America Comes to Its Senses

After so much numbness, the photos from the 2026 blue tsunami overflow with what we got back: permission to feel, and trust in humanity.

Nov 9 • Michael Shaw

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Caught My Eye: Iowa’s Reckoning, Trump’s Short Circuit, Skateboarding’s the Bomb

The latest in a series of image posts that demand we look longer and harder—from shatterproof love to the anxiety over AI

Nov 1 • Michael Shaw

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October 2026

Caught My Eye: Disruptive Photos in a Moment Crying Out for Them

Women’s joy and command, Zuckerberg’s wearable gaze, and the Pentagon’s heavy hand: a collection of revealing contrasts

Oct 14 • Michael Shaw

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The Cracks in the Cult of the AI Supermen

Balazs Gardi’s portraits of Stockton Rush capture the doubt and anxiety now catching up with AI’s boy geniuses.

Oct 2 • Michael Shaw

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September 2026

In Kent Nishimura’s Photo, the White House Press Corps Is Already Breaking Apart

How a backstage image takes on new force after Trump banned CNN, Politico, and MS NOW from the White House

Sep 23 • Michael Shaw

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“Salam,” Again: A 9/11 Image for a New Politics of Fear

For years, I wrote about 9/11 anniversary visuals. With anti-Muslim tactics on the rise, this image of mourning and belonging from 2011 deserves to be…

Sep 12 • Michael Shaw

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Pictures of the Moment: What the Eye Can’t Settle

Recent photographs of rupture, attention, and a world under pressure.

Sep 10 • Michael Shaw

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August 2026

In Praise of Composition

Two photographs whose formal order makes political disorder and unequal power inescapable.

Aug 30 • Michael Shaw

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The Deadline

The Iran War’s 60-day ceasefire expires today. Calling out the noise, misdirection and mystery next steps, a sly photo reminds us that war is not…

Aug 17 • Michael Shaw

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Caught My Eye: Pools, Flags, and Faceless Men

Another set of images quietly telling on power

Aug 11 • Michael Shaw

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July 2026

When Canoe Country Goes Under

At a Minnesota summer camp, a submerged fleet shows how climate risk is rewriting the visual language of “wilderness adventure.”

Jul 26 • Cara Finnegan

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My 4th of July is ... the Next U.S. World Cup Match

Forget Trump's politicized pageantry. The most authentic display of American patriotism is playing out on the pitch.

Jul 4 • Michael Shaw

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