Gallery: This Week in Photography: Creepy Victorian Moms, Remembering Mandela and an Insta Movie Collage
01White House Press Photos
It was another glorious week to both revel in photography and complain about how it's used and appreciated -- from the White House back-handing the press, to a short film made of Instagrams, to the "top" photos of the year. __Above:__ Press Photographers React to White House’s Attempts to Control Its Image ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Since 2008, the news media has been accused of carrying on a virtual love affair with President Obama. The letter that nearly 40 of the nation’s leading news agencies wrote on Thursday was anything but a love note however, calling out Obama's White House for its refusal to allow public journalists into what it calls “private” presidential events. Meanwhile, the White House's own photographers have free reign to release shots of those very same events taken through their own, often rose-colored lenses. The complainants (which include reactionary right-wing rags like the AP, NBC, and the National Press Club) describe the practice as propaganda. Among the events listed as "private" were the president’s visit with Pakistani education superstar and Taliban survivor Malala Yousafzai, a meeting with Hillary Clinton and a discussion between Vice President Biden and Israeli and Palestinian negotiators. The press organizations claim the Obama White House’s policy is a threat to the spirit of the First Amendment, one in which decisions about what and how to photograph official government business was left to the government itself. Two of the organizations went so far as urging all press outlets to refuse to publish the White House’s “official” photos. The letter included also insisted on a meeting with White House Press Secretary, Jay Carney, to work out a White House with a free press, rather than one free of the press. After the meeting, Carney chalked the disagreement up to typical bickering that makes the relationship between the press and the government a special one.. *Photo: Obama greets children at the Kids' State Dinner in the East Room of the White House, July 9, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)*
02CA-SFC
Mandela on the Front Pages of American Newspapers ------------------------------------------------- As photographers and photo editors, we always scan the newspaper [front pages posted on the Newseum website](http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/default.asp) the day after a major news story. It’s a useful comparison to see how different picture editors choose to visually represent the event. Nelson Mandela’s passing is a news story that resonated around the world and most papers here in the United States featured him front and center. The vast majority used a close up portrait of him smiling, but a couple took a different approach. Our favorite front page is from the [*San Francisco Chronicle*](http://www.sfchronicle.com/). The editors there used a picture of Mandela, first raised in the air, celebrating after being sworn in as President of South Africa. It’s a moving moment that we like because it represents the culmination of years of struggle. The *Chronicle*’s design also enhances the photo. The image of Mandela stretches across the page, which adds impact, and down below there’s an image of mourner in South Africa, which puts the news in the context of what means for people in that country. Our other favorite front page is from the *[Orange County Register](http://www.ocregister.com/)*. The editors there used the famous photo of Mandela and his wife walking away from the prison where he spent 27 years. Like the *Chronicle*, the picture on the *Register’s* front page is enormous, which helps readers stop and weigh the event's importance.
03InstagramMovie
A Video Made Entirely With Photos From Instagram ------------------------------------------------ This video made entirely out of Instagram snapshots was too cool not to share. France-based art director [Thomas Jullien](http://www.iamthomasjullien.com/) collected 852 unique images from the same number of unique Instagramers. From them he managed to construct a beautiful ride around some of the world’s most iconic (and, therefore, most photographed) locations, including New York, Sydney and, of course, Paris. It’s not all tourist traps though, with the overall theme of travel informing a rolling mashups, planes, trains, automobiles, and various others are interspersed with other visual treats. Plus, a Black Keys soundtrack can make almost anything fun to watch. Also, if you spot one of your photos in the movie, mention it to Jullien and you’ll get a mention on the video’s page. “I wanted to create structure out of this chaos,” Jullien says the project on its [Vimeo page](http://vimeo.com/79207239). “The result is a \[crowdsourced\] short film that shows the endless possibilities of social media.” With [55 million uploads a day](http://instagram.com/press/), Instagram sits on an impossibly vast ocean of images that anyone can mine for creative uses, and videos like this are probably just the beginning. *Video by Thomas Jullien*
04FRACTION
Give the Gift of Photography This Holiday Season ------------------------------------------------ Looking for a gift for the photographer in your family? We suggest you browse the [holiday print sale at Fraction](http://fractionhps.bigcartel.com/products), the online photography magazine run by David Bram. The sale features photos and books from a variety of contemporary photographers and 70 percent of the proceeds go to the artists.
05BOOK OUT ANNOUCNEMNT
New Book: Afghan Box Camera --------------------------- [Lukas Birk and Sean Foley](http://www.afghanboxcamera.com/) recently announced the publication of their book, *Afghan Box Camera*. The book is a culminating moment for the duo who have [worked tirelessly since 2011](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/rawfile/2013/11/afghan-box-camera-project/#slideid-95211) to document and preserve the culture surrounding this unique photographic instrument. The book includes 146 images as well as essays, techniques and a poster illustrating how the camera works. It’s already available for preorder on Amazon and will be made available in the U.S. in February.
06Hidden Mother
Hidden Mothers in Photos From the Victorian Age ----------------------------------------------- And you thought your old family photos look uncomfortable. These Victorian-era photographs of children being held by their camouflaged mothers are downright eerie. Taken with pre-turn-of-the-century photo techniques like tintype, cartes de visite and [cabinet card](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabinet_card), exposure times were measured in half-seconds, and up into the 1920s children were often held still by their parents, who were obscured (often less than convincingly) to get a shot that was all about the baby. Curated by photo artist Linda Fregni Nagler, a new book called [*The Hidden Mother*](http://www.mackbooks.co.uk/books/1006-The-Hidden-Mother.html) collects more than 1,000 of these off-putting images in one weighty tome. Mothers are seen covered in cloth, lurking behind curtains, or posing as chairs, all in an effort to keep their squirming offspring from mucking up the shot. Sometimes their form is obvious, sometimes they’re almost invisible, but knowing they’re there is enough to make one all too aware of the strange illusion.There is also historical context hidden in these photos. At a time when infant mortality was high, a recent photo of your kid was a good sign that all was well in your household. Whatever the reasons or meaning, at least no one in these pictures have [mullets](http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/2011/08/19/hat-trick/). *Photo courtesy of MACK*
07top10-syria
*TIME* Chooses the Top 10 Photos of 2013 ---------------------------------------- There are several impactful images in [TIME's top 10 photos of 2013 gallery](http://lightbox.time.com/2013/12/02/time-picks-the-top-10-photos-of-2013/#2), but the most gut-wrenching shows Al Qaeda-linked ISIS militia members executing a man in Syria. [Emin Özmen](http://www.eminozmen.com/), a Turkish photographer, made the image and it’s particularly shocking because it was taken just seconds before the man is killed. Anticipating the act in some ways is worse than seeing it actually happen. One of [Tyler Hicks’](http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/h/tyler_hicks/index.html) photos from the shootings in Nairobi’s Westgate Mall is also included. His frame shows a woman and two children lying on the floor, hiding from the militants. The terror they must have felt comes through in the photo and it’s hard to look at for more than just a few seconds. Other images include one from the Boston Marathon bombing and Taslima Akhter’s incredibly moving shot of a dead couple embracing in the remains of the burned Bangladeshi garment factory. While it’s nearly impossible to pick just 10 images from an entire year, the gallery is well-edited and a testament to the power of photojournalism. It also provides deserved recognition for these photojournalists, who risked their own lives during the year to report on the world’s most important news. *Photo:Emin Özmen*
© Richard Ross08Ross-10
Seen But Not Heard: Photos from U.S. Juvenile Prisons ----------------------------------------------------- Pete Brook, one of our writers here at Raw File, curated an exhibition of photographs from American juvenile detention facilities that opened this week in Belgrade, Serbia. The exhibition, which is titled *[Seen But Not Heard](http://prisonphotography.org/2013/12/06/seen-but-not-heard-photos-from-us-juvenile-prisons-on-show-in-belgrade-serbia-6-22-dec/)*, runs through December 22. The show features work by well-known photographers such as Steve Liss, Ara Oshagan, Joseph Rodriguez and [Richard Ross](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/rawfile/2012/04/photog-hopes-to-effect-policy-with-survey-of-juvenile-lock-ups/), who we’ve featured several times on WIRED. The show also includes work created by incarcerated youth in Washington and Rhode Island. In addition to writing for WIRED, Brook also runs the blog [Prison Photography](http://prisonphotography.org/). *Photo: A 12-year-old in his cell at the Harrison County Juvenile Detention Center in Biloxi, Mississippi. The window has been boarded up from the outside. The facility is operated by Mississippi Security Police, a private company. In 1982, a fire killed 27 prisoners and an ensuing lawsuit against the authorities forced them to reduce their population to maintain an 8:1 inmate to staff ratio. By Richard Ross.*
