Michael Shaw Archives
5,619 Posts
Culture Focus Photo February 26, 2015

Poor Kanye: Cell Phones, Martyrdom and Celebrity Culture

I am partly posting Kanye’s shaming of the celebrity-crazed public and his indictment of mobile photography as an example of how much pictures can take on a life of their own.

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Culture Focus Photo February 25, 2015

On Texas Muslim Capitol Day: Photos by Nina Berman from Austin

The hostility of anti-Muslim protesters on the seventh annual Texas Muslim Capitol Day pales in comparison to the recognition and appreciation of the different cultural and religious communities among us.

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Disaster Focus Photo February 24, 2015

"Breaking" Pic from Fukushima

Don't worry yourself what's bubbling beyond the tarp?

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Iraq and Afghanistan War Photo February 23, 2015

ISIS Attacks Iraqi Base Full of US Trainers, Ho Hum

Whatever the reasons for the quiet, America's reengagement in Iraq is primarily significant for the lack of attention.

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Photography/Photojournalism Photo February 21, 2015

War Photography Family Portrait of the Year

What I find so powerful is how much Alexey Furman's photo from Ukraine manages to capture and express war as an act of domestic violence.

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Photo

More Contest Winners: DC Meets Oz

Don't know whether to laugh or cry, right?

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President Obama Photo February 20, 2015

Seven Years into a Presidency, What Lurks Beneath the Laugh Track

What's brilliant is the way the photo, on the surface a textbook example of political celebrity, also taps into America's racial polarization.

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International Focus Photo February 19, 2015

On Those Migrants Up a Pole (POYi Spot News Award)

What is it about this photo of Sub-Saharan migrants high up a pole in Spain’s border town of Melilla that earned a POY award?

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USA(ID)! USA(ID)!: Full Salute to a Military Photo

And when in our lifetimes have we been made aware the military has been deployed to save lives?

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Culture Focus Photo February 18, 2015

Seeing Surveillance Everywhere and Nowhere

In this day and age, when an image could as easily have been pulled off a civil defense drone or a surveillance camera, we also register that.

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Protest Focus Photo February 16, 2015

Beyond FEMEN: That Arresting Photo Outside the Strauss-Kahn Trial

I doubt the group expected a photo this effective, even if Femen protesters are consistently “manhandled” by police.

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Photography/Photojournalism Photo February 14, 2015

Picture of the Year (Sports Feature): What is it About Men and their Balls?

It could have landed on his shoe. It could have bounced and landed on that other guy's straw hat. But, it didn't.

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Photography/Photojournalism Photo February 13, 2015

LGBT Love and Anxiety: The Ambiguity and Politics of the World Press Photo of the Year

Perhaps the noirish quality serves as a buffer but this photo is at least as tense as it is tender.

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Photo February 10, 2015

More Than Less Than Meets the Eye: The Pope in a (Roman) Shanty Town

I'm wondering when was the last time a head of state ventured into a similar homestead -- and did so with such intimacy.

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POYi Winning Photos: Is the Freeway the New Protest Battle Ground?

Stopping these throughways provide a way for the movement to demonstrate that business-as-usual has got to stop, and that citizens -- especially those that simply watch on TV -- need feel it, too.

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International Focus Photo February 9, 2015

Priests and Protests: Looking Back on the Photography from Kiev Square

Protestors armed themselves against government forces with whatever was available to them, creating a visual mash of color and symbolism, the clergy ministering throughout.

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Middle East Watch Photo February 7, 2015

Too Much Art in a News Photo? West Bank Rhythm and Flow

The infusion of creativity into the news photo is not just an art itself, but is often a slippery slope.

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Culture Focus Photo February 6, 2015

Denial Is a Pool in Bakersfield: An Immigration Picture You've Hardly Seen Before

What Mark’s photo frames and what it also nails are two of the immigration issue's elephants in the room.

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