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- • Note from the author - some small changes - 08.29
- • Scenes from Rio de Janeiro - 08.27
- • Beijing 2008 - It's a wrap - 08.25
Archive for August 2008
| August 29, 2008 |  Permalink |
London from above, at night
With the end of the Olympics in Beijing, all eyes turned for a moment to London, site of the upcoming 2012 Summer Olympics. While looking for good photographs of London, I was contacted by London photographer Jason Hawkes, who had some wonderful images of London, seen from above at night (from a helicopter, to be exact) - some of which which he's agreed to let me share here. From Jason: "Shooting aerial photography during the daytime had its own difficulties, you are strapped tightly into a harness leaning out of the helicopter, shouting directions through the headsets to the pilot. If shooting in the day can be difficult, night and the lack of light causes its own set of problems, but overcoming them is half the fun and the results can be stunning. I shoot at night using the very latest digital cameras, mounted on either one or two gyro stablazied mounts, depending on the format of the camera and length of lens I'm having to use." (19 photos total)
| August 29, 2008 | Permalink |
Note from the author - some small changes
I've made a few changes to the layout of The Big Picture today, hoping to make the experience a little better for everyone. 1) Starting this week, all photos in entries will have numbers in the captions, and permalinks so it will be much easier to refer to an individual image in the comments, or by using a URL. 2) Archives and categories are much easier to find now, at the top of the page. 3) The layout of the comments has been tightened up a tiny bit, and the HTML cleaned up, so entries with more than a few hundred comments should load much faster now. 4) a few other cosmetic changes, but importantly, the size and layout of the images (the focus of the blog) has not changed. A(n) FAQ has also been written up, please let me know if there's anything missing from that.
Also, please let me know what you think of the changes - or if you spot any bugs in layout or display. Don't be shy (I know you're not). Thanks.
| August 27, 2008 | Permalink |
Scenes from Rio de Janeiro
A recent large-scale project by the photographer named JR has focused attention on women - relatives of victims of violence - by displaying their large portraits in one of Rio de Janeiro's hardest hit neighborhoods. Though Rio is blessed with natural beauty and climate, it still struggles with large disparities between rich and poor, and many of the six million residents reside in hillside slums called favelas. Here are some views of Rio de Janeiro over the past few months. (15 photos total)
View of the facade of some houses at the "Morro da Providencia" favela, one of the most violent of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, taken on August 20, 2008. The French photographer identified as JR is launching a project called "Women Are Heroes", through which the photographs of women, relatives of the victims of clashes between the police and drug traffickers, were placed in the facades of the houses. This project already took place in Sudan, Sierra Leone, Kenya and Liberia, and will be taken to India, Cambodia, Laos and Morocco after Brazil. (VANDERLEI ALMEIDA/AFP/Getty Images)
| August 25, 2008 | Permalink |
Beijing 2008 - It's a wrap
Over the past couple of weeks, in Beijing, China, over 11,000 athletes from more than 200 countries participated in 302 events in 28 sports. below are some highlights of the last week in Beijing, and a few shots of the Closing Ceremony last night in the National Stadium. (39 photos total)
Left-to-right: Netherlands Antilles' Churandy Martina, Zimbabwe's Brian Dzingai, Jamaica's Usain Bolt, Wallace Spearmon of the US and Britain's Christian Malcolm compete in the men's 200m final at the Bird's Nest National Stadium during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games on August 20, 2008. Bolt went on to win the event, in a world record time of 19.3 seconds. (Olivier Morin/AFP)
| August 15, 2008 | Permalink |
Big Picture on Vacation
The Big Picture will be on hold next week, since I will be out on vacation, so no posts next week, sorry (I know, I know, I'm probably missing out on some amazing Olympics photos!) Posts will resume as normal, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, starting August 25th.
| August 15, 2008 | Permalink |
Women's Olympic Fencing
Spectators at the fencing competition at the Olympics are often treated to some dramatic, emotional scenes - played out by passionate competitors dressed all in white, hi-tech gear, meeting inside a large darkened stadium. It also makes for some dramatic imagery, which I'll share with you here -- 16 scenes from recent women's fencing matches in Beijing. (16 photos total)
China's Zhang Lei reacts to losing the Women's individual Foil round of 16 match to Italy's Maria Valentina Vezzali (unseen) on August 11, 2008 at the Fencing Hall of National Convention center, as part of the 2008 Beijing Olympic games. Vezzali won 10-7. (ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP/Getty Images)
| August 13, 2008 | Permalink |
The New King of Tonga
On August 1st, the Kingdom of Tonga crowned its newest ruler, King George Tupou V. In a ceremony that lasted for days, and cost over $2.5 million (US), the 60-year old King was crowned as one of the few remaining monarchs with true ruling power - but that is about to change. In 2006, pro-democracy riots shook the small island nation of 112,000. The coronation was postponed, and now King George pledges that "The Sovereign of the only Polynesian kingdom... is voluntarily surrendering his powers to meet the democratic aspirations of many of his people." He promised to cede most power to a prime minister, and to hold parliamentary elections in 2010. (14 photos total)
The King of Tonga George Tupou V, right, is crowned by His Grace the Archbishop Jabez Bryce in Nuku'aloka,Tonga, Friday, Aug. 1, 2008. The coronation, which included singing by a choir of more than 300, was the first in Tonga since 1967 when King George V's father, the late King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV, ascended to the throne. (AP Photo/New Zealand Herald)
| August 11, 2008 | Permalink |
War in South Ossetia
On Thursday, August 7th, Georgian armed forces entered into the breakaway region of South Ossetia to assert Georgian governance of the region - a de facto (yet largely unrecognized) independent republic that has support from neighboring Russia. Russia responded on August 8th by sending its own military into Georgia - not only into region of South Ossetia - but also into the nearby breakaway republic of Abkhazia and deeper into Georgia itself. Many Airstrikes and ground skirmishes have taken place since, with several parties calling for a cease-fire, but no agreement as yet. Those paying the highest price for the war are the South Ossetian civilians, which may have suffered (depending on who is reporting) between 100 and 2,000 deaths to date. (29 photos total)
A convoy of Russian troops makes its way through the Caucasus Mountains toward the armed conflict between Georgian troops and separatist South Ossetian troops, in the South Ossetian village of Dzhaba on August 9, 2008. Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili declared a "state of war" as his troops battled it out with Russian forces over the breakaway province of South Ossetia. (Dmitry Kostyukov/AFP)
| August 8, 2008 | Permalink |
2008 Olympics Opening Ceremony
Beijing held its formal opening ceremony today for the 2008 Summer Olympics. The ceremony, held in the National Stadium known as the Bird's Nest, was attended by thousands, and watched by millions more on television. Below are some highlights of the nearly 4-hour performance. (24 photos total)
A dancer performs during the Opening Ceremony for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics at the National Stadium on August 8, 2008 in Beijing, China. (Jeff Gross/Getty Images)
| August 6, 2008 | Permalink |
Total solar eclipse of 2008
On August 1st, 2008, starting in the morning, over northern Canada, observers on Earth could watch this years only total solar eclipse. While a partial eclipse could be seen over a larger area, the shadow of totality passed over Greenland, Norway and Russia, then evaporated into the night sky over China. Here you will find a collection of photographs of this eclipse, and people here on Earth, taking it all in. (18 photos total) (Also, for more Boston Globe Photography - be sure to check out our new Globe Photography page)
A camel is silhouetted against the sun partly blocked by the moon during a solar eclipse in Gaotai, Gansu province August 1, 2008. (REUTERS/Aly Song)
| August 4, 2008 | Permalink |
Riding the waves
Riding big waves or small, or riding the wind and catching some air, people across the world have been busy surfing over the past few months - in competitions, as therapy, or just for serious fun. Here, you'll find a collection of images of people recently enjoying the surf in several ways. (23 photos total)
In this handout photo provided by Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) and Covered Images, Andy Irons of the United States of America competes in round two during the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay, part of the ASP World Tour at Supertubes on July 11, 2008 in Jeffreys Bay, South Africa. (Kelly Cestari/Covered Images/ASP via Getty Images)
| August 1, 2008 | Permalink |
Large Hadron Collider nearly ready
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a 27 kilometer (17 mile) long particle accelerator straddling the border of Switzerland and France, is nearly set to begin its first particle beam tests. The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) is preparing for its first small tests in early August, leading to a planned full-track test in September - and the first planned particle collisions before the end of the year. The final step before starting is the chilling of the entire collider to -271.25 C (-456.25 F). Here is a collection of photographs from CERN, showing various stages of completion of the LHC and several of its larger experiments (some over seven stories tall), over the past several years. (27 photos total)
View of the CMS (Compact Muon Solenoid) experiment Tracker Outer Barrel (TOB) in the cleaning room. The CMS is one of two general-purpose LHC experiments designed to explore the physics of the Terascale, the energy region where physicists believe they will find answers to the central questions at the heart of 21st-century particle physics. (Maximilien Brice, © CERN)