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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How to Understand the Newly Released 9/11 Photo of Dick Cheney with his “Foot Up”
Anyone reading a smug indifference, even if that's characteristic of Cheney most of the time, would understand at some level that it’s misattributed here.
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Looking For Holes in the Marathon Bomber's Story
Considering the high stakes when it comes to terrorism and the law, you can understand why the Feds want to make sure there aren't any holes in their story.
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ISIS Art Attack: Less than Meets the Eye?
If the amount of authentic art in the ISIS video truly is nominal, the question is how much (more) we are being manipulated?
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Six Photos to Consider on the 70th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz
This is not a post about remembrance as much as it is about the applicability, universality and the visual influence of the occasion.
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Syria-Tokyo-Cairo: The Information and the Drama As One
If scenes of terror and trauma used to be something you had to notice, today they're ubiquitous.
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The Boko Haram Massacre from Outer (or is it, Inner?) Space
Amidst the world wide attention and outrage focused on the murders in Paris last week, one could also hear a faint cry -- about a double standard.
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Our Take on the New Charlie Hebdo "Muhammad" Cover
The first Charlie Hebdo post-attack cover is brilliant and humane on two scores, one that is obvious and the other that is less so.
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Paris Post-Charlie: Questions and Comments in Getty's Newswire Street Photos
I know the majority of news attention went to the solidarity march in Paris on Sunday. I was more struck, however, by the angles and ideas percolating, non-verbally of course, in Getty's newswire photos from Saturday.
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You Know What's Strange About The Viral Photo of the Blacked-Out Eiffel Tower?
It makes you wonder (or makes me wonder, anyway) about rhythms in the universe.
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The Cartoonist's Response to the Terrorist Attack on Charlie Hebdo (and How Hard it is to Take a Joke)
The sphere was awash in cartoons and illustrations yesterday in response to the lethal attack on the French political cartoonist and satirist publication, Charlie Hebdo. This is a summary of the primary examples with some thoughts.
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More Best Photos: Alec Soth's Red and White School Shooting Drill
Without a human face to be seen, these two colors end up congealing awkwardly around so much hair and so many tangled body parts, just daring the imagination to yield to their visceral pull.
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Theater of War: Quick Takes on Sony's Surrender
Somewhere, Borat is laughing his ass off.
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ISIS Hysteria Meets War on Christmas: On the Sydney Hostage Siege Screenshot
Gender-wise, the photo surely did have a voyeuristic and almost sado-sexual vibe to it.
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Hey, What's That Thing Behind Cheney?
Nature has a way of crumpling itself up when it’s malnourished.
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The Senate CIA Torture Report and Our Favorite Rice Photo of All Time
Given the explosive nature of the torture program and the need for deniability, the ability to lull both the public and the media represented the highest form of art.
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The Shooting at the Canadian National War Memorial: What's Going to Last
More than anything, what has been fundamentally altered as a result of yesterday’s events is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier that 24-year-old Cpl. Nathan Cirillo was assign to guard and defend.
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From the Islamic State News Desk, Hostage-Anchor John Cantlie Reporting
This op-ed is as impressive for dialing back on the previous execution videos as for taking over a classically Western media format.
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