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ReadingThePictures

@readingthepictures.bsky.social
1.9K followers 308 following 480 posts

The analysis of news photos & media images. (Originally BagNewsNotes.) Subscribe to our Substack at: ReadingThePictures.media.

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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 22h
Carping feature images of AI’s boy supermen are on the rise as the tech escapes all guardrails. This frame, from an AI animation, opened a New Yorker story asking if Sam Altman can be trusted. Cracks in the Cult of the AI Supermen readingthepictures.media/p/the-cracks... Visual by David Szauder
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Steeped in audacity and distortion, magazine covers and feature images capture the power, mystique, and alarm surrounding these founders. The Cracks in the Cult of the AI Supermen (Photo: Jessica Chou) readingthepictures.media/p/the-cracks...
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I wrote this after returning to Balazs Gardi’s photographs of a fallen Silicon Valley-inspired inventor and what they say about today's depiction of AI's leading men — and they are all men. readingthepictures.media/p/the-cracks...
readingthepictures.media
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.
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Surveillance Photo of the Day (Photo: Jeff Chiu/AP. Mark Zuckerberg speaks during Meta Connect conference, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026)
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
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 readingthepictures.media/p/the-white-...📷kent nishimura for @newyorker.com
readingthepictures.media
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
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
The Blowback Salute The New York Times homepage photo editors are SO good. Combine two salutes, one belligerent Trump, the perfect angle, and snap! The Commander in Chief walks headlong into the jaws of a vice. Who needs AI slop when the Iran War is this good at making its own illustrations?
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Metaphor, yes, but the signs of breakdown are everywhere. (Photo: Evan Vucci / Reuters. Caption: The emergency slide of Air Force One is deployed at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland ahead of President Donald Trump's trip to the GOP midterm convention in Dallas on Wednesday, September 9.)
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
NYT Front Page: The cruel visual irony of L.A.’s newscopter tragedy, seen from above. (Photo: Ethan Swope/AP)
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Just because the high court nixed limits on mail-in ballots (for now), the campaign to undermine the midterms rolls on. This Detroit election official’s face, as Justice Department poll watchers turned up for Michigan’s August primary, tells you all you need to know. Photo: Rebecca Cook/Reuters
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
The end of benign AI news photos? (📷 Gianluca Panella/Getty Images - NYT 9/14/26)
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
I’m not sharing this because the ethereal light breaking through the dark clouds onto the river feels so hopeful or divine... Photo: Ezra Acayan/Getty Images Pictures of the Moment: What the Eye Can’t Settle readingthepictures.media/p/pictures-o...
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
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 seen once more. readingthepictures.media/p/a-911-imag... (Photo: Todd Heisler/Getty Images/Pool)
readingthepictures.media
“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 seen once more.
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
The geometry of McClain’s photo is so precise, so elaborate, that its damage is easy to miss. (From: "An American City, With Troops on Its Streets." Matt McClain for The Atlantic.)
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Dressed for the fall (📷 Laki Sideris)
Dressed for the fall
The Falling, a finalist in Australia’s 2026 National Photographic Portrait Prize, is a collaboration between photographer Laki Sideris and dance artist Gretel Taylor. Inspired by ecological collapse, Taylor’s movement is a bodily protest against the greed and inertia of those with the power to act—and a plea to catch ourselves before the point of no return.
Well coiffed in sunglasses and a hot-pink suit, she looks like an emissary from the world that caused the crisis—suddenly undermined in an arid landscape that offers neither cover nor escape.
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
As a complement to Julia Nikhinson‘s tarmac shot (and my comments on intimacy), this image by Ken Cedeno led a NYT Opinion piece this morning.
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
"Travel with Natalie" How do you photograph a blind spot? (Julia Demaree Nikhinson / AP. Source: The Atlantic) #NatalieHarp
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Like the disfigured--crying from gaping mouths. (Rows of fireplaces and chimneys are all that remain of several homes in a residential neighborhood in Spokane, Washington, after being burned by wildfire, Monday, August 3, 2026. Lindsey Wasson, AP, via France 24.)
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
It’s a brilliant New York Times photo edit for an article marking a war that, as its 60-day ceasefire reaches its August 17 expiration, has become both consequential and background noise. (Ships anchored this month in the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Bandar Abbas, Iran. Ali Saeedi/Getty)
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
* One can sheerly say: grifting has gone from disguise to a look. * What's with the "feels like," Businessweek? The wolf looks so bored, it's like: game over. * Once the ranch bosses started taking their cut off the top, the town got the message: fleece early, fleece often.
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
The images I couldn't stop looking at — the ironic rendering of the Fauci hearing; a Banksy statue turning a flag into a blindfold; a faceless hero exposing what a hit movie can't help revealing about men. Curation is its own kind of authorship. readingthepictures.media/p/caught-my-...
readingthepictures.media
Caught My Eye: Pools, Flags, and Faceless Men
Another set of images quietly telling on power
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Great title in these trad wife times. My Mother Doesn't Work Olga Steinepreis, Germany Via Lens Culture’s 2026 Critics’ Choice Awards. Full entry: www.lensculture.com/photo-compet...
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
The red scare that’s real. (Fire retardant coats a neighborhood in Spokane, Washington, on Sunday, August 2. Wildfires near Spokane have destroyed hundreds of homes and structures. John Stember/The New York Times.) Via CNN Photos this Week
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Reading the Mag Covers: Don’t think of a government agency. (illo: @twrushing, photo: @thevoorhes. Via Coverjunkie)
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Fauci Tabled 📷: Samuel Corum/Sipa USA via Instagram
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Illustration of the Day: Odysseus, pressed into service as a modern projection, exposes the fault lines in men and the male leader.  (Anna Mallina for NYT Opinion)
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
At a Minnesota summer camp, a submerged fleet shows how climate risk is rewriting the visual language of “wilderness adventure.” By Cara Finnegan When Canoe Country Goes Under readingthepictures.media/p/update-whe...
readingthepictures.media
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.”
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
This week in pictures: War by choice, baking planet by neglect. 1 - Fort Hope wildfire evacuation, Ontario, July 19. Master Cpl. Natasha Punt/Canadian Armed Forces. 2 - Dignified transfer for 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan, killed in the Iran war, Dover AFB, Del., July 22. AP Photo/Matt Rourke.
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Between the headline and photo, a non-normalizing breath of fresh air.
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
Climate Crisis Makes Quantum Leap Illustrations that break with typical greenwashing. Clearly, we’re getting torched. Big Issue (UK), The Economist (UK), via Coverjunkie
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
Latest doom-wash of climate emergency: German drowning deaths illustrated with picture-perfect day at the lake. (The Guardian.) Lake in Bavaria this month. 📷Michael Nguyen/NurPhoto France's Heatwave Was a Mass-Casualty Event. The Photos Don't Look Like It readingthepictures.media/p/frances-he...
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Trump's brazen FIFA intervention to reinstate a US player proved our point. He didn’t just undermine a diverse, immigrant-powered USMNT he despises—he contaminated the World Cup. My 4th of July is the Next U.S. World Cup Match readingthepictures.media/p/my-4th-of-...
readingthepictures.media
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.
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
It’s appalling seeing Trump’s DHS—with all its immigrant eradication terror—co-opt the "we are the world" US Men’s soccer team to push a white Christian nationalist homeland. My 4th of July is the next World Cup match. readingthepictures.media/p/my-4th-of-... Poster: DHS/Photo: @USMNT.
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
Trump corrupted the 250th. But the far right is going to have a much harder time stealing the USMNT. A short visual piece on why I'm looking to the World Cup for the patriotism we were robbed of today. My 4th of July is ... the Next U.S. World Cup Match readingthepictures.media/p/my-4th-of-...
readingthepictures.media
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.
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
People are so desperate to cool off that they're drowning in canals. The media keeps feeding us frolic. France's Heatwave Was a Mass-Casualty Event. The Photos Don't Look Like It Tom Nicholson/Reuters. Julien De Rosa, AFP/Getty readingthepictures.media/p/frances-he...
Photo 1: Officials recovering the body of someone who drowned while swimming in a canal as Paris baked under a heat wave. Tom Nicholson/Reuters.Photo 2: People jump in the Trocadero Fountain near the Eiffel Tower during a heatwave in Paris on June 22, 2026. Julien De Rosa, AFP/Getty Images.
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
The deadliest heatwave in Europe since 2003 killed 1,000+ in France in four days. The media covered it with photos of ice cream, fountains, and tourists. France's Heatwave Was a Mass-Casualty Event. The Photos Don't Look Like It readingthepictures.media/p/frances-he...
readingthepictures.media
France's Heatwave Was a Mass-Casualty Event. The Photos Don't Look Like It
Feeding the public ice cream is much easier than confronting true danger and suffering.
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
What Trump is hiding—if the NYT is asking—is narcissistic injury. Paint might flake, algae may bloom, but the curtain surrounding the Trump-free face of the Kennedy Ctr looks long-term. Political Theater: Erasing Donald J. Trump Off the Kennedy Center  readingthepictures.media/p/political-...
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
No, it's been gerrymandered. Aaron Schwartz/Reuters
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
The removal of Trump's name from the Kennedy Center was reported and quickly absorbed. The photos deserve a longer look. Political Theater: Erasing Donald J. Trump Off the Kennedy Center readingthepictures.media/p/political-...
readingthepictures.media
Political Theater: Erasing Donald J. Trump Off the Kennedy Center
The striking images, political symbolism, and spectacle of taking his name down — and the drag queen still standing.
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
You snooze, you lose. My fave from the Presidentially-disrupted NBA finals game at MSG last night.
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
More from the climate emergency. Spectators sit in the shade while watching a third round match the French Open, at Roland Garros in Paris, May 29. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
If Iran could hit the Navy’s Fifth Fleet HQ and force the evacuation of America’s biggest, “indestructible” embassy in Baghdad, the damage and abandonment show how badly this war has gone. Surrender: How Trump Lost the Iran War, in Pictures 📷Hadi Mizban/AP readingthepictures.media/p/how-trump-...
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
Have you seen this? Despite CNN and NYT reporting, few Americans know about the losses the U.S. has suffered across the Mid East. Here: an Iranian drone hits U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet HQ in Bahrain on day 1 Surrender: How Trump Lost the Iran War, in Pictures readingthepictures.media/p/how-trump-...
an Iranian drone strike hits the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet headquarters in Juffair, Manama, Bahrain, on the first day of the war. Via X/Twitter, Declassified Australia. The strike was widely documented in international media, including NBC News and Al Jazeera.
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
From day 1, Trump framed the Iran war as a show of strength and an easy win. The images tell a different story: blind escalation, underestimated adversaries, and a disaster the pictures won't let him spin away. readingthepictures.media/p/how-trump-...
readingthepictures.media
Surrender: How Trump Lost the Iran War, in Pictures
From blind bet to bloody stalemate — the visual record of a war Washington didn't understand and couldn't spin.
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
The Press and the Presser It’s sad to see the regime’s violence bleed over to the press, as pummeled as they are already. Gilded Age and Days of Rage at White House Correspondents’ Dinner Photo: Evan Vucci/Reuters. Guests took cover inside the ballroom. readingthepictures.media/p/gilded-age...
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
I did a tight edit on this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner images—Trump’s performance, the ‘security scare,’ and the women reporters whose poise changes the picture. Gilded Age and Days of Rage readingthepictures.media/p/gilded-age... 📷 @salwangeorges.bsky.social for @nytimes.com
readingthepictures.media
Gilded Age and Days of Rage
At the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, the photos show a country on edge: privilege upstairs, gunfire downstairs, and Trump turning violence into security leverage and a hero’s glow.
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
The art of plurality ✒️Steven Wilson Studio. Guardian Weekly, 14.11.2025, via Coverjunkie
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
Iran loosens its grip on the straight, but for how long? Tehran billboards are telegraphs, the waterway a power fabric. Photo: Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA. A large-scale billboard in Tehran refers to Iran’s stranglehold on the straight of Hormuz
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
The rare early heat wave is threatening to shatter Northeast records — “borderline unprecedented as far as the duration of it this time of year,” experts say. —AP This photo from last January’s California firestorm just won a World Press Photo award. 📷 Ethan Swope/AP/World Press Photo 2026
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
Read it and weep: Headline and image a vivid counter to White House climate denial and Middle East adventurism. 📷Mario Tama/Getty. A woman in a lagoon in Tuvalu – a low-lying South Pacific country that may become uninhabitable within decades due to sea-level rise caused by the climate crisis.
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ReadingThePictures @readingthepictures.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
The backlash to Trump’s attack on Pope Leo was baked in from the moment “the American Pope” stepped onto that Vatican balcony. In our framing, those quiet flares of U.S. flags in St. Peter’s Square that May afternoon now read as prescient—a significant crack in MAGA’s claim on Christian patriotism.
readingthepictures.media
Vatican Celebration Photos Spotlight Pope Leo's Challenge to Trump's America
As American flags wave in St. Peter's Square, a humble pontiff elevates a competing vision of patriotism and national identity.
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