Illustrating vs Storytelling: Jacquelyn Martin’s Photo of Biden in the Rose Garden
Here, the intensity, and even more so, the complexity of Biden's expression requires no reading in.
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Hippie Bashing: New Photos at TIME Keep New Age on the Fringe
Perhaps a threat to consumer culture, these new photos at TIME ridicule yoga, mediation and spiritual practices, framing them as still somehow “far out."
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From D.C., and The Atlantic / Echosight Project: Mashing the American Dream
In this complex photograph, we see threads of American exceptionalism as well as reaching on the Washington Mall.
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Geekfest, and the Blurry Lines Between Commercial, Documentary and News Photography
I have to say that, up until the past year or so, I wasn’t seeing a whole lot of news photos that were this lush.
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On Light, God, Photography … and That Moment Just Before the Bad Thing Happens
The point isn't that photography is God, or that God is a photograph. But we are in fact dealing with a mode of communication that freezes time and space, obeys its own laws, is both visual and grammatical, and does more to generate meaning—and generates more meaning—than we can...
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I Wanted to Like that NYT Photo Essay About Growing up with Gay Parents
As a parent viewing the photo essay, I felt a rush of defensiveness and worry. As a visual scholar, I wanted to understand why.
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A Photo's Reach: Barbara Davidson Revisits the Navajo, Eddie Adams and Capa, Too
With the understanding that photojournalism is timeless, Barbara Davidson's photo both offers an update and invites great comparison.
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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.
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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.
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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.
Continue ReadingHow 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.
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Militarism and Race as Martin Parr Does the Derby
Beyond the jesting and the field day with hats, these two Parr photos from the Kentucky Derby feel a bit more political than usual.
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Selfie of the Week — Crossing the Starting Line First
To the extent the selfie is equated with self-absorption, this one goes the extra mile.
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On Damon Winter's "Divided" Photos of California's Water Crisis
The question is: how much is the photo more static and dread-laden, and how much is it more "fluid"?
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Iran Portraits in the NY Times; "Kissing Kerry" on the Telly in Social Media
What continues to fascinate, looking at major news stories, is the relationship between professional photojournalism and its barefoot cousin, the public Twitter, Instagram or Facebook picture.
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Why all the Photos of People Taking Photos, Especially When Heavy Things Are Going Down?
The utter ubiquity of camera phones, portable screens as well as digital circulation has given citizen spectators a whole new way of registering their voice—or is it their gaze?
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Light Over Time: Picturing Appalachia — by Roger May
Light’s early Appalachia work is important in that it was intended to shed light on labor corruption and poor working conditions of miners in the region. My work in general is not about reacting to political unrest, but rather waiting, looking, listening to quieter moments while not shying away...
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A First Place Photo in Light of the Damning Justice Report on Ferguson
If Philip Montgomery's First Place "Picture of the Year, International" Feature photo was good before, it's even better today in light of the newly released DOJ report.
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