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: Hurricane Ida, Chemical Plants Flare Louisiana Gulf
We know the levees held and the electric grid didn’t. But the other impact of Hurricane Ida, as the photo telegraphs, came from the chemical plants on “Cancer Alley.” Continue Reading
Chatting the Pictures: Bernie Serves Up Massive New Deal
Maureen Dowd was looking for dish but Bernie Sanders would not be distracted from liberal's game-changing social spending and climate plan.
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Chatting the Pictures: The Military’s Night Vision “Leaving Afghanistan” Portrait
The viral photo of the last U.S. soldier leaving Afghanistan was a brilliant final bit of public relations.
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Chatting the Pictures: In One Embrace, All the Feelings of Back-to-School During Covid
As at-risk students return to campus after more than a year on lockdown, we discuss this surprisingly expressive and apolitical photo.
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Chatting the Pictures: On That US Transport Plane Swarmed By Afghans on a Kabul Runway
First reactions to the image of Afghans running alongside a U.S. military plane after Afghanistan fell to the Taliban.
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Chatting the Pictures: Climate Crisis Photo Delivers a Lot More than an Instagram Moment
Behind a selfie-in-progress at Horseshoe Bend in Arizona, the Colorado River at a 44 year historic low juxtaposes how we value the environment and how we’ve manipulated it.
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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.