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A Portrait that Dares to Expose Musk’s Insanity

Mark Mahaney’s portrait captures the power and madness of Elon Musk, whose elevation from tech titan to democracy’s most dangerous private citizen mirrors a government fracturing under his influence. By Michael Shaw and Cara Finnegan Media and popular culture glorify and indulge the aberrant personalities of men like Donald...

Scenes from the Coronation of King Donald II: A Visual Guide to American Autocracy

From executive order theater to Elon’s salute, telling moments of Trump’s second inauguration (and yes, Justice Jackson’s eloquent necklace). By Michael Shaw “Don’t let the rotor blade hit you on the way out.” We know the whole ‘waving goodbye to your predecessor’ thing is tradition. But that photo of...

A Visually Rhythmic Journey Through a Year’s Most Striking Book Covers

A curated tour of 2024’s most striking book covers reveals unexpected patterns in our collective consciousness – from wild abandonment to geometric precision, from fragmentation to wholeness. By Michael Shaw In 2024, book cover design mirrored our cultural moment, reflecting our anxieties and aspirations through visual allusion. Drawing from PRINT...

What's in a "Top 100 Photos of the Year" List?

TIME’s Top 100 Photos of 2024 captures the year’s defining crises, from war and climate disasters to political polarization. This analysis explores what the images reveal—and what they leave out. By Michael Shaw Every year-end, media organizations and news photo publishers ritually curate their choice of best images. Both...

Chatting the Pictures: A Telling Photo from Howard University on Election Night 2024

The Great Shattering: Scenes from America’s Political and Psychic Electoral Rupture

November 5th, 2024, sent shockwaves across the nation. From Howard University to Palm Beach, election night photos captured a seismic shift that will profoundly reshape America. By Michael Shaw In an election night defined by dashed expectations and visual ironies, the 2024 presidential race revealed itself through a series...

Harris vs. Trump: On Gender, Power, and the Future of America

Through key visuals, we explore the deep divisions laid bare by the 2024 campaign—especially along gender lines—and the great uncertainty that lies ahead. By Michael Shaw The presidential election has exposed all kinds of fault lines, but one fracture has come to define Kamala Harris’s historic run. In the...

Shutter Shock: The Photos that Expose Trump’s Mind in Disarray

The media, barring some exceptions, sanitizes Trump’s incoherence. Quotes help, but nothing exposes his confusion and chaos like visible reactions. By Michael Shaw and Cara Finnegan Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race in July led to a shift in the media landscape which included greater focus and open...

Chatting the Pictures: In Campaign’s Closing Weeks, Trump's Incoherence Takes Center Stage

Springfield's Haitian Immigrants in the Light

Amid a storm of misrepresentation, authentic portraits challenge distortions and reveal a community’s true image. By Michael Shaw The controversy surrounding Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, has highlighted a critical issue: the lack of visibility and accurate representation of this community. Despite comprising a significant portion of Springfield’s population,...

The 13 Most Telling Photographs of the Harris-Trump Presidential Debate

Harris outmaneuvered Trump using psychological tactics to expose his weaknesses potentially reshaping the 2024 election narrative.

The Picture Perfect Democratic Convention - Part 2

In part two of my visual round-up of the 2024 DNC, I look at the wooing of the middle class, the visibility of the Uncommitted delegates, the rush of the Content Creators, and the tweaking of Trump. By Michael Shaw While Part 1 focused on the Democratic National Convention’s...

Chatting the Pictures: A Single Image Tells the Story of the 2024 DNC

The Picture Perfect Democratic Convention - Part 1

In Part 1 of my DNC roundup, I explore the pivot from Biden, Dems laying claim to the flag, women’s empowerment in Harris’s rise, and family, inclusion, and generational change. By Michael Shaw How dynamic was the Democratic Convention? Well, the Dems have an election to win, and the...

Chatting the Pictures: The Magnetic Harris and Walz Dynamic in One Frame

Chatting the Pictures: The Trump Crazy, and that Viral Olympic Surfing Pic

In a pair of videos, we read a brilliant Mark Peterson image exposing the ever-more-damaged Donald Trump and riff on an almost supernatural photo from the Paris (and Tahiti) Olympics. By Michael Shaw No wonder Trump can’t get over Biden dropping out. While the former president’s mental health was...

Besides RNC Fever Dream, a Perfect Photo of "the New Weirdness"

A single word threatens to expose the Trump/MAGA madness. Sinna Nasseri’s twilight-zone picture embodies the moment. By Michael Shaw In the landscape of American politics, a new narrative is taking root, transforming the perception of Donald Trump and J.D. Vance from looming threats to democracy into something far more...

Crafting Trump's Hero Narrative: Media's Visual Complicity in the Assassination Drama—and the Shoe Panic Explained

Now that Trump has spun the attack images into convention hype and marketing gold, we dissect the media’s role, address the problem with the bullet photo, and unravel his mysterious shoe anxiety. By Michael Shaw On July 15, 2024, former President Donald Trump was the target of an assassination...

"Climate Ecstasy" and More: Our Photography Round-Up

It’s true—people value the pictures we choose just as much as what we have to say about them. By Michael Shaw   One problem with our 24/7 media culture is that news that didn’t happen today or yesterday is treated like stale bread. That’s a shame, especially when it...

The Most Cringeworthy Media Visuals After Biden's Nightmare Debate

Nobody wants to revisit what happened on stage, so we focus on the media fallout and the visual framing of the first 2024 presidential debate.