Right After The Bombing
These are the two most striking images I found in the immediate aftermath of the bombings in London. I don’t mean to disrespect the shock, loss or gravity of this event by being interpretive. I do feel, however, that images are presented to us and resonate with us that...
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Woe The Bicycle
(If this sounds callous at first, bear with me.) Perhaps the real obstacle to helping Africa (and the tens of thousands of children like this) is that we can’t take enough interest in the bicycle. In other words, it’s easy for the West to feel it’s heartstrings for this...
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The Bubble Bubble
Maybe it’s supposed to be a brick — but a brick is solid. Maybe it’s supposed to be a concrete block — but a concrete block has a two hollow cells in the middle. Maybe it’s supposed to be a basement extruded from the ground with the house removed...
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More Benetton
One or two columns back, Frank Rich was talking about the good use the right wing had been making out of death lately. I’m sure he didn’t invent the term, but he described this type of exploitation as “necro-porn.” Having looked at hundreds and hundreds of newswire photos after...
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After the Tsunami
When I was first learning the shrink trade, I had a mentor who really impressed upon me the difference between describing something and explaining it. Maybe it goes against the who, what, where of journalistic convention, but this NYT article and photo (After the Tsunami: At Home, in Company...
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Fashion of the Times
The other day, I was speculating as to whether the South Asia disaster story would have legs. The kind featured in this photo in Saturday’s NYTimes, however, was not what I was referring to. In a post last Thursday ("The Events of December 26th, 2004), I described my initial...
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The Events of December 26th, 2004
If you’d have asked me Monday morning (exactly one week after) where this tidal wave story was headed, I would have probably voted for obscurity. How come? Because the Christmas holiday — typically a dormant news period — was ending; the President had already "caught up" with the disaster...
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The Line Forms at the Chopper
In the past 48 hours, there have been numerous reports of “logistical problems” and “delays in the command structure” in supplying aid to Banda Aceh. The stories suggest a pattern of subtle resistance by the Indonesian government and military to outside involvement. Relief agencies have been complaining, and the...
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Looking Up to the West
With its literal and symbolic reference to higher powers, I can only imagine how straight forward this kind of image must be to Bush’s religious fundamentalist, as well as his neoconservative support. But, what is the message? Is it suggesting that the West (assuming the helicopter is British) is...
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The Politics of Disaster (or Vice-Versa)
Here is the lead image that ran in Sunday’s NYTimes. Overall, it could be seen to kick-off the political phase of the tsunami crisis. In general terms, some of the questions it raises are: Who gets the relief? According to what priority? Who will end up with their hands...
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The Benetton Problem (Among Others)
These are the lead images that ran in the LATimes and NYTimes last Tuesday (the second day of the Asian disaster). I’ve been thinking about them all week. In my last “tsunami post,” I focused on why news photos generally don’t elicit emotional reactions. However, I think there are...
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Lost in the Waves
It’s seems ironic that Susan Sontag died Tuesday, just as waves and waves of images — professional and amateur — were pouring forth from the South Asian tsunami. Sontag was keenly interested in the function of photographs as cultural artifacts. From a political standpoint, she expressed concern that “picture...
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