Michael Shaw Archives
5,647 Posts
Faith Focus Photo May 12, 2015

Muhammad Art Contest: Pamela Geller Rallies the Troops

This show of muscle is reminiscent of the American invasion of Iraq -- as supplemented by the Blackwater group.

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Photo May 10, 2015

What if I Asked You to Imagine a News Photo from Gaza…

Is this scene what you would have envisioned?

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Fashion Focus Photo May 8, 2015

Militarism and Race as Martin Parr Does the Derby

Beyond the jesting and the field day with hats, these two Parr photos from the Kentucky Derby feel a bit more political than usual.

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Eco Watch Photo May 6, 2015

Remember that Angry Penguin? Now it's the Cows.

As climate change gains more visibility in the public square, it's interesting to observe how creatures are playing a supporting role.

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Media Focus Photo May 5, 2015

Photographer Natalie Keyssar on Getting Baltimore Wrong

The photos capture a Baltimore that, unlike the stereotypical stories of anger and violence, poverty or neglect, is not one thing.

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Protest Focus Photo May 4, 2015

1000 Words: Freddie Gray

Images in the news that speak for themselves.

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Race Focus Photo April 30, 2015

There's the Pennant Race, and Then There's Just Race: On the Pics from the Empty Orioles Game

Is it significant, then, in a city that is 63% black, that the photos of fans just beyond the gates aren't all that racially balanced?

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Race & Ethnicity Photo April 28, 2015

The Looting Selfie and Portraits of Media Bias in Baltimore

What was particular to the photo coverage of protest violence this week was the portraiture. I don't recall citizens so willing to share their venom with news photographers in an actual pose.

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Middle East Watch Photo April 27, 2015

More Absurdity in Baltimore

Maybe the reporter knows something we don't because his reaction to this potentially explosive situation is primarily one of bemusement.

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Disaster Focus Photo April 24, 2015

Congrats to the Calbuco Volcano, Crashing the Weekly Menu of Disaster Entertainment

We don’t love the photos of the Calbuco Volcano because the eruption reminds us of a Yellowstone geyser, a giant 4-H winning cauliflower or the perfect backdrop for the monotonous subdivision.

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Culture Focus Photo April 23, 2015

An Immigrant Walking: On the Stunning NYT Magazine / JR Cover

How can you call an image subtle when it’s 150 feet long, takes up an entire square in NYC and graces the cover of the NYT Magazine?

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Eco Watch Photo April 22, 2015

On That “Angry" Penguin

Of all the nature and eco images I’ve seen lately, this hit me like a bucket of ice water.

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Eco Watch Photo April 21, 2015

Mediterranean Crisis: Ecology is About People, Too

Isn't it curious how people tend to think about "ecology" as it relates to plants and air and water and less in terms of humanity and how much we look out for each other.

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Immigration/Migration Photo April 20, 2015

On Media Visuals of the Migrant Tragedy in the Mediterranean

These are some images and thoughts that struck me about the visual media coverage of the catastrophe as photos filled galleries and illustrated news stories this morning.

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International Focus Photo April 19, 2015

From Johannesburg: A Photo That Makes Us Stop

Typically, news pictures prompt us to visualize the continuous action in our own mind.

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Campaign '16 Photo April 16, 2015

Santorum's Sweater and the Endless Campaign

Talking irony, it's notable to lose Tunbjörk just at the start of this next presidential marathon. Who knows how the photographer would have approached the selling of the candidates this cycle.

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BagNewsSalon Slideshow Interviews Photo April 15, 2015

Kickoff Week: Profiling Hillary (and the Parodists)

The amount of posturing, aggressiveness and and even presumption in the Clinton's political DNA notwithstanding, I found the Hillary '16 kickoff parodies way off-key.

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