Latest news with #BigPicture
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
Confronting picture could 'embarrass' Australia on world stage
Inside a large cage is not where most Aussies picture a wild animal, but behind its steel bars is one of the only places the dingo is safe. An image of the creature inside its nighttime quarters has captured the world's attention, as it made the shortlist of an international photography competition. Taken by wildlife photojournalist Doug Gimesy, the plan was to show both the dingo and Lyn Watson from the Australian Dingo Foundation 'trapped', because governments in Australia promote the trapping, poisoning and shooting of our native apex predator. They have been completely wiped out across much of the landscape. "I wanted to create a picture that makes people stop and think, what's going on?" Gimesy told Yahoo News. "It is sad that a lot of our wildlife seems to only be 100 per cent safe when it is in an enclosed area, which is an affront to the term wild-life." During the day, the dingoes are able to roam free on a custom-fenced property, but at night they return to their pens. Gimesy's image was taken early in the morning before they were let outside into the sunshine. Setting up the right angle and perfect lighting took close to an hour because focusing on the eyes of two subjects behind metal bars is technically tough. Gimesy wanted the image to be both beautiful and shocking. The picture, named 'On their side', was a finalist in the 'Human/Nature' category of the prestigious BigPicture: Natural World Competition. It's one of two pictures he was nominated for — the other, 'Baby on Board' shows another threatened species, a grey-headed flying fox carrying its young as she flies. Despite their numbers continuing to decline, the species continues to be forced out of its habitat due to noise, mess, and claims about damage to trees. Gimesy hopes his images will help Australians see native animals in new ways. "When our wildlife are put on the world stage, it can sometimes nudge policy just a little bit, because people may be embarrassed about what we're doing," he said. "All imagery that I shoot is really about trying to change attitude and behaviour." Dingo culling continues in Victoria because some farmers believe they kill sheep. Watson, the subject of Gimesy's portrait, believes they much prefer to eat native animals, and will only eat sheep as a last resort when they've been shorn. "If I put down a bowl of crickets and a bowl of lamb, the lamb won't get touched because it's so fatty," she said. Although dingoes are threatened with extinction across the state, in 2024 the Victorian government extended a culling program until 2028. The program will mean that a genetically distinct population of Victoria's alpine dingoes which numbers fewer than 2,640 individuals, will continue to be killed. Although a population in the northwest that numbers just 40 is now protected. However, they were put at risk earlier this year when a contractor mistakenly dropped baits in their known habitat. Watson compares the dingoes' situation in modern Australia to that of wolves in Europe during the 19th and 20th centuries, where they were hunted to near extinction. "Nobody even knows how many dingos we started with in Australia, before they started killing them wholesale," she said. "I wish we didn't have to keep our sanctuary, but it's the safest place in Victoria for them." Love Australia's weird and wonderful environment? 🐊🦘😳 Get our new newsletter showcasing the week's best stories.
BBC News
01-06-2025
- General
- BBC News
Your photos of the West Midlands: Pesky pigs and poppy fields
We love to feature your photographs showing the stunning beauty of the West Midlands and here are some of the best from the past your images via BBC Weather Watchers or email us at midlandstoday@ inspiration, view some top tips from three of England's Big Picture photographers. When emailing pictures, please make sure you include the following information:The full name of the person who took the pictures (as this person owns the copyright)Confirmation that the copyright holder gives permission for the BBC to use their pictures across all its outputsThe location, date and time the pictures were takenYour telephone number so we can get back to you if we have any further other details about the pictures that may be useful for us to know Follow for more pictures on Instagram from BBC Birmingham, BBC Coventry & Warwickshire, BBC Hereford & Worcester, BBC Shropshire, BBC Stoke & Staffordshire and BBC Wolverhampton & Black Country.
BBC News
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Bristol film fans breathe life into 'forgotten' IMAX cinema
The "underdog story" of a "forgotten" cinema, which is being revived by enthusiasts, will be told in a new Big Picture, by Bristol filmmaker Arthur Cauty, focuses on the city centre IMAX theatre which closed in 2007 due to running costs and reduced cinema has since been mainly used for corporate events, but a team of film fans have given it a new lease of life as a community-run cinema, with a dream to one day get it fully back up and running Singh said with Bristol being a UNESCO city of film it would be great to bring the "overwhelming" IMAX experience back to the public again. Mr Singh added: "I love what Arthur's done with his film about the venue. It's like an underdog story."The old IMAX projector, which is about the size of a car, still sits in the venue, but with the reels and equipment weighing almost half a tonne, he said you would "need a forklift" to use Mr Singh's film community and festival use a HD projector for film showings. Mr Singh said he hoped public support for the cinema, that has been renamed Bristol Megascreen, will grow in the face of increasing closures."For most people in the country, watching films on an IMAX screen means going to London," he added. Mr Cauty said he was drawn to making a film about the venue after working in the industry in Bristol for 10 years and never hearing about the cinema until recently."A lot of people had just forgotten it was there," the filmmaker said."In the early 2000s, I think it was kind of doomed to fail - IMAX is quite a difficult format and its popularity dropped off."I don't really know what the future holds for it - people are currently using a HD projector in there - to run the IMAX projector could cost around £100,000 a year."The Big Picture will have its premiere at the Forbidden Worlds Film Festival at Bristol Megascreen on 28 May.
Business Post
27-04-2025
- Business
- Business Post
Vincent Boland: ‘Sell America' – Trump's chaos sparks crisis of confidence in US markets
The Big Picture The selling wave in the past few weeks represents the results of a rethink – and so far, the wave is not a tsunami, and it is not irreversible
Gulf Today
09-03-2025
- General
- Gulf Today
Millions of adults have some college but no degree
MiMi Gravley works full-time, as a community relations liaison at Strawberry Mansion High in Philadelphia. She's also a full-time college student and juggles raising her own kids and making ends meet. Gravley is smart and motivated; she wanted to earn a college degree, but life and bills got in the way. She left college once because the price tag was too high. 'You want the degree, but if you don't have the money, you don't have the money,' said Gravley, who grew up in Philadelphia and attended culinary school after graduating from Central High. She earned an associate's degree at Community College of Philadelphia during the pandemic, then enrolled in a bachelor's degree program at Eastern University before halting classes because of the expense. This time, Gravley, 36, is on a surer route to her bachelour's degree. She's enrolled at College Unbound, a college with local ties that gives adult learners from underserved communities affordable paths to graduation, with low tuition, strong supports baked in, credit for relevant life experience, a cohort model that helps keep students engaged, and impressive early results. College Unbound began in 2009 in Rhode Island, when Dennis Littky, a founder of the educational nonprofit Big Picture Learning, joined with Adam Bush, a jazz historian with experience in higher education. The idea, said Bush, was to 'democratise access to credits. Learning isn't something that's only happening when you're in a classroom, when you're paying for it.' Bush sees College Unbound as a 'degree completion' school — most of its students have some college under their belt, though that's not a requirement for enrollment. Its average student is 38; most are women of color. Many are caregivers and many have experience with the prison system, either themselves or via a family member. College Unbound costs about $11,000 per year, and most of its students qualify for Pell grants, which pay $7,395 of that bill. About 80% of local students attend at no cost to them, officials said. The college owns no buildings; all classes are online or held in spaces owned by other organisations, typically with supports like food and babysitting provided. All faculty are adjunct. Students earn a bachelor's degree in organisational leadership and change, most in under 2 1/2 years. At first, College Unbound operated with partner institutions; in 2015, it became accredited to grant its own degrees. It currently has 500 students enrolled in Rhode Island, Philadelphia, Camden, Wilmington, Del., and Washington state, and has graduated about 500 students. College Unbound's Philadelphia roots date back more than a decade. David Bromley, then the director of Big Picture Philadelphia, had a conversation with Wendell Pritchett, then a member of the School Reform Commission, about Big Picture's concept — personalised learning, real-world experiences — and what that might look like at the college level. (Pritchett is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania's law school, and Penn's former provost and interim president.) The idea fascinated Pritchett, who's now chair of College Unbound's board. 'There are 50 million people who started college and didn't finish,' said Pritchett. 'We in higher ed should be embarrassed by that and we're not. I call it reparations — to repair a lot of the damage that higher ed has caused.' In the Philadelphia area, 157,055 adults have some college courses under their belt, but have not earned a degree, according to US Census data. Most of them are Black or Hispanic. Bromley left Big Picture Philadelphia in 2021 to bring College Unbound to the area. To date, it's had 153 students enroll through partnerships with the Philadelphia School District, ASPIRA, Philadelphia Housing Authority, and Public Health Management Corporation. 'We're really trying to find our space in the Delaware Valley, not to compete with 73 institutions of higher education. It's to serve this niche group, this population in a super supportive flexible way that also benefits the partner,' said Bromley. More partnerships are forthcoming, he said. A group of College Unbound students gathered digitally on a winter weeknight. It was a big day — final presentations. College Unbound structures its curriculum around student interests and the work they are doing in real life. The students, all paraprofessionals in the Philadelphia school system enrolled in College Unbound through its 'Para Pathways' program that seeks to build the teaching pipeline by helping paraprofessionals earn credentials, talked about projects they had undertaken at their schools. Danette Swindle, who works at Sullivan Elementary in Frankford, created an after-school basketball program. Her why, she said, was the death of her cousin, killed walking to a corner store in 2021. More resources are needed for youth, she said. It wasn't easy, but Swindle learned a lot, she said. 'While I was building my after-school program, it built my resilience,' said Swindle. 'I wanted to give people resources and help them navigate their daily challenges.' College Unbound students move through their classes in small cohorts, and those groups provide built-in supports. Classes run on eight or 16 week cycles, might run synchronously or asynchronously, and every class begins with a one-on-one meeting with a student and professor.
