Wedding Humor in the Age of Apocalypse
I noticed this picture from South Korea has been making the rounds again. It was taken as a (not-such-a-) joke photo at a wedding in Seoul in June 2015. At the time, the catalyst for the photo was the outbreak of the deadly MERS virus. Today, it strikes a...
Continue Reading
Athletic Upskirting at the Australian Open
In addition to being a (sometimes) illegal pastime of amateur photographers on subway trains and public staircases the world over, upskirting has long been a mainstay of fashion, advertising, and stock photography. It’s no surprise, then, that it pops up occasionally in the realm of sports photography in athletic...
Continue Reading
Impeachment Trial Media Blackout
Not only is the media resorting to illustrators to capture the proceedings of the presidential impeachment trial, the view of the audience is also limiting.
Continue Reading
The Trump – Greta Thunberg Photo Crossings
Once again, young Greta Thunberg and Donald Trump find their way into the same international meeting photo. As the climate degenerates, we can expect more.
Continue Reading
Mitch Epstein’s Pipeline Activist
Epstein's photo of Pennsylvania's Ashton Clatterbuck captures the urgency of the climate crisis, and it's appropriately fitting.
Continue Reading
The Symbolism of the Pope Slapping a Woman on New Years
Who would have imagined the biggest New Years social media drama would involve the pope slapping a well-wisher in St. Peter’s Square?
Continue Reading
Christmas Back With a Vengeance: Jesus, Mary and Joseph in Cages
The nativity protest photo hit a nerve: Imagining what might happen if the most well-known refugee family in the world tried to seek asylum in today’s USA.
Continue Reading
“Beautiful” Violence in Climate Change Photography
Abstract geometries and pleasing color palettes make it hard to understand the experience of harm.
Continue Reading
Our Visual Appeal: Help Support Reading the Pictures
This holiday season, Reading the Pictures is asking for your support. In these divided times, bringing clarity to media imagery is as important as ever.
Continue Reading
Trump’s Thanksgiving Wingman: Pence in Iraq
Pence can be counted on to deliver a steady diet of visual comfort food, indulging those who hunger for a return to the political style of Ronald and Nancy.
Continue Reading
Turkey’s Syria Invasion and Visual Media Bias
Media bias usually has to do with what's in the frame--not whether there is one. Turkey's Syria invasion is an example of bias for only showing one side.
Continue Reading
Memes Against Impeachment: Trump’s Shitposted Truth
With impeachment coming, far-right meme-makers and propagandists are helping to prop Trump up. We analyze PowerTie’s POTUS-retweeted line drawing animation.
Continue Reading
Climate Crisis: Are the Animals Mad at Us?
Between the heat and the photography, it’s hard not to process this as a portrait of six scorched and very pissed off water buffalo.
Continue Reading
The Visual Politics of AOC’s Green New Deal Posters
Mindful of the political environment, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal posters are fortified as much to counter anxiety as to elicit optimism.
Continue Reading
The Trump Vs. Obama Situation Room Photos
As soon as the White House announced the death of Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Trump and Obama Situation Room photos became historical twins.
Continue Reading
Creature from the Fossil Fuel Lagoon
Chavez's photo draws on fantasy and imagination and then combines those qualities with "human industry," in both senses of the term.
Continue Reading
The Larger Reason China Wants to Strip Hong Kong Protesters of their Masks
By banning Hong Kong protesters from wearing face masks, China is also hoping to undermine the visual and the moral power of these disguises.
Continue Reading
Apocalypse (Then and) Now: Climate Crisis Channels the Bomb
On one level, the poster is just another creative climate change warning. On another, though, it’s a memory jolt to the boomers.
Continue Reading