Reflecting on Campaign '12 and other Matters of Impact

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These two images remind me of several of things. For one, I think about how often news photo galleries pair thoroughly different editorial images together based primarily on shape, color or composition (and what effect that has, and what message it sends, in considering the information alone). They point out how some stories can demand so much attention for so long, journalists have to stretch to find the next creative angle while, at the same time, other stories draw little focus at all. They remind me, also, how this presidential marathon is going to end very soon, hopefully freeing us to reflect on other matters of impact. With that in mind, the next BagNews Salon, analyzing “The Picture from Syria,” co-sponsored by Victoria University in the University of Toronto,,will take place here on November 15th featuring photographers Robert King and Nicole Tung, Arabic and Middle East Studies professor Walid Hamarneh, documentary film maker Tara Sutton, R.I.T. photojournalism professor Loret Steinberg and moderated by The Bag’s Michael Shaw. The Bag post is here and the Facebook invite here. Captions for the photos: (photo 1: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters caption: Supporters reflected in the teleprompter chant “four more years” as U.S. President Barack Obama speaks during a campaign rally in Tampa, Florida October 25, 2012. Obama is on a two-day, eight state, campaign swing.) (photo 2: Hussein Malla / AP caption: A Free Syrian Army soldier looks at a mirror that helps him see Syrian troops, as he takes his position with a comrade during fighting in the old city of Aleppo city, Sept. 21. Most of those fighting the regime of President Bashar Assad are ordinary Syrians and soldiers who have defected, having become fed up with the authoritarian government, analysts say. But increasingly, foreign fighters and those adhering to an extremist Islamist ideology are turning up on the front lines.)