes and allowing them to tell their own stories.

 © Aron Klein

© Aron Klein

The Kukeri – Aron Klein

In towns and villages across Bulgaria, the Kukeri ritual sees demons and evil spirits scared away. Photographer Aron Klein was there to capture it – in all of its mystical beauty.

 © Lois Bielefeld

© Lois Bielefeld

Weeknight Dinners – Lois Bielefeld

Photographer Lois Bielefeld has spent years documenting people’s weeknight meal rituals, gathering intimate insight into a diverse range of lives.

 © Phyllis B. Dooney

© Phyllis B. Dooney

Gravity Is Stronger Here – Phyllis B. Dooney

Phyllis B. Dooney, a self-described “Yankee from New England”, embedded herself in Southern living to photograph all the beautiful contradictions of an archetypal American family.

 © Jonas Kakó

© Jonas Kakó

Inside Kleinfontein – Jonas Kakó

In the titular secluded village, residents live a life of segregation and racism, longing to return to their Apartheid past. German photographer Jonas Kakó was invited into the settlement.

 © Constantine Manos

© Constantine Manos

American Colour – Constantine Manos 

From the ’90s through to the ’00s, Magnum photographer Constantine Manos travelled across the sunshine state, capturing the life, love and surreal, sun-soaked style of its local residents.

 © Betsy Schneider

© Betsy Schneider

To Be Thirteen – Betsy Schneider

In 2012, Betsy Schneider documented 250 13-year-olds across America. Now that the teens in question are about to graduate, those snapshots of transition are finally coming to light.

 © Mahtab Hussain

© Mahtab Hussain

You Get Me? – Mahtab Hussain

Photographer Mahtab Hussain’s portraits of young British muslims explore race, representation, respect and cultural difference in a community under attack.

Enjoyed this article? Like Huck on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.


You might like

Activism

The last days of St Agnes Place, London’s longest ever running squat

Off the grid — Photographer Janine Wiedel spent four years documenting the people of the Kennington squat, who for decades made a forgotten row of terraced houses a home.

Written by: Isaac Muk

© Mitsutoshi Hanaga. Courtesy of Mitsutoshi Hanaga Project Committee
Culture

How Japan revolutionised art & photography in the ’60s and ’70s

From Angura to Provoke — A new photobook chronicles the radical avant-garde scene of the postwar period, whose subversion of the medium of image making remains shocking and groundbreaking to this day.

Written by: Miss Rosen

Culture

Artifaxing: “We’ve become so addicted to these supercomputers in our hands”

Framing the future — Predominantly publishing on Instagram and X, the account is one of social media’s most prominent archiving pages. We caught up with the mysterious figure behind it to chat about the internet’s past, present and future, finding inspiration and art in the age of AI.

Written by: Isaac Muk

Culture

The lacerating catharsis of body suspension in Hong Kong

Self-Ferrying — In one of the world’s most densely packed cities, an underground group of young people are piercing their skin and hanging their bodies with hooks in a shocking exploration of pain and pleasure. Sophie Liu goes to a session to understand why they partake in the extreme underground practice.

Written by: Sophie Liu

Culture

What we’re excited for at SXSW 2026

Austin 40 — For the festival’s 40th anniversary edition, we are heading to Texas to join one of the biggest global meetups of the year. We’ve selected a few things to highlight on your schedules.

Written by: Huck

Activism

In photos: The boys of the Bibby Stockholm

Bibby Boys — A new exhibition by Theo McInnes and Thomas Ralph documents the men who lived on the three-story barge in Dorset, giving them the chance to control their own narrative. 

Written by: Thomas Ralph

Huck is supported by our readers, subscribers and Club Huck members.

You've read articles this month Thanks for reading

Join Club Huck — it's free!

Valued Huck reader, thank you for engaging with our journalism and taking an interest in our dispatches from the sharp edge of culture, sport, music and rebellion.

We want to offer you the chance to join Club Huck [it's free!] where you will receive exclusive newsletters, including personal takes on the state of pop culture and media from columnist Emma Garland, culture recommendations, interviews and dispatches straight to your inbox.

You'll also get priority access to Huck events, merch discounts, and more fun surprises.

Already part of the club? Enter your email above and we'll get you logged in.

Accessibility Settings

Text

Applies the Open Dyslexic font, designed to improve readability for individuals with dyslexia.

Applies a more readable font throughout the website, improving readability.

Underlines links throughout the website, making them easier to distinguish.

Adjusts the font size for improved readability.

Visuals

Reduces animations and disables autoplaying videos across the website, reducing distractions and improving focus.

Reduces the colour saturation throughout the website to create a more soothing visual experience.

Increases the contrast of elements on the website, making text and interface elements easier to distinguish.