May 2016 - Reading The Pictures

Visual Forensics Photo May 31, 2016

Steve McCurry’s Rickshaw

If McCurry’s aesthetic and the doctoring to achieve it deserves the criticism, I’m wondering what is positive and worthy for us to learn from it.

Campaign '16 Photo May 30, 2016

Election 16: Our Mark Peterson Instagram Takeover

For a week in September, we did a takeover of the well-known Mark Peterson's feed. We chose pictures Mark took of the presidential campaign and supplied our own words.

International Focus Photo May 26, 2016

Obama’s Trip to Vietnam: the Graphic

Credit Jim Watson for reducing the Vietnam trip to this one piece of iconography.

Protest Focus Photo May 24, 2016

A Raw, Symbolic Image from the Labor Protests in Paris

It's hard to look at the figure in the AP photo, the man detained by riot police, without metaphors of the worker springing to mind.

Culture Focus Photo May 23, 2016

Jae C. Hong’s Instagram Photo and the LGBT Bathroom Battle

Jae Chong's photo on Instagram didn't come with a caption, so I wrote one ... about the current LGBT firestorm.

Militarism Focus Photo May 19, 2016

About that Striking Overhead Photo from a Manhattan Shooting

On Instagram, reactions to Spencer Platt's photo include one word statements like “amazing” or “unbelievable.” We can only assume why, though.

Media Focus Photo May 18, 2016

The Interview: Donald and Megyn in Bed

With all the hubbub over Megyn Kelly's spineless and incestuous Trump interview, this photo slipped by with little or no comment.

Disaster Focus Photo May 16, 2016

Bhopal Portrait: Not Pathetic, Not Stereotyped

If the portrait prominently references a tragedy and a care agency, it hardly pulls for pity.

Disaster Focus Photo May 13, 2016

Fort McMurray: Hard Pictures from the Alberta Wildfire

Whether the aftermath photo captured some essence of catastrophe and childhood, domesticity, suburbia or fate, each of them touched a chord.

Culture Focus Photo May 12, 2016

On the Raised-Fist Photo by Black Women Cadets at West Point

The fact is, this photo channels the culture of uprising and black activism just as much as it does unity, pride and sisterhood.

Originals Photo May 10, 2016

Brian Palmer: Why Does This Old Cemetery Matter?

This is the 2nd post in a series with photographer Brian Palmer on the South and an abandoned African-American cemetery near Richmond known as East End.

Eco Watch Photo May 8, 2016

Matt Black: From Flint to Hiroshima

It’s consistently impressive how much Matt Black can put in play in one frame.

Twitter/Instagram Roundup Photo May 6, 2016

No Taco Bowls: Our Week on Twitter & Instagram

In our round up this week, we begin with Cinco de Mayo. The colorful AP photo helps clear the palate after Trump marred the day.

Campaign '16 Photo May 5, 2016

Kim Jong Trump: A Good Fit?

The photograph shows how mythical imagery and catchy slogans work similarly on the imagination, even if we're not entirely comfortable parading them around publicly.

Christa Olson Photo May 4, 2016

There [Won’t] Be Blood: On the Newsweek Tampon Cover

Here’s the essential product, yes, but apparently even that reminder that most women bleed once a month is sufficiently risky.

Campaign '16 Photo May 3, 2016

The Backlash Election and the Christopher Morris Videos

These videos lay bare what we would otherwise censor.

Campaign '16 Photo May 1, 2016

Correspondents’ Dinner: Champagne Days in DC, Apparently

If, in the rest of the world, parties are for celebrating something, in Washington that thing seems like entropy.