top 200 commentsshow all 492

[–]kid_z 677 points678 points  (75 children)

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I work at Boston.com too, as an interactive designer (that means I make web ads. woo!). I usually dress like a slob but today I am wearing a nice button down aqua shirt. I am 22 years old but I probably look closer to 18. We have never exchanged words but I see you pretty much every day. I am probably sitting no more than 20 feet from you as I write this.

My question: do you know who I am??

[–]kokogiak[S] 548 points549 points  (68 children)

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If you sit 3 desks down from Kathy, then yes. if not, then I'm a clown who doesn't remember names or faces very well, apologies for that.

[–]kid_z 483 points484 points  (66 children)

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haha! yeah, that's me. kathy is sick today.

my name is eric, by the way.

also, i love reddit and its really cool seeing boston.com on the front page just about every other week. so thanks for that and good job with everything.

[–]popsicle 594 points595 points  (56 children)

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damn, introduced on the internet when you are no more than 20 feet from each other. i have mixed feelings about this.

[–]kid_z 477 points478 points  (42 children)

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I have mild social anxiety disorder! Anyway, Alan came by my desk moments after I posed that and we gave formal introductions. Very nice guy! Also, this has been my favorite reddit moment.

[–]Poromenos 277 points278 points * (33 children)

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Wait until you get the 70,000 karma rimjob.

[–][deleted] 618 points619 points  (18 children)

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*sigh*

the people i hate most are the people who put 70,000 karma rims on a 200 karma car.

[–][deleted]  (6 children)

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[deleted]

    [–]catinahat1 115 points116 points  (5 children)

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    Your password isn't password3. WTF dude.

    [–]diggthis 90 points91 points  (1 child)

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    duped. on the internet of all places...

    [–]reverendchubbs 9 points10 points  (1 child)

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    It used to be. They changed the password after liking the account too much.

    [–]brainiac256 9 points10 points  (0 children)

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    Go hunter2 your hunter2ing hunter2.

    [–]breaddit 60 points61 points  (3 children)

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    well, can't upvote that enough.

    [–]donutparty 34 points35 points  (2 children)

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    This is just adorable.

    [–]roger_ 41 points42 points  (0 children)

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    They should fall in love and get married, they already have the perfect 'how we met' story.

    [–]skippy17 6 points7 points * (3 children)

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    social anxiety disorder, aka sad :(

    [–][deleted]  (2 children)

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    [deleted]

      [–][deleted] 5 points6 points  (1 child)

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      don't you take slightly apelike disorder away from me! I'm sad!

      [–][deleted] 40 points41 points  (12 children)

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      People sometimes won't speak if not required, unless they find something in common. :]

      [–]mmurph 36 points37 points  (11 children)

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      especially in Boston, haha

      [–]Armitage1 100 points101 points  (10 children)

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      Hey, I work at Boston.com too!! Wow, what a crazy coincidence! I'm actually your boss's boss and YOU ARE BOTH FIRED for surfing reddit instead of doing your job. Oh, and tell Kathy she's fired too, she coughed on me and now my whole family is sick.

      [–]OtisDElevator 52 points53 points * (9 children)

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      I am a Reddit addict. I am also the the primary shareholder of Boston.com. I approve that Eric and Alan are raising the interweb profile of Boston.com and earning me pots of cash.

      YOU ARE BOTH REINSTATED.

      Mr. boss's boss is now cleaning the second floor restroom and Kathy will get the employee of the month award for October.

      edit: orange up-arrows all around too!

      [–][deleted] 94 points95 points  (4 children)

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      The people doing the sacking have also been sacked.

      [–]followthesinner 16 points17 points  (3 children)

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      The only reason this doesn't have a ton of upvotes is people fast forward that part.

      [–][deleted] 8 points9 points  (3 children)

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      I won't ride any elevator that isn't an Otis.

      Which makes for occasional amusing times as sometimes I have to get on the elevator to check if it is an Otis and then quickly get off if I discover it isn't. Also en route to meetings and such, or with random people they treat me like a crazy person when I tell them that I can't ride the elevator because it isn't an Otis.

      Same goes for escalators.

      [–]kragnax 13 points14 points  (0 children)

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      they treat me like a crazy person

      I regret to inform you that your test came back positive for crazy.

      [–]NelsonMuntz 58 points59 points  (5 children)

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      GET BACK TO WORK! THIS IS BOTH YOUR BOSSES!

      [–]semi_colon 11 points12 points  (0 children)

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      my name is eric too! holy shit it's a reddit miracle!

      [–]funkshanker 11 points12 points  (0 children)

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      Start dressing more professionally!

      [–]Greengages 4 points5 points  (0 children)

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      Yo Jesus here, hovering above you. I see what you do with the glue, knock it off.

      [–]chozar 170 points171 points  (4 children)

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      Things like The Big Picture is what I imagined the web was designed for. Too many news sites seem to want to take print into the world of the web, and it isn't working. We have high resolution, full color displays. To see gorgeous professional photographs with the resources of a genuine journalism outfit, makes me think that the dream of the web has come true. Tiny thumbnails off to the side is all most publications have, it is usually worse quality than what you can get in print.

      [–]kokogiak[S] 120 points121 points  (3 children)

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      My thoughts exactly.

      [–][deleted] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

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      Even beyond journalism, stuff like real estate websites and sellers of luxury items should post gigantic, hi-res photos. There's no reason why I should be squinting at a 300px-wide image to judge the value of your home.

      [–]tholex 438 points439 points  (28 children)

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      I'd just like to say that it is purely awesome. Thank you!

      [–]kokogiak[S] 313 points314 points  (24 children)

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      You're welcome.

      It's a weird thing getting a constant stream of praise for this. On the one hand, it's awesome, on the other, I think a lot of the praise should really go to the photographers who make the magic happen with their gear, their vision, and their efforts. Sometimes I really feel just like a conduit between the amazing stories/images and the rest of the world.

      [–]atheist_creationist 135 points136 points * (3 children)

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      But to be fair, you've done what other online news outlets have outright FAILED to provide. It does a disservice to both the photographer and the public to have crummy click-through tiny thumbnail galleries with deceptive advertisements after every few images.

      Honestly, thank you for doing this, these are the articles I send people. Whenever I look through an edition of The Big Picture I actually feel like I'm getting the sense of what's going on does. I really do see "the big picture."

      [–][deleted] 13 points14 points * (1 child)

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      Yeah. NYT I believe has the best journalism and photojournalism, but Boston consistently shows photo content exactly how it should be shown: not overly edited, nice size, natural, and without a bunch of bullshit.

      Steady performer much liked Cracked's top 10 lists.

      [–]sodypop 126 points127 points  (0 children)

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      Just a conduit.

      You are humble. A conduit delivers content, whether that is electrical cabling, fuel, or data. You select the photos, place them into that awesomely easy to view layout, and add captions which provide the context of what we are looking at.

      It's amazing how I can look at a photo set and be so much more moved than if I had only read a story about the content. You do a tremendous job as a conduit to deliver some pretty amazing content to us. Thank you!

      [–]jambarama 50 points51 points  (2 children)

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      Not only is the content awesome, but the j/k navigation keys are godsend. Thank you.

      [–]wongiseng 15 points16 points  (0 children)

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      I did not notice it was there until I saw your comment. Thanks.

      [–]slackjackal 21 points22 points  (0 children)

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      Don't downmod yourself for being a good middle-man. What you're doing is just as magical. Scrolling through the various pictures is a great way to learn about what's happening out there. It's fast, mind-blowing and most of the time a nice break from reading articles. Also, blows those frustrating slideshows that other sites post out of the water. To reinterate tholex's point, you guys are awesome and keep up the good work.

      [–]kanapka 4 points5 points  (0 children)

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      I'd like to second the thank you. I'm glad at least one website respects photography and gives it a spotlight like yours.

      [–]danman183 8 points9 points  (3 children)

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      How do you choose photographs/photographers? Is there a submission process or do you have photographers under contract?

      [–]kokogiak[S] 8 points9 points  (2 children)

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      As answered elsewhere, they come from wire agencies, or informal contact, like email.

      [–]charlesviper 5 points6 points * (1 child)

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      A classmate of mine in High School got published under the "Remembering Tienanmen". He was simply out and about with his dSLR, taking photos of the festivities. If I wanted to do the same (I'm in Nepal, and Divali is coming up), how would I do it? Who (and when) should I email?

      My point is, he's not signed to any publication or wire, yet you still found his photos.

      [–]kokogiak[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

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      Hmm, not sure of that exact circumstance, but generally, if they aren't agency photos, I find them by A) email from the photographer to me (contact info on my FAQ page), B) seeking out Creative Commons photos on Flickr / Wikimedia Commons / Government websites, C) Directly contacting photographers to ask permission to use copyrighted photos after some other form of discovery (google, word of mouth, etc).

      [–]randomredditor 5 points6 points  (0 children)

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      Wow, so you organize and select all of the photos?

      Did you also happen to select this photo for the atlanta flood after seeing it on reddit?

      [–]quantumofennui 3 points4 points  (0 children)

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      Seconded in a big way. Thank you sincerely!

      [–]develdevil 62 points63 points  (11 children)

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      What is your favorite Big Picture story? Does more mature content come through the wire and you just tap-dance around it? I could certainly use a bit more graphic depictions of violence, sexuality and emotion. Who comes up with the ideas for the collections?

      [–]kokogiak[S] 129 points130 points  (9 children)

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      My favorite to date is probably the Inauguration of Obama - http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/01/the_inauguration_of_president.html - mostly because of the unbelievable outpouring of comments, over 14,000 to date, and so many people speaking directly to Obama, to his family there. It felt great to be host outlet for so much love and praise.

      Yes, much more graphic imagery comes across the wire than I post. In fact, that's probably one of the worst parts of the job, daily exposure to thousands of unedited news photos can really tear you up emotionally. If I feel it's important to a story to run a photo, I will. If I feel it might be sensationalistic or exploitative, I won't. Sometimes I imagine where a photo might end up eventually, lumped into some 'gory pics from the web' folder, dehumanizing the subject, trivializing the event. I'd like to avoid that as best I can by making it contextual and impactful. Less Ogrish, more NatGeo, you know.

      [–]FurryMoistAvenger 6 points7 points  (0 children)

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      My favorite (and everyone here at my office) was Large Hadron Collider nearly ready. You got a lot of bookmarks here for that one.

      [–]nfojones 19 points20 points * (3 children)

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      I really loved the Inauguration set as well and followed your link for a refresher. I was actually surprised to see how many of the last posts say things like this:

      Stay prayerful and serve The Lord with all your might with all your heart and soul and he will direct your path.

      Please Sir, look up to God only and you will not fail.

      JUST PUT GOD FIRST AND EVERYTHING WILL FALL IN PLACE

      Mr. President, be not dismay, for God is with you at ALL times, and He will not fail you. Pay no attention to the satanic critics.

      Honourable Mr President Barack Obama and wife Michelle indeed God's seal is upon you and I believe with this seal you will do wonders to unite the world through the help of Our Lord Jesus Christ. My God richly bless you with wisdom to rule. Trust in the Lord with all your heart , never give chance to satan but with the seal of God to pass through the red sea with victory.

      however i am confident that if you do the will of God , you can be a powerful tool of GOD ... so my earnest request is dont leave God , always seek Him and may he guide you through this journey that you were destined for.

      Belief in god and Christianity aside, this is the #1 thing on these people's minds? That is terrifying. An occasional comment like this is expected but theres so many I want to believe it was a concerted effort as otherwise we're surely doomed.

      Back on topic, I've loved TBP since I first stumbled on it. I really appreciate an organization like yours recognizing the value of putting up such nice and high res pictures. It is without a doubt one of, if not the best picture blog on the net. The only other photo blog I love as much is Shorpy. Is it a favorite of yours too?

      [–]kokogiak[S] 19 points20 points  (0 children)

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      Yeah, Shorpy is all kinds of awesome.

      [–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

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      +1 and orangered envelope for a cool new site, thank you.

      [–][deleted] * (2 children)

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      [deleted]

        [–]kokogiak[S] 42 points43 points * (1 child)

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        Agreed, it's a matter of A) precious time and B) working out the best way to do it.

        Edit: More mapping interaction is definitely on my "to-do" list.

        [–]Saydrah[M] 247 points248 points  (14 children)

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        Verified! Here's a screenshot of the message to Reddit which kokogiak put up temporarily on The Big Picture to show that he's who he says he is. It's down now, but he gave me permission to post the screenshot here.

        [–]kokogiak[S] 188 points189 points  (9 children)

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        Thanks for hooking me up Saydrah

        [–]qgyh2 116 points117 points * (5 children)

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        I don't have a question as such. I just wanted to tell you that what you have done with the big picture, is awesome.

        I love the fact that you can scroll down and view photos instead of next next next...

        [–]BrotherSeamus 30 points31 points  (0 children)

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        I like the fact that you can open the page in the background while you browse somewhere else. When you return to BGBP, all the photos are loaded up and ready to view.

        [–]prettylens 23 points24 points  (3 children)

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        i like the j/k scrolling method! scrolling huge pictures sometimes makes me dizzy

        [–]bolopunch 61 points62 points  (2 children)

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        harden the fuck up, prettylens

        [–]MonumentMan 39 points40 points  (18 children)

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        love the site

        how did you guys decide on the format of the big picture? it's such a different approach. I'm interested in whether you had to really fight to get mgmt to approve the design, or if you just went with it.

        (i used to work for boston.com as a travel writer and found my management to be inane. all they wanted was clicks and they sacrificed all kinds of content to split everything up into multiple pages to drive clicks. glad to see things have changed!)

        [–]kokogiak[S] 80 points81 points * (16 children)

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        I decided on 990px because that's 1024px - about 34 px for scrollbar (to prevent the dreaded horizontal scrollbar). So it was as big as I could reasonble go and still keep everyone happy (including photo agencies).

        I figured the best way to convey the idea was full-scale mockups, which I could show around to everyone. Most people who saw it got it right away, a few weren't that thrilled, but gave me a happy shrugging "go for it". It's hard to explain verbally: "A photo blog, all on one page" "Like a photo of the day thing?" "No, stories - narratives told in big photos", etc. etc.

        [–]badge 12 points13 points * (2 children)

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        Do you think that no-one has used this format before because no-one thought of it (it seems so simple and perfect in retrospect!), or because the pressure for pageviews is so great? Do news agencies have to pay more for higher resolution photos or are they simply trying to find more space for adverts?

        Edited to add: as with everyone, thanks for doing such a great job of getting this wonderful and important photography on the web.

        [–]kokogiak[S] 34 points35 points  (0 children)

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        I can't guess why nobody thought of it before, all I know is that I've heard "why hasn't anyone done this before" a zillion times in the past 18 months.

        [–][deleted] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

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        I had an idea about two years ago for this sort of thing. It would've been like.. a travel/sports blog where someone would go to all sorts of sporting events and document it with 20-24 giant 1024x768 images including arriving at the city, the fans, walking around the stadium, etc. From high-profile events to crazy things like ocenia world cup qualifiers (vanatu vs fiji) and rural high school football. Someone should steal my idea and do it, cause i think it'd be sweet.

        [–]autolex84 6 points7 points  (9 children)

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        would the boston globe consider "Click on" content of pictures as wallpaper sized photographs with a watermark?

        [–]kokogiak[S] 10 points11 points  (8 children)

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        Maybe. Not a big fan of watermarks, to be honest.

        [–]autolex84 15 points16 points  (2 children)

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        I just meant that as a psuedo "don't blatantly rip me off" mark... I would love to have some higher res (1600x1200+ and widescreen 1920x1200+) copies of several of the shots availiable! :)

        [–]Xupid 10 points11 points * (0 children)

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        When I find a pic I like which is at low resolution, I run it through TinEye to find high-res versions.

        [–]AdamJacobMuller 2 points3 points  (0 children)

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        Agreed, I would love to have bigger copies of these pictures, even as the pictures look good (and don't take up too much space) on my monitors (usually dual 1900x1200s), I couldn't even consider using them as wallpaper unfortunately.

        [–]mthmchris 3 points4 points  (0 children)

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        I would just like to second the suggestion of wallpaper-sized photographs.

        I think what autolex was saying that he wouldn't even mind a small watermark on the wallpaper-sized pictures, as so many of them are just... stunning.

        Of course, if you could find a way to do so even without a watermark, we'd all be thrilled with that, too!

        Keep up the good work!

        [–]kc0stell0 4 points5 points  (0 children)

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        I used to work for b.com traffic and I second this. still the case for all but The Big Picture.

        [–][deleted] 34 points35 points  (7 children)

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        Will you be presenting this thread to your superiors when you ask for a raise?

        [–]kokogiak[S] 77 points78 points  (6 children)

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        Who says anyone working for a newspaper will be asking for a raise this year :)

        [–]BrotherSeamus 65 points66 points  (1 child)

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        Okay, how about a smaller pay cut?

        [–]kokogiak[S] 67 points68 points  (0 children)

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        Ha! Yes please!

        [–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (1 child)

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        Shouldn't that have ended with a sad face?

        [–]arczi 28 points29 points  (4 children)

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        As someone who uses vim on a daily basis, I have to say: Thanks for the j/k keyboard shortcuts. This really yanks my crank.

        [–]johnnytenpin 5 points6 points  (0 children)

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        I had no idea until now... rad!

        [–][deleted] 27 points28 points  (10 children)

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        Top site, nice one, wish more were as clear and free of BS as yours. Top Quality photography too, do photographers submit them to you, do you have your own paps, or do you buy them from a broker/3rd party?

        [–]kokogiak[S] 47 points48 points * (9 children)

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        Probably 90% come from the news wire agencies Reuters / AP /Getty/AFP . We (The Globe) have contracts with them for photo use, and it's easiest for me to browse through the river of photos on the wires and find what I want to tell a story. The other 10% come from individual submissions, public domain (NASA, government, etc.), Creative Commons Licensed photos and Boston Globe photographers. Exactly one photo taken by myself has ever appeared on the site - from when I was lucky enough to witness a shuttle launch in Florida. I'm a pretty terrible photographer.

        [–]qgyh2 12 points13 points  (3 children)

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        btw... have you checked out reddit photography?

        [–]markbao 24 points25 points  (2 children)

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        [–][deleted] 3 points4 points  (1 child)

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        That is so fucking awesome. I've been skipping over Big Picture on my RSS reader for a couple of weeks now (I have no idea why) but I think that needs to come to an end.

        [–]sighclops 11 points12 points  (1 child)

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        I have to say, you do an amazing job of picking out images that go well together. Big Picture is one of the best blogs around - whenever I see a link to it posted, I always follow because I know I will be blown away.

        Are you the only one that chooses the photos that are posted?

        Also, did you think it would be as popular as it is when you thought of the idea?

        [–]kokogiak[S] 16 points17 points  (0 children)

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        Yep, just me.

        How could you possibly plan for huge success. Of course I hoped it would be, but I'm still pretty surprised (and happy) about it.

        [–]toadfish 2 points3 points  (1 child)

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        Would you consider publishing the upcoming topics ahead of time so people could submit photographs for consideration?

        [–]kokogiak[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

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        I didn't even know what today's entry was going to be until this morning, honestly. It's very much serendipity + what's happening in the world + what comes across my desk/email.

        [–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

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        Cool, thought it might be an agency,

        On a side note, at least a photo can't 'easily' be taken out of context, to say, the extent that someone like Fox, or a UK sheet like the Sun, Daily Mail e.t.c does frequently with thier stories from the wires (a personal rant, ha)

        [–]trukin 25 points26 points  (4 children)

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        I love that.

        how much bandwidth do you use ?

        [–]kokogiak[S] 54 points55 points  (3 children)

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        I'm not sure, but I recall, when it was at a high peak, during the Obama Inauguration in January, one of my sysadmins telling me the images alone were being pushed out at a gigabit per second. it's not nearly that high on a regular basis though. One interesting fact - where most regional or local sites can see a familiar pattern in their usage over the day (high during daylight, low at night), traffic to the Big Picture is very flat, owing to its global audience I suppose.

        [–]walter_mitty 39 points40 points * (0 children)

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        traffic to the Big Picture is very flat, owing to its global audience I suppose.

        Not too many news organizations can claim this. I'd be very proud of that.

        [–]accipitradea 19 points20 points  (0 children)

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        owing to its global audience I suppose.

        That is an amazing and very impressive feat, turning a local newspaper site into a globally recognized photoblog by taking the same wire photos everyone has access to and presenting them in a superior format.

        P.S. I grew up in N.H. and the foliage shots from the Autumn Scenes on Oct 9th were absolutely amazing and made me homesick.

        [–]sanderant 58 points59 points  (18 children)

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        Call me a philistine, but the biggest loss if the Globe tanks at this point would be your page. Are you under any financial pressure? I'm surprised, but pleased, there aren't more adds on your page.

        [–]kokogiak[S] 68 points69 points  (16 children)

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        In honesty, every part of nearly every newspaper is under pressure, sure. I'm not under any particular pressure, no, though we'd certainly be happy if sponsorship picked up, you know.

        [–][deleted] 19 points20 points  (10 children)

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        So Boston Globe is hoping to sell space on the pages?

        It wouldn't bother me there were ads with it.

        [–][deleted]  (4 children)

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        [deleted]

          [–][deleted] 8 points9 points  (3 children)

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          You said elsewhere that the cost of the images is less than the advertising brought in.

          If the Globe tanked, would the Big Picture be a viable venture to run outside of the realm of a newspaper?

          [–]kokogiak[S] 19 points20 points  (1 child)

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          I'm not sure about that. I've certainly thought about the scenario, but nothing concrete.

          [–][deleted] 13 points14 points * (0 children)

          sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

          Well, I'm sure you know this by now, regardless of what happens, you'll have reddit to help.

          The photos you put up for the floods in Atlanta (where I lived) were incredible, and it was the resource I gave to anyone asking what happened here. The same for just about any other world event -- I always provide links to the big picture instead of articles. Nothing else captures it as well.

          Quite frankly, you are chronicling current events in a way that no one else is, and it's too precious of service to lose!

          [–]chedabob 2 points3 points  (0 children)

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          I'll be honest, I didn't know TBP had adverts. Added to my Adblock exceptions list :D

          [–]OhioDuran 6 points7 points  (0 children)

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          The Big Picture is the first news-related content online that I would be willing to pay for. And that's saying a lot. I love it greatly.

          [–][deleted] 19 points20 points  (5 children)

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          I love the big picture! A couple o questions:

          1. How much exposure is the site getting these days?
          2. Have you considered something like 'the Small Story' where you focus on one photographers work/photojournalism rather than a news story or theme?

          [–]kokogiak[S] 25 points26 points  (4 children)

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          1. It continues to do very well, but it's all relative. We average about 5-8 million pageviews every month, with a fairly high level of uniques. Most referrer traffic comes from Google Reader (something like 275,000 subscribers there).
          2. Yes, I've focused on individual photographers a couple of times. It's great fun. I have a couple more planned for the near future as well.

          [–]AlLnAtuRalX 14 points15 points  (1 child)

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          I'm just going to hijack this to tell you that you understood what the rest of the industry didn't. Great content, one page, big photos. I emailed you once, but I'll say it again here... Thanks.

          Now a question. Is your success acknowledged at the paper, or do people put it off as something that will never work (obviously that would be a misconception)?

          [–]kokogiak[S] 17 points18 points  (0 children)

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          It's recognized, I've gotten more than my fair share of accolades and acknowledgement both inside and outside the company.

          [–]disgustipated 56 points57 points  (8 children)

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          You, sir are an internet badass. Everyone loves you. Keep up the great work.

          [–]kokogiak[S] 52 points53 points  (5 children)

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          Do I get a badge for that?

          [–]sodypop 39 points40 points  (0 children)

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          How about a blue ribbon?

          (I knew this silly image would come in handy one day.)

          [–][deleted] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

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          [–][deleted] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

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          I agree sir, have a blue ribbon!

          [–]iBleeedorange 4 points5 points  (0 children)

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          How about an oranger envelope?

          [–][deleted]  (6 children)

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          [deleted]

            [–]kokogiak[S] 56 points57 points  (5 children)

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            Mostly, I don't mind. I'm not possessive of the format, it's just a template. If the other sites are good, then awesome - more goodness out there.

            What does drive me nuts is when some people (you know who you are) snag the images wholesale, slap watermarks on them, shrink and repost them, without even so much as a link. As far as the rights holders, those are usually agencies like Reuters and Getty, and I think they will selectively pursue some of the worst offenders.

            [–]Undertoad 15 points16 points * (1 child)

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            What about sites that feature one shot, get about 2500 hits, give credit and link back to the gallery getting it an additional 1000 views?

            [–]kokogiak[S] 25 points26 points  (0 children)

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            Those sites = pure awesome (in my opinion). The legality of using even that one photo falls into a gray area of fair use vs. copyright that I'm in no way qualified to respond to.

            [–]solzhen 2 points3 points * (0 children)

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            It's a great template to communicate using compelling photos. Congrats on the implementation. I wouldn't mind seeing more people "rip off" your format if it means fewer slideshows. :)

            Live the big picture. One of my favorites lately was the California wildfires.

            [–][deleted] 9 points10 points  (6 children)

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            What criteria do you use to decide if a photo is too graphic to show without clicking on?

            [–]kokogiak[S] 26 points27 points  (5 children)

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            Tough one. I don't have hard and fast rules there, and ask the advice of other editors when I'm undecided. For instance, there was one entry that had a photo of a horse that had been killed in a brush fire. It did not appear to me to need a warning, but others thought it should be covered, so I agreed. The best thing about that click-to-view system is the ease of use. If you want to skip it, do nothing, if you really want to see it, it's just one click.

            [–]Elda30 9 points10 points  (1 child)

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            Do you work at the Globe Offices on Morrissey Blvd? If so, I work across the street from you. :)

            Also, thanks for what you do- I work in journalism as well and know the frustrations of bringing print journalism into the online world. You've done a lot to inspire us in my company.

            [–]kokogiak[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

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            Yep, howdy neighbor, and thanks.

            [–]xenmate 8 points9 points  (3 children)

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            So you just sit there all day trawling through hundreds of pictures sent by the agencies and choose a bunch that are cool and get paid for that?

            Congrats.

            [–]kokogiak[S] 10 points11 points  (2 children)

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            I know, pretty nice, huh?

            [–][deleted] 7 points8 points  (2 children)

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            How do you consistently kick so much ass? For example, do your bosses ever come up to you and say, hey, we need to break up those photos into one page per photo so we can show more ads? What do you say to get them to back off?

            [–]kokogiak[S] 6 points7 points  (1 child)

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            Answered elsewhere, but honestly, nobody has asked me to break it up yet. And I'm blessed with a lot of great photography to choose from, to make my job simpler.

            [–]Tafty 4 points5 points  (0 children)

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            Please document the overwhelming support for 1-page wonders, so that when your superiors ultimately tell you to split it up, you can show them hundreds of comments/emails supporting it.

            [–]Sparks127 7 points8 points  (0 children)

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            Just a line to say "Thank You" , carry on...

            [–]metroid23 20 points21 points  (4 children)

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            First off, thank you for doing this!

            How are the photos chosen? As the editor, does this responsibility fall to you?

            I'll add I'm an amateur photographer and that site is remarkably inspiring when it comes to my creative needs. The picture size has a lot to do with it. It's so refreshing to get a nice, big look at something. Oh, and I loved the series that gave before/afters (it was a disaster piece I believe).

            Nice work! :)

            [–]kokogiak[S] 59 points60 points  (3 children)

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            Yes, the choice does fall to me - I am the blog team in entirety. I select the stories, select the photos and their order, shrink and sometimes crop to fit, edit the captions (sometimes heavily, sometimes lightly), generate the HTML, upload the images and publish. The major thing that I do not do: take the photos.

            [–][deleted] 14 points15 points  (1 child)

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            A couple sets back you featured a photo from a redditor, did you find the photo here or had you come across it elsewhere?

            [–]kokogiak[S] 19 points20 points  (0 children)

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            I believe she sent me an email letting me know about it - the photo was so great, and I had planned to do a story on the flooding, so it worked out very well.

            [–]Keyframe 7 points8 points  (1 child)

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            I love your picks! Also, the china 60th anniversary - why are all pictures so saturated, did you do the post or you got them like that? Seems like every picture out of china is saturated a bit over the top (not that I don't like it - it's just odd).

            [–]kokogiak[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

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            I don't do any manipulation of color levels deliberately, I've heard a couple complaints about oversaturation, and all I can figure is that I need to tweak my photoshop settings to address certain modern browsers better.

            [–]FurryMoistAvenger 4 points5 points  (2 children)

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            Nothing to ask, just wanted to take the opportunity to say to you personally that the content is always excellent and the format is great. My coworkers and I always look at The Big Picture during lunch.. As a web dev myself, thanks for anti-slideshow! Thank you thank thank you.

            [–]lizzard547 5 points6 points  (1 child)

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            I really appreciate the QUALITY of the photographs and photographers on Big Picture. I would like to see the photographers names on their work and sometimes links to learn more about them.

            [–]kokogiak[S] 9 points10 points * (0 children)

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            I always put the photographer's name in the caption when I can. Sometimes it is not provided to me, and I can't pass it on.

            [–]KevinPaary 5 points6 points  (0 children)

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            Thanks for a job very well done

            [–]Papshmire 6 points7 points  (1 child)

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            From a user standpoint, what would you like us to do? What kind of contributions can we make?

            [–]kokogiak[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

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            Great question - and one I haven't thought much about. I will definitely think some more about this, thanks.

            [–]Briamah 4 points5 points  (0 children)

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            I hope that the Big Picture is once again up for the Webby Award. I can not think of another more pleasant place to look at pics. Whenever I browse this site I am thrilled that I can spend more time enjoying the content than figuring out how to get around.

            [–]MyPendrive 10 points11 points  (4 children)

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            What about setting up a "reddit like" space for comments under the pictures? Meaning, with up and down arrows.

            Sometimes the comment are very smart and add details to the pictures, sometimes they are just "My prayers are for you", or "Hope this will end soon"..

            [–]kokogiak[S] 30 points31 points  (3 children)

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            I'm afraid a lot of my answers might end up being "if I had the time, I would". Comment moderation, ranking, promotion and demotion, etc are all Good Things that I'd love to have, but fall a bit low on the priority list at the moment. I'd love to be able to do "editor's pick" comments as well. For the moment though, it remains a Movable Type chronological comment flow.

            [–]AlLnAtuRalX 17 points18 points  (0 children)

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            Work with the reddit admins? I think that would be the best thing to happen to online media in a long time.

            [–]Raerth 5 points6 points  (1 child)

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            Which past TBP was your favourite?

            Are there any subjects you've wanted to feature but have been unable to?

            [–]kokogiak[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

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            I answered the 1st part elsewhere here (the Obama entry)

            Glad you asked the 2nd part. I always wanted to feature the photographs of Mt. Etna taken by Thomas Reichart. Unfortunately, he died while climbing to take photos in 2008, and I was never able to secure the rights to republish from his family. Please go have a look at his Flickr feed: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomasreichart/

            [–]npinguy 4 points5 points  (3 children)

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            The Sacramento Bee has completely lifted your entire concept for their page called The Frame

            Their servers are slower, their photo editor(s) are inferior to you in terms of picking stunning and worthwhile images that truly capture attention, but the concept is identical.

            Have you seen this? How do you feel about it?

            [–]kokogiak[S] 22 points23 points  (2 children)

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            Seen it, and actually like it, but don't visit very often (same goes for other photo blogs), mostly because I want to maintain my current group of inspirations, and don't want to feel competitive/influenced by the other sites. My gut instinct for what's good has served me well. Seeing other sites makes me start second-guessing, you know, and I don't need that.

            [–]uxjackson 2 points3 points  (1 child)

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            I really, really like this answer. So well said, and inspirational itself.

            [–]virtualet 4 points5 points  (2 children)

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            what's one story that hasn't gotten a lot of attention that's your favorite?

            [–]kokogiak[S] 10 points11 points  (1 child)

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            Good question - I'm blessed to have most of my entries get a lot of attention. I personally think that overall coverage of events in Afghanistan is not what it should be, and that's why I started a monthly focus feature on Afghanistan itself. It's so complex, so important, so current, it really feels like the right thing to do, to make it more understandable, more present, more human.

            [–]txmslm 3 points4 points  (0 children)

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            yes, I agree. I'm muslim and frequently frustrated by media depictions of muslims. You always pick humanizing photos very obviously not intended as wartime propaganda :)

            [–]bagOjerks 3 points4 points  (0 children)

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            kokogiak, TBP is seriously my favorite thing on any news website. thanks for that.

            [–]Nick4753 4 points5 points * (0 children)

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            The Associated Press/REUTERS/AFP/Getty have to just LOVE you :)

            I noticed you don't seem to use Corbis. Is there a reason behind this?

            [–]munificent 4 points5 points * (0 children)

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            I can't imagine the tenacity it took to get that much screen real estate on the page devoted to just the image. I can only imagine every other department saying, "Can I put just a little ad here?" "How about a little masthead here?" "This doesn't follow styleguide unless we add a border here and a line here."

            You get major props from me for stripping out all of the junk and focusing on the content. Good job!

            [–]duckduckgoose 3 points4 points  (1 child)

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            Why didn't you do one of photos from the G20?

            [–]kokogiak[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

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            As it happens, there were not that many good photos available to me of this particular event. I did do an entry on it last year. More often than not, when something is left off or left out of an entry, it's due to lack of availability more than an editorial decision or ulterior motive.

            [–]kentdunne 3 points4 points  (1 child)

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            I am a student of photography and looking to do photojournalism to make my income. Is this a wise idea? I love The Big Picture- what is some good advice to break into the industry?

            [–]kokogiak[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

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            From what I hear, it's a very tough road to take these days. I wish I had more advice to give.

            [–]peletiah 5 points6 points  (1 child)

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            when you implemented the site - did you think about including photos with portrait-orientation as well? Isn't it difficult to throw away many images because they don't fit the predefined resolution/orientation?

            [–]kokogiak[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

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            I have yet to see an elegant solution to presenting both portrait and landscape photos. I made a hard choice to favor landscape almost exclusively, and yeah, sometimes it stinks to throw out a great portrait-oriented photo. One in a while I include them if it makes sense.

            [–]ArturoBadfinger 3 points4 points  (1 child)

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            This is one of my favorite features on any newspaper website. Why do you think most other major papers have failed to adopt something so effective and interesting and instead rely on small, low res, photos that you have to spend several minutes clicking through each one?

            [–]kokogiak[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

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            I'd only be speculating, but some of it might be sheer momentum - existing templates and frameworks, outdated concepts of what the majority of users can tolerate or want, or an aversion to disturb the success of current click-click-click photo galleries.

            [–]CaffiendCA 3 points4 points  (1 child)

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            What kind of editorial oversight do you have? Or are you soley responsible for the content?

            /Love it. Wish every photo essay was done your way!

            [–]kokogiak[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

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            I'm responsible, with some oversight by the Globe editorial team. They have given me a ton of leeway and trust, and we have a great relationship.

            [–]abj 1 point2 points  (1 child)

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            Thank you for creating it. I love the blog, I have had tears on many occasions after looking at some of the pictures.

            Would there be any way to get high-res versions of some of those photos, for prints?

            [–]kokogiak[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

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            You'd have to contact the idividual photographer or agency. I have contact info tfor them here: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/about.html#faq

            [–]ScannerBrightly 3 points4 points  (1 child)

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            as an photographer myself, I just gotta say that the Big Picture is one of my favorite sites out there. And that was before I found the "j/k" key bindings.

            Question: Do the pictures resize? It seems like it fits my widescreen extremely well, but it also looks good at work.

            [–]kokogiak[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

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            Thanks. No resizing - all are 990px wide, regardless.

            [–]technogeeky 3 points4 points  (0 children)

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            Boston.com has the best images posting I've seen and they have been consistently good for the past several years.

            Thanks for the good work.

            [–]Protophobic 4 points5 points  (1 child)

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            Shouldn't you be working right now?

            [–]kokogiak[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

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            That's what multiple-tabbed-browsing is for. Multitasking.

            [–]Ksilebo 3 points4 points  (0 children)

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            Thanks for doing it. Its very well done and not a pain in the ass to navigate.

            [–]keicharones 3 points4 points  (0 children)

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            It is amazing to me that so many good and well known people frequent this site.

            Thank you for running one of the best blogs on the internet.

            [–]zelpop 3 points4 points  (3 children)

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            Has there been any more talk about the revenue prospects of the site? I remember an article where you guys discussed it but I can only find this reference: http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2008/12/big-pictures-help-tell-big-stories-at-bostoncom354.html

            [–]kokogiak[S] 2 points3 points  (2 children)

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            It is still a work-in-progress, is the best way I can put it.

            [–]redthirtytwo 6 points7 points  (1 child)

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            A book each year collecting the photos as they appear on the site.

            Include commentary from the photographers and maybe thumbnails of other photos they would have liked to have seen included.

            Effectively B.com's "Year in Pictures"

            http://www.amazon.com/Life-Year-Pictures-2005/dp/1932273522

            [–]Spharky 3 points4 points  (1 child)

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            Just one heck of a " well done " from Seattle. We ARE impressed !!!! Keep up the good work.

            [–][deleted] * (1 child)

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            [deleted]

              [–]kokogiak[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

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              I think I know what you mean, and don't know how to coax further context. Further use of maps and integration with other sites/services are certainly in the plans.

              [–]winampman 4 points5 points  (1 child)

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              When you started the blog, how fast did traffic grow? Was it an overnight success with tons of traffic right away? Or was it slow and took a while before it really became popular?

              I'm pretty much only familiar with TBP from reading reddit, only a couple weeks ago I finally ventured onto older posts that didn't get posted on reddit. I always end up looking at all of the photos and reading all of the captions, its a great way to procrastinate and kill time. :)

              Great work, by the way. Keep it up!

              [–]toofartofall2 3 points4 points  (0 children)

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              I just wanted to say that I love The Big Picture and I appreciate the effort you must put in doing it. Thanks!

              [–]crazyant415 2 points3 points  (0 children)

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              Thank you so much for putting this together! It's so great!

              [–]koavf 2 points3 points  (1 child)

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              Do you think The Boston Globe will still be in print in a year or two?

              [–]kokogiak[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

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              The way I like to phrase the answer is "The core of the storytelling operation that is The Boston Globe will still be around then - the distribution format(s) have yet to be decided"

              [–]bitter_cynical_angry 2 points3 points  (0 children)

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              I don't actually have any questions, just wanted to say that it's a kickass blog and I always enjoy looking through it.

              [–]evantravers 2 points3 points  (0 children)

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              Thanks for all the inspiration... I love the Big Picture Blog.

              [–]dzdaddy 2 points3 points  (1 child)

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              Does the Globe have to pay for rights of the images you choose to post? Do they cost more because they're large? This would explain why this hasn't been done much before. Also, what's your bandwidth bill like?

              IMO, the best blog online. I'm just a very visual person; a thousand words, &c.

              [–]kokogiak[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

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              Based on my understanding, the Globe has paid a blanket license to publish these photos, and are not charged separately per use, or per size.

              [–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (1 child)

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              Have you ever printed a story that turned out to be fake? If so, how did you deal with it?

              [–]kokogiak[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

              sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

              I debated running the (now infamous) photoshopped Iran missile launch when it first came out last year. Almost did, but didn't really have enough context, and am wary of single-source images, especially government sources. I'd love to say that I spotted it as a fake, but did not - just didn't have enough to run with it. one of these days, something likely will (or already has) slip through, and I'll have to answer honestly that there was a breach of trust, apologize, and leave up what I can as evidence of what happened.

              [–]neo_07 2 points3 points  (0 children)

              sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

              Terrific section - definitely a standout in the crowded world of online news sites!

              [–]Avarith 2 points3 points * (2 children)

              sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

              I've wondered for a long time what a large, decentralized community connected by the web can accomplish. Whenever I research forms of internet collaboration for the common good (World Community Grid, Kiva, Tor, and so on) I find myself always coming back to your fantastic website. It's structure is fascinatingly simple. But at the same time, the pictures you gather are crucial to my appreciation of world events. So a few questions:

              1. Can you conceive of a reality where the majority of your pictures came from unaffiliated individuals? You mention elsewhere that a whopping 90 percent of your images come through the wire. Do you see this as a somewhat permanent arrangement?

              2. Is there anything you want us to help with? Think creatively here.

              3. Do you think other people could do the work you do (parsing though images to create a narrative about a world event) and come together to share their picture-based stories?

              Thanks for posting here. Your work is remarkable and important. Also, you seem like a swell dude.

              [–]kokogiak[S] 4 points5 points  (1 child)

              sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

              1. It comes down to money, like many things. I spend a good deal of time looking through photos that are either public domain or are share-alike licensed (basically free for use), and the quality level is nowhere near what I see with the pros who work for the news agencies. If you want to pay for the quality, then you need to have a nice revenue stream in and out. The arrangement we have now makes that practical only for the agencies we currently deal with.

              2. I'll think about this more. I have some plans for more audience-participation types of entries in the future.

              3. Absolutely. I have no formal training, humans are natural storytellers.

              [–]epsd101 2 points3 points  (2 children)

              sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

              You said somewhere here that you want to tell a story - a narrative - on The Big Picture. With that goal in mind, how do you decide upon the order of the pictures? Are there criteria that apply for all stories, or does it change from story to story?

              P.S. You're doing a great job! Keep up the good work.

              [–]kokogiak[S] 3 points4 points  (1 child)

              sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

              "Roughly chronological" is the best way to put it. I might switch up the actual chronology a bit, if it makes the story flow better or more understandable.

              No criteria fits for every entry. I lay them all out in Photoshop and basically find a good one (usually not the best, just most representative) to be the lead, then try to sequence the rest with a balance, avoiding repetition, weeding out 'weak' ones, trying to keep a rough chronology going, it's a lot of gut reaction. If I can, I like to wrap it up with a bow at the end, always trying to be subtle if possible.

              [–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (3 children)

              sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

              Have you guys been keeping up with Google Wave, or got to play around with it?
              Do you think you'll incorporate it into your site in any way?

              (I replied to one of your replies elsewhere with a suggestion in similar context, but I figured I should turn it into a question.)

              [–]kokogiak[S] 3 points4 points  (2 children)

              sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

              I played with it in sandbox form a while back... Some real impressive stuff, some stuff that I wasn't that excited about. A lot of potential. I think I'll watch and see for a bit.

              [–][deleted] 3 points4 points  (1 child)

              sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

              I've only seen their long ass video, but what really impressed me was the real-time editing / posting and the playback.

              I think it'd be really cool to use their "Rosy" translating thing to allow comments for all people from all languages to be able to communicate on a The Big Picture post with each other.
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