I am bringing up the rear here as Stephen Mallon's Flight 1549 series has been blogged and blogged again, but it's almost a year since the event unfolded and there's an exhibition at Calumet in New York for the anniversary (reception January 15th). Steve was commissioned by the crane company to photograph the plane being salvaged, and posted a selection on his website. Fun and games ensued with Steve being hassled by the plane's insurance company and all the photo community yelling "free speech!". Ultimately, he was able to keep and publish much of this incredible and exclusive record. It's a chilling memory; Steve's work makes it haunting and beautiful.

Flight 1549 © Stephen Mallon

British photographer Andrew Prentice is a recent graduate from City of Westminster College, London. His work has already been publicly exhibited - this photograph was selected for inclusion in 'Free Range', Europe's "largest graduate art and design show". There's a timelessness and Britishness to this image, I feel it could have been taken any year since the 60's.

Lido, 2008 © Andrew Prentice

Frenchman Fred Noy has spent 11 of the last 18 years as a documentary photographer covering civil war in Africa and has been published in Le Monde, The Guardian, Vanity Fair and many more. Fred sent out an email update about his blog and I was drawn to both his photographs and the stories. Blog and website both worth a visit.

Chad © Frederic Noy

Phillip Toledano's project "Days With My Father" is nothing but open, honest photography and feelings laid bare. Almost overwhelming but completely compelling, the project is a series of photographs of Phillip's elderly father who was suffering badly from a lack of short-term memory. Facing what many of us may have to, Phillip recorded some beautiful moments, some haunting, some funny. I'm touched that he could be so brave as to make this available to the public, and he himself is humbled; he's had over a million hits to the website and received hundreds of emails. There will be a book in 2010.

Thanks Phillip, you owe me and a million+ other people a box of tissues.

From "Days With My Father" © Phillip Toledano

Steve Pyke, MBE, seems to be pretty much the busiest artist I know right now, so many others are hurting for work. That said, I doubt Steve's paused often on his 30+ year photographic journey. In the late 80's my agency syndicated his work and I remember lots of actors and musicians, but what I never knew till now is that he worked with Peter Greenaway on a couple of my favourite films, Drowning By Numbers and The Cook The Thief.

Steve: I've got the Hob Nobs, I'm just waiting for you to have a minute to put the kettle on.

Very current Pyke: On view through December 19th a small show at BLT, and his photographs illustrate a new book, 'Conversations on Ethics' published by OUP.

Nancy Pelosi, minutes before she heard the news she had made Speaker of the House, 2006 © Steve Pyke

Armed with stacks of C prints for the archive back when we worked together (pre-digital) Jim McCarthy's photography always caught my eye for its vibrancy. Jim may be best known for his lively colour photos from New Orleans Jazz Fest, an event he's been covering since 1993 and which is now an impressive body of work, but he's generally a great gig shooter. Jim's signed up for representation with the Rex Features agency so congratulations and here's to resale, wherever it may be.

Tony Bennett, Jazz Fest 2009 © Jim McCarthy

I'll say one thing for the Interweb, it's terribly handy for getting back in touch with people. My old mates at Shoot in London have been repping photographers and stylists for many years now and as I dropped the owner an email after too many years, I learned she's still working with Ray Burmiston. From All Saints to the Birthday Party, Spice Girls to Tenacious D, Ray has been photographing musicians since leaving his own band, the Passion Puppets, in the early 80s. Another entertaining music archive for your viewing pleasure and Ray also shoots fashion and portraits.

Kelly Osborne © Ray Burmiston

With no end to her talent and determination in sight, my old mate Julie Mihaly has launched a new online magazine, Boom Underground, a source of musings and retrospective analysis of the Baby Boomers' impact on society. Julie is a photographer, writer, designer and producer, tirelessly creative and wickedly funny.

From "Notes in Passing" © Julie Mihaly

This is just the tip of the dirt hill from Thatcher's series 'The Kids', and it made me feel a little bit carefree today for a short moment. I miss summer. More to come from the land of Keats soon.

Dirt Hill © Thatcher Keats

Today, after three years of New York-style rain-checks, I finally had a cup of tea with Kate Simon and of course a good rummage in her print archive. Kate spent a lot of precious time photographing Bob Marley and was also in the New York and London punk scenes hanging out with Patti Smith, The Clash, Richard Hell and the like. Kate has a photograph of David Bowie's mum! I can't share most of the stories, but I will share her picture of one of my all-time favourite performers, Lee "Scratch" Perry.

Lee Perry © Kate Simon