photojournalism

 Earlier this year, Paul Hansen's shot of a funeral procession in Palestine won the World Press Photo award. Soon after, it began suffering criticism that it had been "faked with Photoshop." Then, the whole thing died down. This morning, however, things bubbled back up to the surface and World Press Photo set a few experts on the case to decide once and for all if the image was a composite. The verdict came back in favor of Hansen.

By now, you've almost certainly heard about the meteorite that did a low flyby over Russia last night. After streaking across the sky, it exploded in the air, sending shockwaves through the city, injuring 400 people and causing untold damage. In fact, you've probably seen video of it. And not just one video, either, but dozens. But why are there so many and is this a good thing?

For many people, the bombing of Hiroshima during WWII is an incredibly surreal event. Understanding the sheer scope of it is almost impossible, especially if you weren't alive to get the full context of it. And getting historical context is more difficult because there are very few clear pictures of it. One original photo was just discovered at a school house in Japan. The historical value of the image is tremendous, but it also says some interesting things about photographs in general.