Jump to September 2010 archive page: 1 2 3 4 5 ... 7
  • Mario Anzuoni/Reuters

    Austin Visschedyk, who portrays himself in the documentary "Teenage Paparazzo", poses at its premiere at the Pacific Design Center theatre in Los Angeles September 21, 2010.

    Life imitating art

    Don't get me started on the glorification of paparazzis at the expense of serious photojournalism. It is even more offensive when the photographer becomes a celebrity himself. The upcoming HBO documentary on 17-year-old Austin Visschedyk continues this trend.

    Here's the trailer for "Teenage Paparazzo":

    Speaking of celebrity paparazzis, Austin reminds me of Ron Galella, who arguably invented the genre. His iconic pictures of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and other stars are seldom matched by today's practitioners. I've had to reconsider my opinion of him a bit after watching the documentary "Smash His Camera". The guy is still doing it at age 79.

    Image: Ron Galella and Jackie Kennedy
    Ron Galella / Wire Image file
    Photographer Ron Galella chases Jacqueline Kennedy in New York in this 1971 picture.

    Trailer for "Smash His Camera":

  • AFP - Getty Images

    Chinese school children queue up for class at a school in Hefei, east China's Anhui province on September 20, 2010. China's population control law that limits many to one child will mark its 30th birthday on September 25, when 30 years ago, the Communist Party published an open letter explaining the law aimed at slowing down population growth in a bid to improve people's lives.

    'One-child' policy . . . thirty years later

    It's fascinating that the economic forces that led to the one-child policy thirty years ago are now forcing the Chinese to consider eliminating it.

    As the Associated Press reported back in April:

    For years, China curbed its once-explosive population growth with a widely hated one-child limit that at its peak led to forced abortions, sterilizations and even infanticide. Now the long-sacrosanct policy may be on its way out, as some demographers warn that China is facing the opposite problem: not enough babies.

  • Mike Segar / Reuters

    A television reporter does a standup report outside the media center at the United Nations headquarters in New York City, Sept. 21, 2010. Many heads of state and world leaders are gathering this week at the U.N. for the Millennium Development Goals Summit and U.N. General Assembly.

    Talking to the masses

    Recent polls show a steady decline in the confidence that people have in major institutions. msnbc.com story: Americans are really confident in ... nobody

    "The print and broadcast media were strongly trusted by just 13 percent, only slightly more than the 8 percent with faith in blogs. Those under age 30 were far likelier than older people to voice confidence in what they read."

    What or whom do you trust?

  • David Buimovitch / Pool via Getty Images

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plays table tennis with children, Sept 21, 2010, in Sderot, Israel. The playground is sheltered from rockets launched from the nearby Gaza Strip. Netanyahu has so far refused to extend the partial ban on Israeli settlement building despite urging from President Barack Obama. He has hinted, however, he would confine building to major settlement blocs.

    The back-and-forth of Mideast peace talks

    Netanyahu chose an interesting backdrop for his announcement. msnbc.com story: Quartet to urge Israel to keep settlement freeze.

  • Tomasz Stanczak /Agencja Gazeta via Reuters

    Brazilian artist Regina Silviera presents her installation titled "Depth" at a gallery in Lodz, Poland on September 21, 2010.

    Hmmmmmm...

    Looks like a fun art exhibit.

  • Lionel Cironneau / AP

    Classic yachts sails in the bay of Cannes, southeastern France, during the 32nd Royal Regatta of Cannes,Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2010. The Royal Regatta brings into the bay of Cannes more than 150 yachts among the finest in the world, ranging from 10 to 50 meters.

    Lionel Cironneau / AP

    Classic sailboats

    Beautiful photos from Cannes. The old 12-meter boats are so gorgeous.

  • Adnan Abidi/Reuters

    Indian security personnel stand guard in front of a collapsed pedestrian bridge outside the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi September 21, 2010. The perilous state of athletes' accommodation for next month's Commonwealth Games in Delhi has shocked visiting teams and prompted the Games' federation chief to demand authorities urgently fix a raft of problems. Complaints from team officials ranging from cleanliness to Internet access at the athletes' village have further embarrassed organizers of the October 3-14 Games, amid blown construction deadlines, corruption scandals and security concerns following a tourist shooting on Sunday.

    Parivartan Sharma/Reuters

    Laborers rest inside their makeshift tents outside the boundary wall of the 2010 Commonwealth Games athletes village in New Delhi September 21, 2010.

    Mansi Thapliyal/Reuters

    Laborers pull a hand cart loaded with bricks and sacks of sand in front of boards advertising the 2010 Commonwealth Games, over a flyover in New Delhi September 21, 2010.

    Parivartan Sharma/Reuters

    Rag pickers try to right their overturned cycle rickshaw near the 2010 Commonwealth Games athletes village in New Delhi September 21, 2010.

    Race to the finish

    Hosting a major international sporting event like the Olympics or the World Cup is usually a chance for a country to put its best foot forward in the eyes of the world. India's preparations for the Commonwealth Games have been plagued with problems with less than two weeks to go before the opening ceremony. The collapse of an under construction footbridge today added to the list of problems.

  • Pat Wellenbach/AP

    Recording artist Lady Gaga speaks at a rally in support of repealing the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy for gay service members, in Portland, Maine, on Monday, Sept. 20, 2010.

    Lady Gaga on the stump

    I hardly recognized Lady Gaga without her meat dress (or one of her other fashion statements). She's such a showman that, at first glance, I wondered if this political rally was just another example of her performance art. After watching the video below, I'm pretty sure she is sincere in her campaign to repeal "don't ask, don't tell."

    Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

  • Eric Risberg / AP

    Gardener Eli Rodriguez, a new Teamsters member, removes dead matter and cleans up marijuana plants at Marjyn Investments, a marijuana growing operation in Oakland, Calif., Monday, Sept. 20, 2010. The Teamsters added nearly 40 new members earlier this month by organizing the country's first group of unionized marijuana growers.

    Union work

    I'm intrigued by the combination of sunglasses and headlamp. Do you reckon the workers alternate between bright lights and dim rooms?

  • Scott Olson / Getty Images

    U.S. Army medic SGT Tyrone Jordan of Charlotte, NC attached to Dustoff Task Force Shadow of the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade works on a 12-year-old Afghani girl aboard a MEDEVAC helicopter after she was grazed in the face by a bullet September 20, 2010 near Marja, Afghanistan. Task Force Shadow is responsible for evacuating wounded Afghani and Coalition forces as well as local nationals throughout southern Afghanistan.

    Lasting impression

    Can you imagine being a 12-year-old, getting grazed by a bullet and taking what is (I'm guessing) your first trip in an aircraft, surrounded by foreigners? How profound a sensory impression that could make? I think you'd remember vividly it for the rest of your life.

  • Parivartan Sharma / Reuters

    Labourers work at an electric pylon in New Delhi September 20, 2010. India's power output grew an annual 1 percent in August, the slowest growth since February 2009 as some plants were shut, but peak power deficit narrowed as heavy rainfall curbed demand.

    Can-do attitude

    This picture is the only one we have from this situation. It would be good to know if there's some kind of harness anchoring this this person to the wire. In any case, it suggests a willingness to get the job done.

  • Ricardo Moraes and Kai Pfaffenbach / Reuters

    Left, a firefighting plane dumps water over a forest fire at the Brasilia National Park, September 20, 2010. After 117 days without rain in the Federal District, fires caused by the drought have destroyed some 10,000 hectares of the national park. Right, Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, head of Germany's bishop's conference gestures as he opens the bishop's annual meeting in Fulda, September 20, 2010.

    Airplane and Archbishop

    These two images appeared side by side in our photo feeds. A photographer friend refers to a picture's "nominal subject matter" as simply the starting point for layers of visual interpretation. In news photography we're dealing with the literal representation of subject matter, but pairings like this remind me that there's another way to look at pictures. It's also a reminder of the incredible diversity of events and people that are photographed every day.

  • Sebastiao Moreira/EPA

    A woman looks at drawings by painter Gil Vicente on display at the 29th Sao Paulo Art Biennial, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The drawings presented in an exhibition entitled Inimigos (Enemies), show the artist pointing a gun at prominent personalities, such as Pope Benedict XVI and former US President George W. Bush. The exhibition runs until 29 September.

    Controversial collection

  • Saurabh Das/AP

    Children fly kites as the moon rises in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Sept. 19, 2010.

    Kites of hope

    Editing the daily wirephotos from Afghanistan usually involves an unending parade of images of war, barren landscapes and poverty. I was struck by the beauty of this image.

    Lt. Joseph R. Holstead, USN, blogged about what he saw the previous evening in Kabul:

    As I stood on the roof of the Ministry of Interior headquarters last evening in Kabul, waiting to make the trip across town to an Afghan National Security Forces and Independent Election Commission (IEC) joint press conference on the historic Parliamentary elections, my colleagues and I were struck by seeing the more than three dozen kites flying around all areas of the city.
    Whether or not one has read the book, Kite Runner, it was one of those moments: the citizens of Kabul had voted and the kites, like hope, were soaring.

  • Nicky Loh / Reuters

    A man reacts as his umbrella snaps against strong winds as Typhoon Fanapi hits Taipei, Sept. 19. Business stopped in Taiwan on Sunday as the mid-strength typhoon made landfall, bringing heavy rains and strong wind gusts as officials scrambled to prevent a repeat of the devastation caused by a 2009 storm. Typhoon Fanapi, Taiwan's most severe storm so far in 2010 with wind gusts of up to 123 mph, had cancelled all domestic flights and a handful of international ones on Sunday.

    Inside out

    This is one of those little moments in life to which we can all relate.

  • Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA

    David Payne, brother of the Church of the Lord Jesus' pastor, Harvey Payne, picks up his snake box, which contains two copperheads, from the back of his pick-up before homecoming service at the church in West Virginia, USA, 04 September 2010. The Church of the Lord Jesus is one of America's last 'Signs' churches, a folk religion that encourages worshippers to speak in tongues and to handle serpents. Popular throughout Appalachia in the 1920s, the practice is rooted in a Biblical passage from the Book of Mark.

    Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA

    Rufus 'Buddy' Jewell holds a timber rattlesnake as he prays during the church's homecoming service.

    Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA

    Member Justin Fletcher (L) is anointed with oil as member Nancy Kennedy (R) whirls in a trance and speaks in tongues.

    Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA

    A handwritten sign on the altar of the Church of the Lord Jesus warns members of the consequences of picking up snakes and drinking strychnine.

    Handling snakes

    Would you handle a poisonous snake?

  • Chao Yl / EPA

    General view of the production hall of a new cigarette factory in Changchun in northeast China's Jilin province 17 September 2010. Despite the announcement of banning smoking in public spaces next year, China's cigarette sales still enjoyed growth of 16.7% in the first half of this year.

    Inside a cigarette factory

    It's not surprising that there would be a lot of cigarettes in a cigarette factory, but it's still impressive to see them.

  • (AP Photo/El Diario de Juarez, Ricardo Lopez)

    A Mexican policeman works in the scene where photojournalist Luis Carlos Santiago, of El Diario newspaper, was killed by gunmen and a colleague from the same newspaper was seriously hurt in a parking lot in Mexico's most dangerous city of Ciudad Juarez, on the US border, on Thursday, September 16, 2010. Santiago, 21, who started working at the newspaper two weeks ago, and fellow photojournalist Carlos Sanchez, an intern, were attacked as they left their offices, according to El Diario de Juarez news director Pedro Torres. Sanchez was seriously wounded. This is the second attack against reporters of El Diario and comes almost a year after the death of reporter Armando Rodriguez who was shot outside his house.

    (AP Photo/El Diario de Juarez, Ricardo Lopez)

    El Diario de Juarez photojournalist Christian Torres, colleague of Luis Carlos Santiago who was killed, reacts at the scene of the crime at a shopping mall parking lot in the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Thursday Sept. 16, 2010.

    Photojournalist killed in Mexican border city

    Gunmen attacked two newspaper photographers Thursday in the drug war-torn border city of Ciudad Juarez, killing one and seriously wounding the other. Read the full story here

    Update: Mexico paper asks drug cartels what they can print without the risk of murder.

  • P. J. Hahn / Plaquemines Parish Coastal Zone Management via Reuters

    An overall view of a massive fish kill in the Bayou Chaland area of Plaquemines Parish is pictured in this handout photograph taken on September 10, 2010 and released on September 14, 2010. The cause of the fish kill has not yet been determined, but the area they were discovered in was impacted by oil from the BP oil spill. Among the fish dead were menhaden, pogie fish, redfish, shrimp, crabs and freshwater eels.

    Explaining a fish kill

    The image of a massive fish die-off—so thick it made a canal near Venice, La. look like a gravel road –was first broadcast by a television station in New Orleans on Tuesday, and then quickly made its way around the Internet. Given the recent history of that area, many observers immediately jumped to the conclusion that the fish were killed by exposure to oil or dispersants from the Deepwater rig disaster offshore.

    Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser called for testing to determine the precise cause. However, Fish and Wildlife officials say that the dead fish likely succumbed to low oxygen levels when the tide went out, leaving thousands—mostly a bait fish known as menhaden—stranded in shallow bayou waters. Click here to watch an NBC News video on the fish kill.

  • Robert F. Bukaty / AP

    Roy Morejon wipes dew off the windshield of his lobster boat at sunrise Sept. 16, in South Freeport, Maine.

    Konstantin Chernichkin / Reuters

    An ultra-orthodox Jewish man prays as other dance on the banks of a lake in the town of Uman, some 200 km (124 miles) south of Kiev, Sept. 9. Thousands of Jewish pilgrims arrive every year on Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year, at the tomb of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov in Uman.

    PETER DASILVA / EPA

    Firefighters protect the exposure of a house after a massive explosion and fire in San Bruno, close to San Francisco, late Sept. 9. Dozens of houses were wiped out and at least four people were killed.

    AARON FAVILA / AP

    Rescued Pakistanis takes cover from the downdraft of a Pakistan Navy helicopter during evacuation operations at flood affected Fareedabad, Dadu district, southern Pakistan on Sept. 15.

    FABIO MUZZI / AFP - Getty Images

    A photo taken on Sept. 13, in the Tuscany countryside shows two rainbows after a thunderstorm.

    The Week in Pictures: Outtakes

    Check out the pictures that didn't make the cut this week. To see the latest edition of the slideshow, click here.

  • NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Project

    These one-light-year-tall pillars of cold hydrogen and dust, imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope, are located in the Carina Nebula.

    Melting ice cream in space

    I love the Hubble team's write-up of this image.

    "Enjoying a frozen treat on a hot summer day can leave a sticky mess as it melts in the Sun and deforms. In the cold vacuum of space, there is no edible ice cream, but there is radiation from massive stars that is carving away at cold molecular clouds, creating bizarre, fantasy-like structures."

    This image is a composite of Hubble observations taken of the Carina Nebula region in 2005 in hydrogen light (light emitted by hydrogen atoms) along with observations taken in oxygen light (light emitted by oxygen atoms) in 2010, both times with Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys. The immense Carina Nebula is an estimated 7,500 light-years away in the southern constellation Carina.

  • Yves Herman/Reuters

    Belgian cooks toast at a event known as "Dinner in the Sky" as they are seated around tables that are lifted by a crane in front of the Atomium, a 335-foot tall structure and its nine spheres, built for the 1958 World Fair, in Brussels September 16, 2010.

    Yves Herman/Reuters

    The "Dinner in the Sky" platform is suspended in front of the Atomium. The even is hosted at a table that accommodates 26 people around tables suspended at a height of 50 meters by a crane.

    Dinner in the Sky

    I've heard of "view" restaurants, but this takes it to a whole new level. I'm not sure I would be comfortable fastening my seatbelt before eating dinner.

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