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: With Supreme Court Leak, Abortion on the Clock
If it wasn't timely already, this Alabama abortion photo is now even more relevant as the Supreme Court telegraphs the end of Rowe vs. Wade. Continue Reading
Chatting the Pictures: Kamloops Indian School Memorial: World Press Photo of the Year
We focus on the elements and symbols that make the photograph both a powerful remembrance and a wealth of visual storytelling.
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Chatting the Pictures: The All-Presence of Graphic War Images from Ukraine
We discuss the powerfully liminal quality of this tragic image and explain why horrific Ukraine war photographs are circulating so widely.
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Chatting the Pictures: Zelensky is Everywhere
As Ukraine defends itself from the Russian onslaught, President Zelensky's advocacy in virtual space can be seen as state-of-the-art.
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Chatting the Pictures: Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson Puts Bad Actors Behind Her
Mindful of all the grandstanding Judge Jackson faced in her Supreme Court nomination hearings, here she literally rises above and beyond it.
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Chatting the Pictures: In the Bunker of a Maternity Hospital in Kyiv
As the Russians target civilian sites, we examine the make-do circumstances and the power of this couple's intimacy.
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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.