Photography

Big picture of Ramadan 2010

Big Picture covers Ramadan 2010. I am not even religious myself, but I still find the image very powerful. So powerful in fact, that I couldn’t select one to give a taste. I had to pick a few. Make sure you see them and more in large. Stunning!

Russia in color, 100 years ago

Big Picture has yet another amazing collection of photographs. This time it consists of color pictures of Russia, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and a few other areas a whole century ago. Some of these images are beautiful. Like this picture of Nikolaevskii Cathedral from southwest in Mozhaisk in 1911.

When I see things like this, it often makes me think about the church and how it abuses and explores the poor people. It’s not only now, it must have always been like this.

Or here is another picture. Pinkhus Karlinskii, eighty-four years old with sixty-six years of service. Photo taken in 1909.

Just think about it! It’s not a painting, but a photograph, and a colored one at that, of someone who was born around 1825! Almost two centuries ago. Wow!

Youth Olympics 2010, Singapore

If you have never heard about Youth Olympics Games, don’t worry. Not many people did, I guess. 2010 is the first year that the event has been organized and hosted in Singapore. If it wasn’t for the Big Picture blog, I would’ve still not known about it though. There are a few excellent pictures here.

Subjects of microphotography

Have a look at these photos. They were taken through an electronic microscope. Some of the creatures you know – things like ants, wasps, and flies. Others you don’t. But the pictures are stunning anyway. Alien-like organisms on our own planet. Just too tiny for us to see.

Big picture of same-sex marriage

The latest post in Big Picture blog covers the subject of the same-sex marriage. Being a huge fan of the blog, I feel responsible to share these pictures too. The pictures themselves are beautiful, irrelevant of what you think about the subject. That’s just great photography.

Now on to the subject. There are a few things that I want to make clear, and even if I said them before, I want to emphasize them once again.

I am not against gay marriage. If that’s your thing – knock yourself out.
I am against calling it marriage. Maybe it’s just me, but the word “marriage” has a very precise meaning. The same way I don’t call people who live together and have children together married, unless they went through a specific process, I don’t want to call same-sex unions “marriages”. Just find another word for it. That’s all I’m asking, and I don’t think that’s too much. You can enjoy all the same rights married people do. Just don’t call it “marriage”. Because it’s not.
I consider the argument “Why do you care if it does not involve you?” stupid. Not dumb or silly, but stupid. Gay marriage is not about me or you. It is about the society in which we live. And that does involve both me and you. Asking why I care is similar to asking why I care about the Gulf oil spill or a tsunami in Asia. Those things do not involve me, and do not directly affect my daily life. But they have big impact on the society in which we live. And that’s why I care. Even if I can’t do much about it.

I think that’s all I wanted to say today. But feel free to continue the discussion in the comments.