The best images of the inauguration have not been published. They probably never will be. In fact very often, for any type of event, be it sports, politics, entertainment or nature, you might never see the best images. why ? Because the nature of today's image distribution ( and its really distribution like a chain factory) makes it so that your favorite publication only publishes images they receive from a feed . Those feeds are usually form Getty, AP, Reuters, EPA and that's it. If the best image was not taken by one of the photographers working for those organizations, you will not see it. Or even if it was and it was overlooked by a sleepy editor, it is also gone.
More and more, fueled by both the need to save money and lack of manpower, publications rely on the same and only four wire services for all their photo needs. Since they all cover just about any event in the world, they see no need to go elsewhere to find the right image. However, those don't always carry the best images. In fact, they often do not. Like chain supermarket or restaurants, photo wires only carry what would satisfy the widest base. It should work for the small right wing newspaper as well as the national liberal magazine half way across the world. A one size fit all, ready to wear photograph. As if we were all homogeneous. Photographs with too much personality, to much sensibility are discarded in favor of those that the biggest majority will appreciate. There is little room for creativity here.
The less fortunate but nonetheless very talented photographers that do not belong to those giant pipelines, in turn, can only hope that a photo editor here and there will be hopefully looking for something different, something more particular. Or, if very lucky, get the one shot that no one else got and that is crucial for the understanding of the story. Luckily for some of us, we have social media, which allows for those photographers and photo agencies to still display and share those images. Between Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google +, we still have the opportunity to see and appreciate the otherwise invisible images. There should be an award for the best unpublished ( in a publication) image of the year. This would encourage photographers to continue to be creative and original, even if economic condition will not allow it. There should be a non wire service prize for the most creative photo agency, so that they continue to look and support those photographers. Finally , there should be a best photo editor award for someone who has gone far and beyond to find and publish those images that otherwise would have been invisible. We are never satisfied.

Paul Melcher