Laying on sidewalk, manhole

German photographer Michael Wolf received an honorable mention in this year's World Press Photo Contest for a series of images captured on Google Street View.

The "A Series of Unfortunate Events" project was awarded honorable mention in the Contemporary Issues category, but some critics are questioning whether Wolf's uses of Google's visual records are worthy of the label of photojournalism.

In an interview with the British Journal of Photography, Wolf describes his creative process.

"I use a tripod and mount the camera, photographing a virtual reality that I see on the screen. It's a real file that I have, I'm not taking a screenshot. I move the camera forward and backward in order to make an exact crop, and that's what makes it my picture. It doesn't belong to Google, because I'm interpreting Google; I'm appropriating Google. If you look at the history of art, there's a long history of appropriation."

This image received an honorable mention in the Contemporary Issues category of the World Press Photo Contest. The organization says its mission is to "encourage high professional standards in photojournalism and to promote a free and unrestricted exchange of information."

February 15, 2011 5:11 PM PST

Photo by: Michael Wolf, Germany, Laif Photos & Reportagen

| Caption by: James Martin