A sumptuous new collection of poems about specific photographs shows how the moment in time captured by camera can inspire a verbal work of art as well. Also, why do we say that a quarterback got sacked? Plus, If you’re planning to vacation at a...
Ekphrasis is the literary device of depicting a visual work with a verbal description. A new anthology, Ensnaring the Moment: On the Intersection of Poetry and Photography, gathers the ekphrastic poetry of more than 100 poets writing specifically in...
Jen from Omaha, Nebraska, wonders about a phrase that her father used. He’d say Not on your tintype! meaning “Not on your life!” Another version is Nixie on your tintype! This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Not...
Katie, a biology professor in San Diego, California, reports that her students use low-key in ways she’s not used to hearing, as in I was low-key lost in class today, meaning “I was sort of lost in class today.” Linguists Pamela...
Say cheese! isn’t the only phrase photographers use to get people to smile. Sometimes French speakers ask the subject of a photo to say ouistiti, which means “marmoset.” Omniglot has a collection of these terms from photographers...
What is a cucoloris? This lighting grate, which also goes by such names as cookie, gobo, and dapple sheet, is used in photography to cast a dramatic shadow. There are lots of spellings of this word, including cuculoris, kookaloris, cookaloris, and...

