One problem with the photo of the day format, and with quick and easy digital photography in general, is that it's fairly easy to focus on the (what seems to us) exotic and extraordinary. Life in other countries is interesting because it's, like, Wow!, so much more different! People in strange clothes! Strange writing! And, of course, the ever-popular "guy carrying a huge amount of stuff on a rickshaw" shot. (Now I know why National Geographic featured so many of these photos - they're so easy to get.)
I'm thinking of a backpacking guide that I met back when I was in the Boy Scouts, who didn't like National Parks because they focused on the anomalies of nature instead of, as he put it, "the real thing". Yosemite Valley, for example, or the geysers of Yellowstone. "And don't get me started on Mount Rushmore", he said. "The whole thing is just graffiti, pure and simple!" The natural world, instead of being a part of our lives that have to we live in balance with, becomes a freak show that we go visit on vacation once or twice, then forget.
I'm not sure where exactly I'm going with this, so bear with me. One of the advantages of this photo of the day format is that it's forcing me to hit "publish" instead of overthinking an idea and then never quite figuring it out. And it's a moderately sunny spring Sunday and I've got some boys that need to go out on bikes and enjoy the outdoors, so we'll pick up this idea next time.
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