After letting the sites on my Google Reader grow exponentially the past couple of weeks, I finally went back in and hacked it down to truly worthwhile sites. And so I figured I’d pass along some of the ones (photo/journalism/photojournalism related) that made the cut!

• No Caption Needed: NCN, run by two professors at Indiana University, a blog that is “dedicated to discussion of the role that photojournalism and other visual practices play in a vital democratic society.” They have some wonderfully insightful commentary on all sorts of images, and feature new photographers each week!

• 10,000 Words: “where journalism and technology meet.” All sorts of neat lists and tips on multimedia journalism, often linking to other great, lesser-known sites.

• Hey, Hot Shot!: the blog is for the competition of the same name, which is “the premier competition for photographers seeking greater exposure and recognition for their work.” More fine art oriented, with some really beautiful work popping up from time to time. And hey all you young, emerging photographers – you should think about applying!

• GOOD: a really fantastic site that describes itself as “a collaboration of individuals, businesses, and nonprofits pushing the world forward.” You can submit photoessays to them, contribute to the blog, or view the portion of the site dedicated solely to infographics. And who doesn’t love infographics?!

• TomDispatch.com: a site run by Tom Engelhardt with a slew of fantastic guest contributors, it offers smart, insightful commentary and criticism on “our post-9/11 world…a clear sense of how our imperial globe actually works.”

• Mort Unplugged: Mort Rosenblum has co-led a number of [EXPOSURE] workshops with VII Photographer, Gary Knight, and is a strong voice for the need for quality reporting. Mort’s pieces are thoughtful and thought-provoking, reflecting his current goals to “to rescue ‘the media’; to reclaim democracy; to halt terracide; to fight poverty and plagues; to curb corporate colonialism; and to set a great but misguided nation back on course.” Good stuff!

• The Spinning Head: Asim Rafiqui co-led [EXPOSURE]’s most recent workshop with Sara Terry, founder of the Aftermath Project, and this is his personal blog that explores a plethora of issues, including but not limited to a discussion of contemporary journalism, in a fascinating and provocative way.

• DVAFOTO: “is two young photojournalists, Matt Lutton and M. Scott Brauer, sharing their work and the news and pictures that they find interesting.” They also have a fantastic blogroll with links to other great sites.

• Neiman Reports: “For more than six decades, Nieman Reports has explored what it means to be a journalist, examined major shifts in the industry, and shared with its worldwide audience articles about the rights and responsibilities of news organizations.” A great go-to for journalists, run by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard.

So that’s a few that I’ve been particularly fond of as of late – feel free to follow one, or none, or all of them! And post with your own favorites – always great to have interesting new things to play with on the internets!

[And in case you need a way to keep track of all these sites, try using an RSS aggregator like Google Reader, or set up an account with delicious.com, a ‘social bookmarking’ site (whatever that means…!) that lets you tag pages and then reference them from any computer, so you’re not tied down to a specific machine or browser. A lifesaver for all things research and interesting!]