Michael Shaw, Author at Reading The Pictures

Campaign '08 Photo November 2, 2015

The Season’s Most Cynical Political Costume Photo

Of course, it's not outside the realm of possibility the family of this kid understood how xenophobic Trump is.

Media Focus Photo November 1, 2015

Skid Row Halloween

Where are the critical details as the kids are seen to be either parading, or trick-or-treating past rows of people living in tents or boxes?

International Focus Photo October 29, 2015

Ashley Gilbertson’s “New Europeans”: A More Subtle Migrant Exodus

This photo of migrant children on the Macedonia/Greece border uniquely captures the more daily highs and lows of this historic period.

International Focus Photo October 27, 2015

Seeing the Same Migrant Tide At Wonderfully Different Scales

What’s unique about these four photos is how they capture the same historic passage through Europe at completely different orientations.

International Focus Photo October 25, 2015

Country and Class and How We Look at the Migrant Crisis

There is always a risk of seeing refugees or people in flight as poor and needy, especially if the photos focus on their dehumanization.

Campaign '16 Photo October 23, 2015

Reading the Hillary Clinton House Benghazi Testimony Photos

While the media is swimming in a river of Hillary faces from the House Benghazi hearing, I had some thoughts on some slightly less trafficked photos.

Photography/Photojournalism Photo

Illustrating vs Storytelling: Jacquelyn Martin’s Photo of Biden in the Rose Garden

Here, the intensity, and even more so, the complexity of Biden's expression requires no reading in.

Culture Focus Photo October 21, 2015

The Visual Promise of Justin Trudeau

We already know Justin Trudeau can make a visual splash. The question is, can he make a difference?

Culture Focus Photo October 20, 2015

You Say Amusing Halloween Human Interest Photo?

The New York Times photo people do not put just any picture in its “Picture of the Day” gallery.

International Focus Photo October 18, 2015

Israel / Palestine: Visual Politics of the Knife

What does it mean to spotlight these huge hunting knives when younger Palestinians are just grabbing whatever is in the kitchen drawer?

International Focus Photo October 14, 2015

Why it’s Critical to View the Photos Inside the MSF Hospital in Kunduz

The photos are crucial for the opportunity to substantiate what we only know to be true.

Campaign '16 Photo October 13, 2015

Drawing a Contrast: The Democratic Debate in Las Vegas

As it turned out, what was probably most significant about last night's Democratic debate was its comparison to the Republican campaign.

Campaign '16 Photo

Vegas Debate Preview: Hillary Clinton’s Odd Trump Tower Photo-Op

On the eve of 2015's first Democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas, this Clinton photo op enables the mogul to tower over her party's event, too.

International Focus Photo October 12, 2015

Welcome to Intifada 3

What surprisingly informative about this photo of Palestinian's at war with Israel in the Occupied Territories is how much they have to work with.

International Focus Photo October 8, 2015

The Plague of Opposition Lawmakers

There's no way I can look at this without also thinking about our own, incendiary GOP Congresspeople.

Disaster Focus Photo

On Norbert Baksa’s “Migrant Chic” Fashion Shoot

What Baksa has done may differ in degree, but not in kind with how his clients and the news media are pushing the edge.

Gun Violence Photo October 6, 2015

The Umpqua College Shooting: One More in a Sea of Vigils

In the aftermath of the school shooting, these long view photos of candlelight vigils capture us coming together as well as fading away.

Campaign '16 Photo October 5, 2015

Reading the New York Times Magazine Trump Balloon Cover

What the media still doesn’t get in singling out Donald Trump for ridicule.