Using the President's suit to simulate a simple dark background, the gaze makes its own larger statement.
Continue ReadingThe deal to trade Bergdahl for five high profile Gitmo detainees threatens to dust off the visual genre of the "war on terror," a vocabulary that has been more in remission.
Continue ReadingEvoking the stereotype of the hyper-sexual black man and the penchant for white women, it's still one more photo of the first black president with racist overtones.
Continue ReadingThe way that Obama agonizes over his trajectory, perhaps the mixed metaphor is a direct hit.
Continue ReadingBut, where's the real substance here, with the White House so exercised that selfies are facing a ban? It has to do with two things, visual filibustering and this Presidency's obsession with popular and commercial culture.
Continue ReadingWith world leaders and heads of state now standard fixtures on Instagram, I was curious about your take on each's version of the Obama-Pope, Pope-Obama meet up.
Continue ReadingWhat the administration doesn't seem to be considering is that the press, beyond the venting and the resentment, is going to raise its game.
Continue ReadingFrom my perspective, I think this is a bold and honest photo for the White House to publish. I imagine the White House is confiding there is no way we can take this head on.
Continue ReadingIf the White House has been nothing but masterful, consistent and highly disciplined in its photo ops, Monsivais’s shot down the checkout counter pulls back the curtain on the stage set.
Continue ReadingI find it interesting how politicized and message-focused the job of White House photographer seems to have become.
Continue ReadingReady as I was to do the usual -- to riff on my own screenshots from the television broadcast, along with published news photos -- something curiously different happened watching the SOTU last night.
Continue ReadingWatch video highlights of the salon as an esteemed panel, mostly current or former White House photojournalists, discuss the ins-and-outs of presidential photo coverage.
Continue ReadingSure, we can debate the genuineness or artifice of Obama the "everyman." But how does that even matter anymore when a White House PR gesture suddenly morphs into this?
Continue ReadingSure, it's quite a photo on its own, but read as a counterpoint to Obama's infamous selfie, it's brilliant.
Continue ReadingBefore Souza (the White House, Flickr and Instagram edition), before Callie Shell and before Obama was running for President, the Obamas were exhibiting some very sophisticated moves, and product, when it came to photography and photojournalism.
Continue ReadingWhat's the point of major media companies challenging the release of exclusive photos by the White House when many of these companies, not three weeks later, just turn around and publish those photos?
Continue ReadingMaybe Amex's use of the Obama newswire image is fair game because the company birthed a quasi-official shopping holiday that stealthily interweaves its interests with the patriotic credo to go shopping?
Continue ReadingIn light of ongoing tension between the White House and the press over visual access to the President, I was interested in Saturday's post-Thanksgiving photo op from the D.C. bookstore, Politics and Prose.
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