ARTIST OF THE YEAR RUNNER-UP: Alec Soth

With his large, color photos in collections around the world and his sixth book coming out next spring, Minneapolis photographer Soth (rhymes with "both") had a remarkable year capped by a major solo show, "Alec Soth's America," at Walker Art Center through Jan. 2. (See 8 Days Out on page E4 for details.)

Starting with the desolate Mississippi River images that brought him international attention at the 2004 Whitney Biennial, the Walker show samples his 2006 vignettes of mismatched lovers at Niagara Falls, and his recent "Broken Manual" images of hermits, drifters and loners. Pictures from his 2007 scrutiny of the fashion industry are in "Embarrassment of Riches" at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, also through Jan. 2.

This year Soth, 40, produced 300 limited-edition books for the Walker show and published several 'zines under his alias, Lester B. Morrison, through his own Little Brown Mushroom imprint. He blogged occasionally for the New York Times, jetted about the world on photo assignments for Magnum, the Paris-based photo agency, and still found time to collaborate with his daughter, Carmen, 7, on photos for the Brighton Photo Biennial in England.

MARY ABBE