Jump to June 2008 archive page: 1 2

  • Tibor Illyes/AP

    The hands of Ros Griffith of England and Orsolya Takacs of Hungary grab the ball during their women's water-polo Mol Cup third round match in Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, June 28, 2008. Hungary defeated England 9-5 to win the tournament.

    I really like how uncomfortable looking this picture is. There are three hands instead of either two or four, and you can't see to whom any of them belong. It is a sports action picture that made me stop to look twice, and sometimes those can be few and far between.

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  • Steven Shi/Reuters

    A diner has his meal on toilet seats at a toilet-themed restaurant in Hangzhou in Zhejiang province June 29, 2008. The restaurant, which opened on June 1, features toilet seats as dining chairs and food served in miniature bathtubs and toilet bowls. Picture taken June 29, 2008.

    No matter how good and expensive a meal is, it always ends up in the toilet, but do you really think it needs to start there, too?

  • Liu Jin/AFP - Getty Images

    A man takes a short cigarette break as he carries belongings he recovered from the rubble of the collapsed buildings in the worst earthquake-hit area of Beichuan county, in China's southwestern province of Sichuan on June 25, 2008, on the final day that local residents have been allowed to recover their belongings from the devastated city.

    This image was considered for The Week in Pictures. It didn't make the cut, but the editors were struck by it. The giant-sized bundles in their bright pink wrappings seem more like a cartoon play thing than the sad remnants of the man's material life.

  • Stringer/india/Reuters

    Workers unload coconuts from their boat on the outskirts of the southern Indian city of Kochi June 25, 2008.

    Sometimes it's about what's not in the picture. I like that the coconuts appear suspended in mid-air with no one in sight who could have tossed them there.

  • Timothy A. Clary/AFP - Getty Images

    A boat passes by one of the four Danish artist Olafur Eliasson's New York City Waterfalls beneath the Brooklyn Bridge June 26 2008.

    Photos of the Brooklyn Bridge at night have always caught my eye. How to make this scene even more striking? Why just add a waterfall!

  • Matt Cardy/Getty Images

    Aerial view of thousands of the tents that fill the camping fields at the Glastonbury Festival at on June 26, 2008 in Glastonbury, Somerset, England. The gates have opened for the first of the 175,000 music fans expected to attend the three-day music festival which starts on Friday.

    I like to camp, but not with 175,000 other people! The photographer did a nice job showing the scale of the event here and using the aisle between the tents to create an interesting composition from a sea of tents.

  • Ilya Naymushin/Reuters

    A car sits on a giant wooden chair in front of a furniture factory in the city of Abakan in the Siberian Khakassia region, June 24, 2008.

    Every so often an image is so strange that I have to stop and read the caption to find out what is going on. Like Texas, everything must be bigger in the Republic of Khakasssia.

  • Ali Jarekji/Reuters

    Grooms take part in a mass wedding ceremony in Riyadh June 24, 2008. Governor of Riyadh Prince Salman and a local group organized the event for about 1600 couples to help those who are unable to afford expensive ceremonies because of the rising cost of living.

    These grooms don't exactly look thrilled to be getting married. I don't know much about Saudi culture, but I can't help but wonder where the brides are. Anyone know how this works?

  • Paulo Whitaker/Reuters

    A worker cleans a giant sculpture in the coastal Brazilian city of Santos June 21, 2008. The giant sculpture was created by Japanese naturalized Brazilian, artist Tomie Otake, to celebrate 100 years of Japanese immigration to Brazil.

    It's pretty easy to forget that somewhere, someone is responsible for maintaining the many statues and monuments that we see every day.

  • Pablo Sanchez/Reuters

    A miner works on Kawah Ijen volcanic crater in East Java June 2, 2008. Kawah Ijen's sulphur miners trek over five miles from the crater to a collection center with loads weighing between 110 - 220 pounds on their shoulders to earn the equivalent of $7 a day. Around 10 tons of sulphur are extracted daily from the volcanic crater to be used in sugar refineries, cosmetics, medicines and explosives.

    Without speaking of the dangerous conditions and backbreaking work, I can't imagine enduring that smell every day, although they probably don't notice it any longer. (Yes, I realize they probably have no choice.) A few years ago I was on a volcano called White Island in New Zealand which had pockets of sulphur in it similar to the one pictured, and they reeked. The whole island smelled like rotten eggs. After spending only two hours on the island, I gave off the scent of eau de sulphur for days and eventually had to throw away the clothes I wore on the tour because not even repeated washing couldn't rid them of the stench.

  • John Brecher/msnbc.com

    Missouri National Guardsmen Robert Mangum and Nate Frazier talk about their water pumping operation next to the flooding Mississippi River in downtown Clarksville. Several pumps are emptying thousands of gallons of water per minute from behind the sandbag levee.

    These pumps are so loud that people have to shout into one another's ears to be heard. When these two leaned together next to the river, it was a chance to photograph both the bubbling water and the effect of the noise. You can see an audio slide show from this situation here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25265914/

  • Michaela Rehle/Reuters

    A couple poses with the wearable beer belly (Bierbauch) for man and the wearable wine bra (Getraenke-BH) for woman in Ismaning near Munich June 19, 2008. The beer belly has a capacity of 2.3 litre and the wine bra of 0.7 litre.

    Is this for real? Perfect gift for the person who has everything...I thought this was very funny.

  • Eric Thayer/Reuters

    Residents carry sandbags to protect a home in Hannibal, Missouri on June 18. There are hints that the wet weather pattern that has plagued the Midwest will be moving north.

    I've returned to this picture several times today. I like it a lot, but it doesn't quite provide the right kind of information for our story-level use. However, I LIKE IT A LOT.

  • Daniel Munoz/Reuters

    A farm worker prepares a planting rig near Narrabri in eastern Australia on June 18. Wheat farmers in Australia, the world's second-biggest exporter, raced this week to plant their fields, gambling that recent soaking rains would put an end to seven hard years of drought.

    Daniel Munoz used the right quality of light to provide a little drama for a story that might be a little boring otherwise.

  • John Brecher/msnbc.com

    A boy skips a rock into the flooding Mississippi River in Elsberry, Missouri, on Sat., June 14. Locals say it's the highest they've seen the water since 1993.

    Arriving in Missouri to cover a natural disaster for msnbc.com, I was full of nervous anticipation and I really wanted to see the Mississippi River before sunset. This tranquil moment was the first thing I saw when I came to the water. If you like to skip stones, that smooth water is just about irresistible, never mind that it's flooding a nearby house, as I soon realized. You can see that story here:
    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/25218965#25218965

  • Charlie Neibergall/AP

    A sandal sits in debris as flood waters in the Birdland neighborhood of Des Moines, Iowa recede, Monday, June 16, 2008. Many houses in the area suffered damage from floodwaters that poured into the neighborhood when a levee broke early Saturday morning.

    Another installment in my very occasional series of photos about the shoes that get left behind during disasters. I don't think this is a case where someone ran out of the shoes in their haste to get away from trauma, but instead, i imagine it got washed from the home or garage where it used to live.

  • Nicholas Kamm/AFP - Getty Images

    A man jumps through a puddle during a sudden rainstorm in Washington on June 16, 2008. More than 11 million people in nine midwestern states have been affected by severe flooding and extreme weather in recent weeks, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said.

    You can feel the discomfort of the rainstorm in the body language the photographer captured.

  • Jeff Roberson/AP

    Buildings and debris are seen floating in the Cedar River against a railroad bridge Saturday, June 14, 2008, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Days after it rose out of its banks on its way to record flooding in Cedar Rapids, the Cedar River has forced at least 24,000 people from their homes, emergency officials said Saturday. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

    I'd guess these are mostly house boats that have broken loose, but, goodness, what a mess.

  • Fahad Shadeed/Reuters

    Oahr, a Damascene goat, or Maaz Al Shami, which won the first prize for the "Most Beautiful Goat" title is seen at the Mazayen al-Maaz competition in Riyadh June 13, 2008.

    This goat won most beautiful goat?!!? To me it just looked bizarre. Beauty is definitely in the eyes of the beholder.

  • Ron Edmonds/AP

    A White House communications staffer keeps the podium from being blown over by the President Bush's helicopter prior to Bush making a statement on the South Lawn of the White House, Monday, June 9, 2008, as he leaves for a week long trip to Europe. The trip is intended to strengthen the trans-Atlantic partnership between the United States and European nations.

    I've said it. I've heard my co-workers say it. And I'm wondering if this guy is saying it: "Is this what I went to college (or trade school, or whatever) for?"

  • Ng Han Guan/AP

    A Chinese man drives a tractor past collapsed buildings in Yingxiu, southwest China's Sichuan province, Saturday, June 7, 2008. One month after a magnitude-7.9 quake centered in Sichuan province killed more than 69,000 people and left 5 million homeless, tents, and for some, the lack of them, are defining life in the disaster zone.

    We published The Week in Pictures today. (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3842331/) This image didn't make the final cut, but I like the incredible detail in the wreckage, and the repetition of shape when you compare the tractor to some of the fallen buildings around it.

  • David Greedy/Getty Images

    City workers use sandbags to fight rising floodwaters from sewers on June 12, 2008 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Much of the city has been evacuated as the Cedar River continues to rise to record levels.

    Getty Images photographers are doing a good job of covering the Cedar Rapids flooding story.

  • Liu Jin/AFP - Getty Images

    A bridge is destroyed by floods in the worst earthquake-hit area of Beichuan county, in China's southwestern province of Sichuan on June 10, 2008. Muddy, brown water from a quake lake poured into the flattened town of Beichuan, piling new woes on its tormented population.

    I was struck by sight of water flowing through this tunnel and then pouring off the bridge. Usually water destroys a bridge by rising from below, not flowing along the top.

  • Matt Kryger/The Indianapolis Star

    David Shepard removes a stuffed king salmon from his flooded home on Sunday, June 8, 2008, in Edinburgh, Ind. As much as 11 inches of rain swamped the state Saturday, flooding homes, threatening dams and closing several roads and highways.

    These storms have been devastating for some, which is why I didn't use this picture on the story or on the front of msnbc.com, as I didn't feel the subtly humorous twist was appropriate.

  • David Gard/AP

    Gustavo Mejia lies on the mat after Demetrio Soto knocked him out at 58 seconds into the first round of their super lightweight boxing bout at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J., on Saturday, June 7, 2008.

    This may sound warped, and I can't stand to see people get hit, even in the movies, but I love it that you can see just how badly this guy's world was rocked with a knockout punch. The photographer got a bit lucky in that the boxer fell right in front of him. Also, the referee was standing in just the right spot to make the count to add to the tension of the image. Although the depth of field is shallow, and the referee is soft, the ring ropes draw your eye to him and his body language. Yes, luck is part of it, but David Gard put it all together at just the right moment.

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