Reading the Pictures produces two video programs. Chatting the Pictures is a biweekly, highly-edited 10-minute webcast featuring publisher Michael Shaw and visual academic Cara Finnegan analyzing 3 key news photographs. The Reading the Pictures Salon is a panel discussion concerned with how the media and social media visually frame key social and cultural issues.
Latest Video
Chatting the Pictures: Ukraine’s Army of Exhumation
We explore the stunning portraiture, the powerful geometry, and how unique and devastating the investigation is for taking place this soon. Continue Reading
Chatting the Pictures: Liz Cheney On the Hunt
As Liz Cheney leads the charge against Trump and “the big lie,” the background here lets us know she’s a force to be reckoned with.
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Chatting the Pictures: When the Wind Turbine Met the Wildfire
This dramatic photo sets up a fundamental clash between symbols of climate destruction and a green energy future.
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Chatting the Pictures: The NRA Children’s Museum
The two icons paired together, the school bus and the assault weapon make us face their lethal connection in this powerful mobile exhibition.
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Chatting the Pictures: An Abortion Patient Assuredly Shares Her Ultrasound Scan
Post-Roe, abortion patients and activists are promoting the procedure more boldly and unapologetically.
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Chatting the Pictures: Record UK Heat Sweats Palace Guard
As clickbait goes, the guard dripping in his bear hat at Buckingham Palace proved quite the shout-out to the climate crisis.
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Chatting the Pictures is a lively, highly edited look at key news photographs. Co-hosts Michael Shaw, publisher of Reading the Pictures, and writer and historian, Cara Finnegan, meet to discuss three prominent photos in the recent news. You can find all the Chatting the Pictures replays here.
The Reading the Pictures Salon analyzes 8-9 carefully researched photos chosen for theme and depth of content. Each 90-minute panel is made up of leading photographers, photo editors, visual academics and other experts experienced in the subject.
Since 2008, we have produced 29 Salons working with sponsors such as Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and the Open Society Foundation. We have covered topics from social justice to political campaigns to foreign policy. For examples, take a look at: The Visual Representation of the US/Mexico Border Wall in the Media; How Science is Pictured in the Media and Public Culture; The Visual Framing of the Migrant Crisis; The Visual Framing of Surveillance; The Debate Over White House Photo Access; The Picture from Syria; or The War on Women. Each post contains a full replay of the broadcast, along with 2-3 minute highlight videos from each photo discussed. You can find all the full salons here.