July 2015 - Reading The Pictures

Media & Culture Photo July 31, 2015

Beyond Matt Black’s Poverty Percentages

If you simply relate to Black’s poverty or class imagery in the broad brush, it’s a prolific view. But, in most every frame, the deeper power and reward is that further question or allegation.

Culture Focus Photo July 29, 2015

Selfie Finger-Wagging on Mars? or, Something Lighter and Earthlier Than That?

So, can I tell you what the photo made me think about … apart from any issue about photography?

Culture Focus Photo

Classic Misdirection: The State’s Sanctimonious Sandra Bland Jail Video Play-by-Play

If what we're presumed to have now is full visual disclosure, I'd say the state has an even bigger credibility problem on its hands than it had before.

Gender & Identity Photo July 27, 2015

35 Cosby Accusers Featured at NY Mag: How the Photography Stands Up to Rape Culture

Given the impact of 35 women telling how Bill Cosby intimidated, drugged, sexually assaulted, and/or raped them, Karrin Anderson explains how New York Magazine’s cover and accompanying portraits use the photo narrative to stand up to rape culture.

9/11 Photo July 26, 2015

How to Understand the Newly Released 9/11 Photo of Dick Cheney with his “Foot Up”

Anyone reading a smug indifference, even if that's characteristic of Cheney most of the time, would understand at some level that it’s misattributed here.

Media Focus Photo July 24, 2015

Hyper-Capitalism and the Pictures of our Time

If hyper-capitalism is becoming the issue of our time, I’m also tempted to say that more and more news images are appearing as counterweight.

Race & Ethnicity Photo July 23, 2015

The Sandra Bland Mug Shot and the Distrust of Photography

The main point here is not whether these questions or allegations are even possible but that people might look at the picture and see it so.

Campaign '16 Photo July 21, 2015

GOP Hopefuls Starting to Blur

As we slog our way into deep summer, the unwieldy Republican cavalcade is becoming quite the spectacle.

Campaign '16 Photo

Where Trump Meets John Wayne

If the personal analogy falls laughable short, the parallel is in the audacity.

Philip Perdue Photo July 20, 2015

Good Cop, Bad KKKOP

"White racists aren't racist because they hate blacks; they're racist because they don't know who they are without blacks."

Politics Photo July 17, 2015

Best Angles on Obama’s Visit to Federal Prison

Obama's presence transforms these inmates from pariahs to men with stories; men who made mistakes; men who might not even be here were it not for the draconian treatment of non-violent drug offenders.

The Rich and the Poor Photo July 16, 2015

The Pope is a Communist!

Unless the Pope dials back on the liberal politics, it's probably not the last time you’ll see this photo.

International Focus Photo July 15, 2015

That All-Too-Dark Iran Nuke Disarmament Photo

Marking the concluding instant of the negotiation ritual, the end of the beginning and the beginning of the future and its consequences, the photo is eerie indeed.

Business Focus Photo July 14, 2015

Photojournalism on Acid? — Google’s Neural Networks and a Post Deleted after WaPo's Armadillo- and Dog-Faced Treatment of the GOP Pack

Here we see GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump addressing reporters in an Alice in Wonderland world where loud bursts of patterns and color turn faces and neckties into dogs, ears into eyeballs, and hair into turkey vultures and armadillos.

Business Focus Photo July 12, 2015

Myth Of The Self-Inflicted Wound: A Deeper Look At That Photo Of The Crying Greek Pensioner

In spite of how touching the story might be, the photograph also achieves something all together more troubling.

Campaign '16 Photo July 10, 2015

Are We Seeing A New Level of Candidness from Campaign Photographers This Year?

I'm grateful to Brooks for this shot, as much as I'm hopeful this candidness blossoms into a real trend.

Race Focus Photo July 9, 2015

The Last Chapter of S. Carolina's Confederate Flag Debate

These photos stood out to me as being particularly symbolic in still another historic week for human rights.

Gender & Identity Photo July 8, 2015

Everything Wrong (Including Yes, Journalistically) With The HONY Gay Schoolboy Photo

For a (self)-publisher who has disavowed any similarity to the media, the pairing of this photo with that quote at this point in time demonstrates, in no uncertain terms, an editorial decision to post material with no editorial context.