Robert Hariman Archives - Page 2 of 6

Notes Photo December 11, 2014

The Beatings Will Continue

If all we can do is watch, we should at least recognize that we have a responsibility to do so, all down the line.

Notes Photo December 10, 2014

The Beauty of LA Burning

LA burning isn’t beautiful because LA deserves to burn. LA burning is beautiful because we can see it that way.

Notes Photo November 12, 2014

Much ink has been spilled about whether photojournalism should expose the bodily horror of war. This photo, like many others in the archive, demonstrate that less can be more: there is little need to see the gore, because more than physical destruction is at stake.

Notes Photo October 23, 2014

Why that NYT Liberia Photo, Reflecting an Ebola Treatment Unit in the Mirror, Was so Contagious

The media panic has involved massive injections of fear regarding viral replication, contagion, and the ultimate displacement of death, so perhaps an image of photographic doubling can contain some of the excess emotion.

Notes Photo July 21, 2014

And Then, There's Burma

While the world is fixated on Gaza, the Muslims in Burma/Myanmar bear the added trauma of being ignored or considered not worth saving.

Notes Photo June 7, 2014

Somalia is Not Just a War Zone

The point here is not to celebrate the human spirit, but rather to understand that people don’t have to be asking for the moon when they ask for peace and stability. A normal life will do.

Notes Photo

Tank Man, Inc.

I have no doubt that China needs more democracy, but I would not offer the present mix of populism and neoliberalism that defines politics in the US today as a splendid model to which they should aspire.

Notes Photo April 29, 2014

Bad Westerns: That Shot of the Bundy Posse Observing the Anthem

What may be a moment of reverent patriotism is also an image of the last cowboys mourning their own demise.

Notes Photo April 26, 2014

A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats … and Other Modern Myths

If the National Geographic photos are aimed at social reform, they document something else as well: the shift in modernism from a utopian to a dystopian trajectory.

Notes Photo February 10, 2014

Judging the Photography Awards: Why Not Just Paint It?

Photographs can favor artistry over other values such as documentary witness, hard-boiled realism, formal simplicity, or critical provocation. But should they win awards for it?

Notes Photo January 31, 2014

The Face of the Future in Kiev’s Battle for Middle Earth

I’ve argued before that conflict photography is accumulating evidence of a of disturbing change in the political and cultural dimensions of modern violence: that it is becoming less modern.

Notes Photo January 25, 2014

What Can You Really See From Space?

The problem I want to raise is that once you’ve been given a literal description of the image, your imagination may shut down too soon.

Notes Photo January 11, 2014

On any Given Day, What May be Needed is Not 400 Photographs, But Just 1

There is much more to the "photo excess" discussion than the likelihood of being overwhelmed. Bob Hariman weighs in.

Notes Photo November 21, 2013

We Are All Bystanders: 18 Visual Scholars Reflect on Previously Unseen JFK Assassination Photographs – #3

We at BagNews were interested in bringing a deeper visual analysis to the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination. Accordingly, we invited a broad group of distinguished visual scholars to provide us with brief responses to unknown photographs from November 1963. This is the last of a three post...

Notes Photo November 18, 2013

On That Open Carry Parking Lot "Shooting"

Maybe it’s just me, but I can’t help seeing (that profile) view as a targeting, and exactly the angle that a real enemy would take. More to the point, we can see how the potential for violence invites a greater potential for violence.

Notes Photo July 12, 2013

Mineral, Vegetable and Animal: after the Quebec Tank Car Explosion, Robert Hariman’s Meditation on Oil

I know human beings were decimated without purpose. Nonetheless, I think this photograph captures something important about the larger economy of life and death in a machine age.

Notes Photo June 17, 2013

Robert Hariman On Daniel Etter's Viral Taksim Square Protest Photo

Neither quite color nor black and white, it seems to create a dimension halfway between documentary reportage and artistic reflection.

Notes Photo May 15, 2013

When Words are Photoshopped

So it turns out that there really are two sets of rules: the rules that guide reporting what is supposed to be said, and the rules that insure that some things are not said.