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: The Feast of the Arms Industry
We analyze Nikita Teryoshin’s photos lampooning arms expos while applauding the rare window into the massive weapons marketplace. Continue Reading
Chatting the Pictures: Bringing Later Stage Abortions into the Light
The images of a later-stage abortion not only bring the procedure into sharper focus but also challenge the restrictive narratives imposed by new laws.
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Chatting the Pictures: Trump on Trial
We examine how Trump, despite his astonishing legal woes, turns his court appearances into photo-ops and how the images play in his parallel universe.
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Chatting the Pictures: The NFL’s Cold, Hard Collision With Climate Denial
Call it the elephant in the stadium. Inspired by the Super Bowl, we riff on a shattering hit with zero impact.
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Chatting the Pictures: Personal Meets Political in Undersea Climate Change Portraits
We survey the powerful blending of portraiture and landscape and the brilliant tension between domesticity and disaster in this photo project.
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Chatting the Pictures: Mourning Embrace in a Gaza Hospital
We discuss the photo's anonymity and intimacy, as well as other images of the woman and child to personalize the interconnection of grief and loss.
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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.