Reading the Pictures

Reading the Pictures

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Caught My Eye: War is Not Healthy for Children and Other Living Things
From missiles to shackles, baby chicks to alien troopers — cameras have found war in every corner, and it's metastasizing.
 • Michael Shaw
Caught My Eye: Trump, the Bomber, and the Blowback
A round‑up of pictures that cut through the spin and highlight the fallout, from Iran to the home front.
 • Michael Shaw
Trump's Iran Debacle: A Picture's Worth a Thousand Missiles
These NYT's Opinion visuals make Trump the poster boy for his own Middle East blowback
 • Michael Shaw
Trump's Iran War Big Lie
The address to Congress was wall-to-wall military symbolism — medals, heroes, even Pete's Blue Angel. It was everything you could ask for — except what…
 • Michael Shaw
The People, United, Will Never Be Defeated: Leila Navidi’s Photograph as a Defining Image of Resistance to Trump’s ICE Regime
A spontaneous ICE encounter on a St. Paul block becomes a rare picture of practiced solidarity—and a case study in how images can answer federal power.
 • Michael Shaw
Caught My Eye: Crushing the Press, Chinese Speed, Tulsi’s Tricks, Epstein’s Trail
A quick read on images of motion, spectacle, and selective seeing shaping the latest politics.
 • Michael Shaw
The ICE Occupation of Minneapolis: They Call It ‘Security.’ The Pictures Say ‘War.’
As Trump sells ‘law and order,’ most of politics and media still treat ‘war’ as a metaphor. On the ground, photographers see it and show it for what it…
 • Michael Shaw
Caught My Eye: Minneapolis; Copenhagen; Maputo; Manhattan
State violence. Portraits, not penguins. Climate supercharged. The wealth divide with a sparkle.
 • Michael Shaw
Roadway Impunity: Telling Photos After ICE Killed Renee Good
Trump and Noem spun her death into proof of her guilt. Forensic analysis proved them wrong—and photographs revealed the larger pattern of who lives and…
 • Michael Shaw
The January 6 Photo That Knew
Among hundreds of images documenting the Capitol attack, Balazs Gardi captured something different: a moment of quiet triumph that seemed premature…
 • Michael Shaw
That Year-End Bubble? It’s Carnage Fatigue
Cover illustrations and photojournalism show us what 2025 is ready to shed: the cult of self, algorithmic capture, and cruelty as spectacle.
 • Michael Shaw
Democracy Was the Target, DEI Was the Scapegoat: Key Pictures of 2025
Trump killed DEI and called it a win. What he really killed: due process, free speech, sanctuary, and dignity.
 • Michael Shaw
DC Guard Attack: Trump’s Storm Troops Caught in Web of His Own Making
Photojournalists continue to expose the damning ironies and toxic symbolism of Trump’s escalating crackdown—visual truths words fail to convey.
 • Michael Shaw
Images of American Fascism
Federal agents as militias. Home Depot parking lots as killing fields. The People's House demolished. These photos defy sanitized language and show us…
 • Michael Shaw
Reading the Pictures
Reading the Pictures
The non-profit Reading the Pictures is dedicated to the analysis of news photography and media images.
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