I can only imagine (and now, can't stop worrying about) what's coming from the other side.... Interesting, there's not a New Orleanean in sight, but put this window in front of me, stick me way down here, and suddenly I'm feeling like one.... I've got to get up over...
Continue ReadingA couple of items from Friday's YearlyKos: From Sidney Blumenthal: I was riding with my son yesterday in the car and he said: "We're building bridges in Iraq so we don't have to build them over here."
Continue ReadingOn one hand, it's just about a junk-and-salvage yard. But what opens up -- between these images and the simple compassion of its undertaker -- is the gaping hole between stupid neocon fantasy and a monumental short-changing.
Continue ReadingAfter yesterday, it seems that New York has its own visual genus for physical cataclysm. Not that In a city that takes nothing for granted anymore, the first It was strange being in New York yesterday, where I'm spending the last month of my sabbatical year. On a day...
Continue ReadingSeems like part of our post-9/11, post-Bush GWOT "growing up" has to do with putting terrorism and terror attacks (and/or "terror incidents") into some kind of perspective.
Continue ReadingOnce again, the unraveling of the Cheney/Bush Administration has proven too messy for the visual press to it dirty its hands, paper and electrons on. I'm referring specifically to Monday's coverage of the EPA Director Christine Whitman's appearance before a House Judiciary Subcommittee to try and finesse the agency's...
Continue ReadingThis color shot -- photographed yesterday in Greensburg, Kansas -- is one of the more editorially-deceptive newswire photos I've seen in a while. In the photo, Kansas National Guardsman and postal workers raise an American flag over a U.S. Post Office destroyed by Friday's killer tornado.
Continue ReadingView Photojournalist Alan Chin's photographs and reflections from Blacksburg on the mayhem at Virginia Tech.
Continue ReadingWhat I'd like to ask NBC is, why the cold feet? Having decided to identify yourself as "The Official Network of Deranged Homicidal Sociopaths," why did you stop half-way?
Continue ReadingLately, it's hard to know who's not trying to dramatize and capitalize on global warming. Take the latest Sports Illustrated cover, for instance....
Continue ReadingThis afternoon, I received this from Chris, a regular reader, with the pic of the day: After North Korea's nuclear test, or sort-of test, Bush Administration cowboys ride the United Nations halls, cruising for action. U.S. Ambassador John Bolton, left, leads the way, ready to fend off the enemy,...
Continue ReadingMarc, one of two originators of woostercollective, featured this photo as part of his recollection of 9/11. Along with the image, he describes how the attacks served as the genesis for this unique and invaluable site. Now five years old, woostercollective is as intrinsic to the practice of street...
Continue ReadingFrankly, I don't see how 9/11 can be venerated in any legitimate collective way as long as George Bush is leading that process. Above all, BushCo's manipulation of the survivors and victims on the anniversary of this abhorrent tragedy shows the blasphemy of someone whose actions consistently demonstrate duplicity...
Continue ReadingIn the extended quote from his blog, David Burnett refers to his photo spread in the August edition of National Geographic. Using his cherished large format Speed Graphic, the shallow depth of field created a particularly unusual effect. With Katrina's impact already other-worldly, Burnett's images add the impression that...
Continue ReadingThis shot from New Orleans on Monday's newswire does a superior job previewing the thematic pixel war between Bush and the Democrats over the next few days. Here's the caption, which works wonderfully as metaphor...
Continue ReadingAs dedicated as I am to political imagery, I hope the stream of Katrina photo-documentation is having some tanglible impact on the reconstruction of the Gulf. However, I'm under no illusion about this week's anniversary visuals. With summer at its exhaustion point, its hard not to see the more...
Continue ReadingWith the escalating violence, and the political complexity of the current crisis, however, I feel I would be negligent -- as well as hypocritical -- to simply ignore the pictorial dynamics and the actions of the visual media in handling this extremely critical Israeli, Hamas, Hezbollah, Gaza, Palestinian, Syrian,...
Continue ReadingBy now, everyone who follows this site is well familiar with photojournalist Alan Chin's remarkable black-and-white photos of Hurricane Katrina's aftermath. Alan's first set of images formed the basis for The BAG's And Then I Saw These, recently recognized by the Koufax Award as 2005's Best Post in the...
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