from Vesak Day at the Big Picture
Have you heard of The Big Picture? It's a regular photo essay feature from the Boston Globe. Journalists and news outlets have access to a stunningly beautiful array of photos capturing a lot that goes on in the world in a medium much more vivid than most text-based reporting. It's great at bringing to life other cultures, the effect of tragedies, and some of our great achievements. Each photo in the essay benefits from the context of the photos that join it, increasing the impact over a lone, singular shot I might normally encounter on the web. I don't always enjoy what I see: there's little to enjoy when tougher topics such as victims of war and flooding look me directly in the eye, but I need to see it occasionally to maintain a relevant sense of reality.
My favourite way to enjoy the Big Picture is with my girlfriend. Going through 30-40 pictures per essay can take a little time, especially when we've let multiple essays accumulate, so we don't always have a convenient moment to both sit down. But when we do, I get to enjoy the beauty of the world with her, I get to hear some of her reactions, I get to commiserate over sadness, I get to co-babble over the amazing, and I get to learn something new with her. It can give us a rich, new piece of context that we can share.
There are some experiences a lot of us have in common. Generations that grow up together in front of TVs can bond over My Little Pony or (almost universally) the Simpsons. I like the idea of having The Big Picture in common. I mean, those cranberry fields around Thanksgiving, they're amazing to see!
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