Big Picture Photoblog ( Bostonglobe)

• Olympics 2012: Carrying the flame May 30, 2012
  Earlier this month in Greece, the Olympic flame began its ceremonial journey to the site of the Summer Games in London. The flame is being carried in a relay by some 8,000 torchbearers to spread the message of peace, unity, and friendship over 70 days until it arrives at the opening ceremonies on July 27. -- Lloyd Young -- Editor's note: We'll be p […]
• Finding community in America's Appalachian region May 25, 2012
  Getty Images photographer, Mario Tama, spent time in and around Owsley County, Kentucky documenting the life and times of some of it's 5,000 residents. The 2010 U.S. Census listed Owsley County as having the lowest median household income in the country outside of Puerto Rico, with 41.5% of residents living below the poverty line. Familial and community […]
• Joplin tornado: One year later May 24, 2012
  The city of Joplin, Mo., on Tuesday marked a year since a tornado struck, killing 161 people and destroying a third of city. Many people marched during a “Day of Unity’’ through the city’s hardest hit areas. The tornado destroyed or damaged thousands of structures, including the high school and St. John's Regional Medical Center, both of which are being […]
• Ring of Fire Eclipse: 2012 May 21, 2012
  A rare annular eclipse - a ring of sunlight as the new moon, passing between Earth and sun, blocks most, but not all, of the sun's disc. It is striking to see. Differing from a total solar eclipse, the moon in an annular eclipse appears too small to cover the sun completely, leaving a ring of fire effect around the moon. The eclipse cast its shallow pat […]
• Daily Life: May 2012 May 18, 2012
  Thousands of images are supplied by multiple wire services to newspapers across the country each day. Many of those images depict ordinary scenes of life in different countries around the world. There are three picture editors that contribute to the Big Picture blog, each of them seeing the world in a little bit of a different way. Their backgrounds, their e […]
• Ways of the wind May 16, 2012
  It's something often ignored unless it's annoying, harnessed for sport or energy, the cause of great damage, or sometimes used for fun. Wind is simply defined as "a natural movement of air of any velocity." Here is a collection of images showing its effects on us and nature. -- Lloyd Young(40 photos total)A woman grips her umbrella agains […]
• Food and nutrition crisis in Sahel region of Africa May 11, 2012
  A potentially catastrophic food crisis in the Sahel region of West and Central Africa could affect as many as one million children. The food and nutrition crisis resulting from a severe drought, threatens the survival of an entire generation of children. Those children in eight countries - Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger, Cameroon, Nigeria and […]
• Victory Day 2012 May 9, 2012
  Russia and former Soviet republics marked the 67 years since the Allied victory over Nazi Germany in World War II today. Russia's newly inaugurated President Vladimir Putin promised a strong Russia during a speech he delivered during a military parade at Red Square in Moscow. The Soviet Union lost an estimated 26 million people in the war, including 8.5 […]
• Supermoon: the perigee moon of 2012 May 7, 2012
  The night sky on May 5 was animated by the once-a-year cosmic event of the perigee moon. Popularly known as the "Supermoon", the moon appears much larger above us when the elliptical orbit brings it within 221,802 miles to Earth, the closest point. The effect is magnified during a full moon, when we see our nearest celestial neighbor appear roughly […]
• Afghanistan, May 2012 May 4, 2012
  With well over a year before American forces pull out of Afghanistan, the conflict there drags on. Every month in The Big Picture, we feature a selection of recent images of events there, from the soldiers and insurgents at war, the people longing for peace, and daily life and culture in the country of 29 million. Afghanistan remains among the world's p […]