Search - Reading The Pictures

Media Focus Photo June 8, 2015

On the Invisibility of Upper East Side Primates, and the Rich in General

When it comes to candid images of the upper and the upper-upper classes, a secret shame of the visual media is that it self-censors.

Media & Culture Photo June 5, 2015

A Demanding Photo from Lynn Johnson’s National Geographic Cannabis Feature

What's powerful about the photo is how it functions as testimony.

Campaign '16 Photo June 4, 2015

Clinton / Sanders #2: The Look of Authenticity

Hillary's Iowa campaign photos so far have demonstrated the ultimate concern, engagement and compassion. And that’s the problem.

International Focus Photo June 3, 2015

Behind the Niqab: The (Male) Photographer's Perspective of Life Through the Veil - Part 2

The ability to frame a shot and have that image published in and discussed by major outlets is a privilege. Unfortunately, that privilege is too often reserved for men.

Militarism Focus Photo June 2, 2015

Juxtaposition of the Day: So Much for Ploughshares and Pruning Hooks

War is a force that gives us meaning.

Gender & Identity Photo

The Caitlyn Jenner VF cover: Actually, What the Moment Called For Was Going Beyond Vanity

I, for one (maybe, the only one), think that the V in VF actually matters. Or, that there’s something weird in the culture when the exhibition of vanity is so equated to empowerment.

International Focus Photo May 31, 2015

When Those Endearing Photos of Kids and Riot Cops Really Aren't

It cautions us not to take pictures at face value or to assume that what's in a frame is necessarily that consistent with what's happening just outside of it.

Campaign '16 Photo May 28, 2015

Clinton / Sanders Pix of the Week

Trolling the visual flotsam and jetsam better known as the nascent Democratic 2016 presidential campaign, two different photos floated to the surface.

International Focus Photo

The Palestinians and the Indians: One Pic from Israel’s Burning Man

The parallel of the American West and the eradication of the “Native Americans” with the Israeli desert and the trials of the Palestinians is mind bending.

Faith Focus Photo May 26, 2015

Behind the Niqab: The (Male) Photographer’s Perspective of Life Through the Veil - Part 1

Men would do well to consider women’s perspectives more often—not just when there is a physical reminder that your literal view on the world is affected by your gender.

Militarism Focus Photo May 25, 2015

We Commemorate these Losses but Where are they Leading us?

With Iraq teetering again and threatening to unspool, and with the Taliban in Afghanistan reasserting itself in our wake, what’s there to make of these treks?

Culture Focus Photo May 24, 2015

Make Love, Not War

If we agree that war is pathological, this image from an International Gay Rodeo Association event in Little Rock this week could be seen to radically challenge the disease.

International Focus Photo May 21, 2015

Migrant Other: The Rohingya Crisis and the Tendency of News Photos to Confuse Compassion with Patronization

I worry that newswire photographs during humanitarian crises have a way of exposing their subjects to a not-so-subtle mode of international brow-beating.

Eco Watch Photo May 20, 2015

Like Oil and Water

When it comes to the key issues of our time, how much does photography inform and how much does it entertain?

Culture Focus Photo

Editorial Skunk Weed: TIME's Pot Smoking Portraits Misfire

After you've clicked through this fifteen photo slideshow introducing us to Denver pot smokers, can you tell me if you notice anything off about it?

Culture Focus Photo May 19, 2015

How Photos Beget Photos: Frida’s Flower Children

If perfectly nice in their display of youth, layer and pattern, what’s more illustrative is the way fresh blooms channel the allure of more exquisite flowers.

Culture Focus Photo

How New Photos Echo Classic Photos: Frida’s Flower Children

If perfectly nice in their display of youth, layer and pattern, what’s more illustrative is the way fresh blooms channel the allure of more exquisite flowers.

Ferguson MO Photo

Seeing the End of America's Homeland Paramilitary Highlight Reel?

On April 21st of last year, the media offered us at least three police assault missions, two in Ferguson and the other in Denver. And not one required calling out the army.

Culture Focus Photo May 17, 2015

Cannes Film Festival / Gaza City Film Festival - Juxtaposition of the Day

Red carpet as metaphor.

International Focus Photo May 15, 2015

Human Jetpacks Over Dubai’s Artificial Islands

It's as if this photograph catches humanity admiring its own awesome powers of creation.