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Articles on Photographs

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Lewis Wickes Hine, ‘A little spinner in a Georgia Cotton Mill, 1909.’ Gelatin silver print, 5 x 7 in. The Photography Collections, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (P545)

The US has a child labor problem – recalling an embarrassing past that Americans may think they’ve left behind

While Lewis Hine’s early-20th century photographs of working children compelled Congress to limit or ban child labor, the US Department of Labor is now under fire for failing to enforce these laws.
Jewish deportees march through the German town of Würzburg to the railroad station on April 25, 1942. US Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration

Unknown Holocaust photos – found in attics and archives – are helping researchers recover lost stories and providing a tool against denial

Holocaust scholars long relied on documents and survivor testimonies to help reconstruct the history of that tragic event. Now, they’re turning to wordless witnesses to learn more: pictures.
Table-tipping workshop with mediums Jane and Chris Howarth in Erie, Pennsylvania, in 2014. © Shannon Taggart. Courtesy of the Artist.

As spiritualism’s popularity grows, photographer Shannon Taggart takes viewers inside the world of séances, mediums and orbs

Alternative beliefs like spiritualism seem to experience resurgences in times of crisis. Taggart has spent the past 20 years exploring the oft-misunderstood religion.
Have some healthy skepticism when you encounter images online. tommaso79/Stock via Getty Images Plus

Out-of-context photos are a powerful low-tech form of misinformation

Images without context or presented with text that misrepresents what they show can be a powerful tool of misinformation, especially since photos make statements seem more believable.
‘Say cheese so I can show all my friends how cute you are – and unwittingly show corporations your age, race and gender!’ Fancy Studio/Shutterstock.com

The real problem with posting about your kids online

Parents have engaged in forms of ‘sharenting’ for generations. The digital age has complicated things, but while critics make some valid points, they’re not seeing the forest for the trees.
A photograph by Oliver de Ros presents a different impression of the migrants at the Guatemalan border than the standard tropes published. Migrants bound for the U.S.-Mexico border wait on a bridge that stretches over the Suchiate River, connecting Guatemala and Mexico, Friday, Oct. 19, 2018. (AP Photo/Oliver de Ros)

Visual tropes of migration tell predictable but misleading stories

Photographs can influence us – they can inspire us to act and they can also impact the way we think about issues. The recent published photos about the migrant ‘caravan’ convey several stereotypes.

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