Brendan Hoffman: About Those Haitian Smiles
The second reason I wanted to return to Brendan Hoffman's recent images from Haiti is to reinforce the picture of the Haitian character. What we don't see in these two photographs, in the smiles, are a people either in denial of their circumstances or consumed to the core by...
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An Economic Model of Greed (Or, The Legacy of Gordon Gekko)
The first and more obvious point concerns what this photograph (and others like it from the Texas City explosion and the leak in Alaska) actually shows. The evidence of the impending disaster of Deepwater Horizon was literally before our eyes at least as early as 2005, but we...
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Brendan Hoffman: Haiti, Six Months Later
Photographer Brendan Hoffman returns to Haiti, six months after the earthquake.
Continue ReadingAlan Chin: The Ocean On Fire
Alan Chin flying over the Gulf Oil Spill on board a BP helicopter.
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Hayward, Ho!
Why the tonally-mismatched photo of Republican Congressman Steve Scalis is grafted to this already infamous photo of BP's still-oil spill first responder, Tony Hayward, out on his yacht this weekend,
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The Dimension of the Problem
At the end of a very long week, I don't think anyone did a better job than the NYT's Stephen Crowley in a.) framing the scale of the oil crisis, especially in terms of man's ability to control nature.
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Alan Chin: Creeping Doom
Alan Chin in Louisiana covering the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
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Your Turn: BP at the White House
I'm interested in how you read this single photo the White House released of Obama's meeting/showdown with BP honcho, Tony Hayward, and other executives.
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President McKay
This portrait of BP America President Lamar McKay with that chin jutting out captures the arrogance of these executives during yesterday's House Energy and Commerce Committee with top oil CEOs.
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White House Oil Crisis: The Picture of Passivity
With Obama scheduled to spend Monday and Tuesday in the Gulf, followed by a national address on Tuesday, I wanted to take a look at how the White House, as their own media machine, has been framing the crisis. One of the key visual outlets for the White House...
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Oil Blowout: Obama’s 1000 Mile Stare
If the Administration has been quick to contest the significance of appearing aggressive when it comes to the oil crisis, it is indisputable that Obama -- even through the White White lens -- has come off looking passive and distant.
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Oil Blowout: The Point, If Not Clear, Is That People Are Burning Up
The public's frustration over the oil disaster, coupled with the impotent response of the government and the "powers-that-be" only intensifies the feeling of horror and disconnection we feel in the face of AP photographer Joe Reidel's mummified birds, or the act, captured by EPA photographer Jim Lo Scalzo this...
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Gulf War III
Channeling Colin Powell, the White House will begin emphasizing the overwhelming force being concentrated for a “siege” against the catastrophic gusher.
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Fear and Self-Loathing in an Environmental Catastrophe
What we see in the photograph then is an image of ourselves. The disgust we experience in viewing it is a measure of self-loathing animated by the implicit recognition of own impurities and decrepitude.
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Seeing that Nature Can't Be Fooled
I'm featuring these photos in order to point out not only that nature can't be fooled, but that humans will continue to fool themselves. The sinkhole in Guatemala is not the first in that area, but few would expect everyone living there to pack up and leave (and then...
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Primal Scream
The hand of vengence from the plume became that much more evident yesterday via the lens of AP’s Charlie Riedel. Maybe this “slow-motion” disaster is payback for living in this “instant” culture we’ve created for ourselves, working ever-so-much-on-it’s-own-time, revealing itself as a picture would materialize, yes, that slowly, after...
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Just a Day at the Beach
What I find just fascinating are pictures of Alabamans taking to the surf like business-as-usual.
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