December 2015 - Reading The Pictures

Media Focus Photo December 30, 2015

The Visual Sin of the Year

The admission of an unethical act is not an excuse for publishing these photos. And passing off the unethical act as news is not justification either.

Campaign '16 Photo December 29, 2015

Foreshadowing the GOP Race From Hell

Early on in the process, Haviv's photo captured the temperature of the race.

Eco Watch Photo December 27, 2015

Winter is Missing. Congress, too.

With conservatives controlling both chambers, the reaction is predictable: are you going to believe us, or your own eyes?

Business Focus Photo December 23, 2015

Seasons Greetings

I really like this one, specifically at this holiday and gift-giving season.

Robert Hariman Photo December 22, 2015

Star Wars Optics and Socialist Dreams

Incredible, isn’t it? So perfectly designed and yet so strange. Ultramodern and yet medieval, like a space ship on a surveillance mission and a castle readied for battle, set off by itself in forbidding isolation and yet connected somehow to distant galaxies. The tableau is so unique and so...

International Focus Photo December 20, 2015

Most Prominent Photo Objects of 2015: The Life Jacket

Who knows how many powerful images were published this year of life jackets either worn or discarded by migrants.

Campaign '16 Photo December 17, 2015

On that Perfectly Real Photo of “Trump and the Muslim Girl”

These photos undermine Trump’s logic at the same time that they elevate domestic (Muslim) American life. In other words, Trump gets trolled.

Campaign '16 Photo December 16, 2015

The GOP Debate with the Sound Off

So a year in to the GOP race, what can we glean from last night's Las Vegas show?

BAGannouncements Photo December 15, 2015

Watch the Reading The Pictures Salon: The Visual Framing of the Migrant Crisis

Photos of the migrant crisis have dominated the media over the past year. What can we learn from the way traditional and social media, primarily in the west, has depicted the story? An expert panel discusses the imagery in this Reading the Pictures Salon.

International Focus Photo December 14, 2015

A “Fist Pumping” Election Victory for Saudi Women?

This Saudi election photo makes you realize how much the west sees thing through its own eyes.

Race & Ethnicity Photo December 13, 2015

Police Ride-Along Photography and Natalie Keyssar’s New Turn

As concern has escalated in America over police violence and race relations, attention has risen, too, over how photojournalism depicts the issue. Read on.

Eco Watch Photo December 10, 2015

The Market Fiddles While Beijing Lungs Burn

The fact this photo appears during the crucial Paris climate summit raises its relevance, and the anxiety, to a whole different level.

Campaign '16 Photo

Trump and “The Scream.” The (Visual) Backlash Begins?

Mockery only plays Trump's game. Considering some of Landon Nordeman's images for TIME, there's plenty to see around the scream.

Campaign '16 Photo December 8, 2015

Trump as Führer. It Doesn’t Happen on its Own.

Yes, stylistic echoes of the Führer are inescapable. But it's more complicated than that.

Christa Olson Photo December 7, 2015

“Game Changing” Pirelli Calendar Still Exists to Sell Tires to Men

Photographed by Annie Leibovitz, the Pirelli calendar still leads with nakedness, privileges whiteness, and assumes that men are always, inevitably the primary viewers.