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A letter writer asks if we had a photo of Bruce Springsteen holding up a "Steensboro" banner at his concert in Greensboro Saturday night.

We have a lot, but not that one, as the editor's note explains. I'm sure that one of the thousands of attendees does. Send it to us so that we can share it with others.

Update: Ask and ye shall receive.

Last night's Carolina-Duke game was one for the ages -- or at least for February 2009.

Here are some additional photos that photographer Nelson Kepley shot.

But for a look at the more affectionate side of Nelson, check out photo 41 on the N&O's slideshow. That's Ty Lawson he's cradling in his lap.

From the front page of the New York Times today:

President Obama's order freezing the salaries of his senior aides and the pen he used to sign it. Doug Mills/The New York Times

Answering the burning question, how many news photographers does it take to shoot a pen.

It is rare that the New York Times uses the same front page centerpiece treatment that we do, but designers for the two papers obviously hit upon the same idea last night. Today's front pages:

The national-focused centerpiece, while common for the Times, is unusual for us. But President Bush's last news conference, particularly with the president's retrospection, seemed worth it. Plus, we didn't have anything local that was more compelling. Also interesting from an inside baseball point of view: Our mugshots of the prez are different from the Times' and are taken by different photographers.

Saturday update: Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post has his own update with a caption contest! (Via Casey Durango on Twitter.)

Like probably every newspaper in the country, we have gotten letters about our biased coverage of the current war being waged in the Mideast. It happens every time Israel and Palestine Hamas shoot at each other. I was thinking about writing about it, but Clark Hoyt, public editor at the Times, does it for me, and so much better.

David K. Shipler, a former Times correspondent who won a Pulitzer Prize for his book "Arab and Jew: Wounded Spirits in a Promised Land," said in an interview that each side firmly believes it is the victim in the struggle. "Any fair-minded coverage has to shatter that paradigm," he said. "Both sides are both victims and perpetrators at the same time."

Most of the criticism I've received centers on the use of photographs that show the destruction of one side or the other. If we show the results of Israel bombs, we must give Palestinian attacks equal time. One correspondent complained specifically about our use of AP photos by Hatem Moussa, noting that his first name says it all.

Hoyt points out that Israel has barred journalists from entering Gaza and newspapers must rely on pictures taken by Palestinian photographers.

But most of the destruction is in Gaza, and news photographs are not about blame but about showing what happened. Demolished buildings and dead bodies provide dramatic images; fear in Israel is more difficult to capture with a camera. "There’s nothing fair in war photography," Witty said. "It's tragic."

We are planning a special section for the presidential inauguration. As part of that, we're going to create a photographic mosaic in the shape of Obama's face using photos of readers.

Want to help us? E-mail us a picture of yourself -- a mugshot, as opposed to a full body shot -- or a loved one. You'll be part of a unique front page and have a special keepsake.

Earlier this month, we published a photo package of Sen. Obama's visit to Greensboro. Several people thought that that showed our bias, given that the package came several days after Obama's appearance. I said that we would do the same if and when Sen. McCain came to town.

McCain hasn't made it back to Greensboro, but Gov. Palin came to Elon last Thursday. That's close enough.

Tomorrow -- on our regular Thursday Life photo page -- we are publishing some of the snaps from the Palin rally.

Southern High School student Scotty Wayne died in an automobile accident last week.

Last Friday's football game was an emotional heart-wrencher. The story conveys it.

The multi-media show opens the flood gates. Go ahead and cry.

Update: Greg Mitchell at E&P picks up this post and improves it with video from the FoxNews morning show. (Although the Fox crew isn't nearly as incisive as this post.)

This is either proof that men run the AP or that Gov. Palin comes by her aversion of the media elite honestly.

Supporters watch as Republican presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and vice presidential running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, legs visible in foreground, participate in a rally in Allentown, Pa., Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2008

For some reason, AP photographer Gerald Herbert snapped this shot, and for, I guess, the same reason, AP sent it out.

He wasn't the only photographer interested in Palin's gams. So was Carlos Barria of Reuters.

But maybe it wasn't her legs as much as it was the young male supporter in the pink shirt!

Guess not.

It will be interesting to see if any newspapers run the photos. Incidentally, the AP didn't move any snaps of Joe Biden's legs. Thank goodness for small favors.

Update: Brian Cubbison says it's the shoes, not the legs.

Editor & Publisher's blog says that a photo of Christopher Crotty on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange rubbing his eyes in distress was much published in newspapers across the country.

With respect to Crotty, his image of distress can't be more widely circulated that Elizabeth Rose's. She is a specialist with Lehman and was captured by an AP photographer here:

and a New York Times photographer here:

And then, during happier days -- Sept. 5 -- and a different AP photographer:

Are there only two traders left on Wall Street?

Some folks on the Debatables blog are debating our photo of Maurice Green, the candidate for school superintendent from Charlotte-Meck schools. One e-mailed me and the editor of The Charlotte Observer about the photo.

While the published photo probably won't qualify as a mug shot, it appears to be one more associated with a criminal than that of a professional. Clearly public perceptions of these type of images can not be understated, and it simply was not a good impression for a man who has less than 48 hours to make one with the residents of Guilford County. The sad reality is that many have already formed their opinion of this man solely based upon this published picture.

When the names of the two superintendent finalists were announced Monday evening, we requested the home papers of the candidates -- the Observer and the Laurinburg Exchange -- to send us photos. When the photos came to us, we had a traditional posed photo of Dr. Prince at her desk and an action shot of Mr. Green. To make them size equivalent, we cropped both down to mugshot size. While I quibble with the e-mailer that Mr. Green's makes him look like a criminal, I understand his point.

Here's the original photo we received from the Observer.

Seeing the entire photo shows the context of Mr. Green's facial expression. He was standing, clearly about to answer a seated questioner in the audience. Cropping the image down to a mugshot makes him look less flattering. That wasn't intentional.

We will have different photos of both candidates today as they make their first public appearances in Greensboro.

From Lex:

We need more readers this devoted.

Indeed. But can we get copies to the southern provinces in time?

That is is the police department's mugshot of Jonathan Newell, who was arrested last night and charged with first-degree murder.

Is it just me or is it disconcerting to see the guy accused of strangling a 26-year-old woman in her home smiling at the camera?

Does it bias your perception of his guilt or innocence?

In my house, my wife's morning mood is closely tied to coffee and the newspaper. When she has the caffeine and the paper and ink, she is on her game. When one of the two are missing, watch out.

I hear from a decent number of people that their mornings follow the same trajectory. (I love these people!)

Juan Antonio Giner has been posting photos of this worldwide morning ritual. It's a fun series. He refers to it as a new metric: The future of newspapers depends … on how many people drink coffee while reading newspapers.

(Personally, I'm thinking that he's missing the third element -- cigarettes -- but the tobacco industry has its own challenges.)

Anyway, I'm afraid his is not a new metric but rather it's an old one. This is a ritual that the Greatest Generation and the Boomers have. A part of me wishes that more of X'ers and Y'ers practiced it, too. But there are plenty of inspirational images to go around. The next photos to post, Juan Antonio, are of people drinking coffee and reading, listening and watching the news on their computers and PDAs.

Ken Otterbourg at the Winston-Salem Journal writes about a not uncommon occurrence at newspapers: Photo subjects messing with you.

We've had high school students give us fake names to go into captions or, worse, give us a real name of one of their pals as a prank on us and their friend. Those are hard to prevent short of demanding a photo ID of everyone in a photograph.

I don't recall a photo we took with someone inconspicuously or inadvertently giving the camera the finger, but I've seen it in other photographs. Otterbourg tells of a picture they published that inspired one reader to complain about the coarse gesture. (Unfortunately, Otterbourg printed the letter from the reader verbatim, an action with no discernible purpose except to embarrass the writer.)

I'll end as he has: You be the editor. Would you have run the photograph?

We were one of the 150+ newspapers that published the photo of the dirty, bloody, exhausted Marine on our front page back in 2004. The powerful photo of James Blake Miller, soon dubbed the "Marlboro Marine," took on a life of its own.

Here's the rest of the sad story, three years later.