Notes Archives
6,378 Posts
Biden Presidency Photo February 22, 2024

Throwing Shade: The Disturbing Visual Fallout From the Special Counsel’s Attack on Biden’s Competency

The Special Counsel’s questioning of Biden's cognitive abilities has unleashed a raft of negative imagery. The media's use of undermining photos risks biasing public perceptions and spreading ageist stereotypes. It's crucial to present more balanced visuals.

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Middle East Watch Photo October 30, 2023

On Photography, Oct. 7, and Palestinians Under the Gun in Jerusalem

Philip Perdue examines Jerusalem news images after the Oct. 7 attack, showing how camera angles shape views and have moral consequences.

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Activism & Protest Photo September 25, 2023

Nolan Trowe’s Wheelchair Perspective Highlights Disability Activism

Wendy Kozol looks at how Nolan Trowe's images from a wheelchair provide a unique vantage of disabled activists in the halls of Congress.

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Environment Photo September 11, 2023

Climate Activism’s Death Valley Daze

Climate activists have been otracized and left morally burdened by the lack of mass, top down acknowledgement of global heating.

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Politics Photo September 5, 2023

Disrupting Trump’s Mug Shot and His “Singular Genius”

The treatment of Trump's mug shot is vital to consider, given the potential of the George conspiracy case to reshape his public identity.

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Women and Gender Focus Photo August 14, 2023

Barbiecore is Litmus Test in Post-Roe America

Barbie has become the summer's leading political symbol. Leslie Hahner on that astronaut portrait and Barbie’s projection in political space.

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Media & Culture Photo June 21, 2022

David Hume Kennerly: Because He Was There

This photo of David Hume Kennerly, taken in Vietnam, makes a basic yet essential point about media integrity and the reportage from Ukraine.

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Environment Photo December 21, 2021

At the Tipping Point: So Much for the Pioneer Spirit

2021 represented a climate change tipping point. In recounting key visual markers, we call out two images from the Dixie Fire.

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Environment Photo November 21, 2021

Doubled Over By Ida

2021 was a climate tipping point. And among the catastrophes, this blow from Hurricane Ida seemed to speak to a larger fate.

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Photo

At the Tipping Point: Wildfire Threatens Tahoe

Summer 2021 was a tipping point. Fires, floods, heat waves and hurricanes scaled up, as did the mass recognition of climate change as an existential crisis. As part of that recognition, many brilliant, symbolically-laden pictures crystallized the moment.

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Photo October 17, 2021

The Taliban, A Pair of Skis, and Seeing What We Think We Know

Seen as wildly provocative on social media, photos of Taliban fighters in the Norwegian Embassy after the fall of Kabul say as much about visual bias.

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COVID 19 Photo June 27, 2021

Picturing Vaccination Reluctance Among Conservative Christians

Vaccination reluctance in these small Appalachian towns is less a matter of politics or social responsibility than a complex conflict with faith.

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Disaster Focus Photo June 1, 2021

Haunting for the Beauty, or the Stalking?

Beauty and subtlety distracts from the reality of asylum seekers in this news photos from the US/Mexico border.

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International Focus Photo May 27, 2021

Scenes from Work as Photographers Increasingly Caught Up in the Protests They Cover

These Instagram photos of Colombian news photographer Luis Robayo speak to the all-consuming challenge of covering protests today.

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International Focus Photo May 11, 2021

Figure and Ground

We rarely discuss it this formally, but our analysis of important news photos always considers the relationship between figure and ground.

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Photo March 31, 2021

Notable Faces from the Start of the George Floyd Murder Trial

At the start of jury selection in the George Floyd murder trial, seeing solidarity, and visualizing accountability.

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COVID 19 Photo March 23, 2021

The Halfs and the Half-Nots

How photojournalism is channeling split-screens and divided societies. Perceptually and morally, the style serves as an apt social mirror.

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Activism & Protest Photo February 25, 2021

What’s Distinguishing and What’s Familiar in the Post-Coup Protest Pictures from Myanmar

A former aid worker and a visual scholar help explain key media and Facebook photos after Myanmar’s military coup.

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