Daily Life: May 2012

Thousands of images are supplied by multiple wire services to newspapers across the country each day. Many of those images depict ordinary scenes of life in different countries around the world. There are three picture editors that contribute to the Big Picture blog, each of them seeing the world in a little bit of a different way. Their backgrounds, their experiences, their interests - all very disparate. Each of them given the same resources (the visual wire) to edit from, each choosing very different ways to tell a story. The following photographs are my choices of those images for the month of May (and a few from late April) illustrating daily life around the world. -- Paula Nelson (53 photos total)

Adam Ortiz, a fourth-grader at Fairview Elementary, stops traffic while classmates and parents cross Washington at North 11th Street in Klamath Falls, Ore. as part of Walk to School Days, something the school has participated in every Friday in May for three years, May 11. 2012. (Andrew Mariman/The Herald and News)

Former Navy Seal, Coleman Ruiz, takes part in a 1,700-mile relay walk, May 14, 2012, near Dandridge, Tenn. Ruiz is the executive director of the Carry the Load program that benefits nonprofit organizations that help veterans, active duty service members and military families. (J. Miles Cary/Knoxville News Sentinel) #

Elderly Chinese men enjoy the early morning sunshine at a Shenyang park with birds, brought from their homes in the northeast of China's Liaoning province, May 15, 2012. (Associated Press) #

A Pakistani child, whose family was displaced by 2010 floods from a village near Multan, sleeps in a hammock attached to his family's makeshift tent, in a slum on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan, May 14, 2012. (Muhammed Muheisen/Associated Press) #

A Pakistani boy jumps from a hill into a stream, where he and other boys swim to beat the heat, on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan, May 15, 2012. (Muhammed Muheisen/Associated Press) #

A gardener waters the lawn near a couple getting their wedding photos taken at a park in Beijing, May 14, 2012. (Ng Han Guan/Associated Press) #

A man asks an Afghan refugee not to bathe at a water point, while others collect water, in a slum area on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan, May 15, 2012. People in Pakistan are facing water shortages due to low water levels in the country's dams, according to the Pakistani Meteorological Department.(Muhammed Muheisen/Associated Press) #

Second grader Ashley Jackson, from Germanshire Elementary, gets ready to perform at Sherwood Elementary in Memphis, Tenn. during an Art For Life's Sake music and literacy program, May 14, 2012. (Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal) #

Young Indian Sufi Muslim children carry flower offerings during a visit to the Nizamuddin Shrine in New Delhi, India, May 14, 2012. The shrine is dedicated to the much revered saint Hazrat Nizamuddin who died in the 14th century. (Kevin Frayer/Associated Press) #

A Pakistani takes a nap under the trees during a hot summer day in Islamabad, Pakistan, May 13, 2012. (Anjum Naveed/Associated Press) #

An Afghan boy rides his horse on a hill overlooking Kabul, Afghanistan, May, 14, 2012. (Ahmad Jamshid/Associted Press) #

A Pakistani vendor slices watermelon for customers at a bus temrinal in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, May 14, 2012. (B.K. Bangash/Associated Press) #

Vendors sell vegetables and flowers at a street market in El Alto, Bolivia, May 12, 2012. (Juan Karita/Associated Press) #

An Indian girl runs from a sudden thundershower at the India Gate monument in New Delhi, India, May 12, 2012. (Kevin Frayer/Associated Press) #

Young Indian hawkers stand with toy balls they are trying to sell as they take cover from a sudden thundershower at the India Gate monument in New Delhi, May 12, 2012. (Kevin Frayer/Associated Press) #

A family of geese crosses a road in the evening sunlight in East Rutherford, N.J., May 11, 2012. (Mel Evans/Associated Press) #

Pakistani children, who fled their villages with their families due to fighting between security forces and militants in Pakistan's tribal area of Bajur, enjoy a ride on a merry-go-round at a makeshift entertainment park set up in a slum area on the outskirts of Islamabad, May 11, 2012. (Muhammed Muheisen/Associated Press) #

Pakistani fishermen pull their nets out of the sea onto the beach in Karachi, Pakistan, May 9, 2012. (Shakil Adil/Associated Press) #

Pakistani Jaafar Sakhawat, 8, who works in a brick factory, takes a break on a pile of damaged bricks, on the outskirts of Islamabad, May 9, 2012. (Muhammed Muheisen/Associated Press) #

Pakistani women wash their laundry at a water point on the outskirts of Islamabad, May 9, 2012. (Muhammed Muheisen/Associated Press) #

Young North Korean school children gather with their teacher during a spring day picnic and a class about appreciating nature at a park in Pyongyang, North Korea, May 9, 2012. (Kim Kwang Hyon/Associated Press) #

Connecticut College art student Ariann Holden poses against the alley wall of The Commoner on Bank St. in downtown New London, Conn., May 8, 2012. Kelley Kobak paints the shoes to complete the camouflage during work on a final project for their color theory class. (Sean D. Elliot/The Day) #

Maggie Ward, 7, plays in a monument to volunteers at a Joplin, Mo., park, May 8, 2012. The park was destroyed along with St. Johns Regional Medical, shown in the distance, after an EF-5 tornado destroyed a large swath of the city and killed 161 people nearly a year ago. Maggie's family was among those that lost their homes in the disaster. (Charlie Riedel/Associated Press) #

A young man takes photos by the Tagus river at low tide, in Lisbon, May 8, 2012. (Francisco Seco/Associated Press) #

Sharon Ericson of Riverside, Calif., shoots through a cloud of black powder smoke as she competes against the clock in Cowboy Action Shooting in Norco, Calif. The Cowboys chapter of the Single Action Shooting Society gather monthly to compete dressed in period costumes and using Western era firearms. (Jebb Harris/ The Orange County Register) #

A group of young Sri Lankan Buddhist monks spend their evening at the sea front in Colombo, Sri Lanka, May 8, 2012. (Eranga Jayawardena/Associated Press) #

A Kashmiri girl holds a cooking gas cylinder as her father rows a boat through the Dal Lake in Srinagar, India, May 8, 2012. (Mukhtar Khan/Associated Press) #

Pakistani women make their way amid garbage to fetch potable water to their homes in the outskirts of Islamabad, May 8, 2012. (AP Photo/B.K. Bangash/Associated Press) #

A man dives into a pond from atop a building to cool himself on a hot afternoon in New Delhi, May 8, 2012. (Kevin Frayer/Associated Press) #

Pedestrians and incoming traffic are reflected on mirrors displayed for sale by a Pakistani man outside his shop in Rawalpindi, May 8, 2012. (Muhammed Muheisen/Associated Press) #

A tall steel cross is refracted in rain drops on a window in Joplin, Mo., May 7, 2012. The cross is all that is left standing of St. Mary's Catholic Church, which was destroyed by an EF-5 tornado that tore through the city and killed 161 people nearly a year ago. (Charlie Riedel/Associated Press) #

A barber talks to a friend as he applies after shave to a customer, May 7, 2012 in New Delhi. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images) #

An Afghan refugee girl returns home carrying a basket in a slum area on the outskirts of Islamabad, May 7, 2012. (Muhammed Muheisen/Associated Press) #

Palestinian children leave school for the day in Gaza City, May 5, 2012. (Bernat Armangue/Associated Press) #

An Afghan refugee girl stands in the doorway of her home in a slum area on the outskirts of Islamabad, May 7, 2012. (Muhammed Muheisen/Associated Press) #

Rickshaw drivers wait for customers, May 7, 2012 in New Delhi, India. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images) #

A man stops to give money to a man begging for alms, May 7, 2012 in New Delhi. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images) #

A Kashmiri Muslim village girl walks through a field in Ganderbal town, 20 kilometers (12 miles) northeast of Srinagar India, May 15, 2012. (Dar Yasin/Associated Press) #

An Indian female farmer collects beans from a vegetable field on the outskirts of Jammu, India, May 4, 2012. (Channi Anand/Associated Press) #

A Palestinian boy plays at the beach in Gaza City, May 4, 2012. (Bernat Armangue/Associated Press) #

Pakistani Abla Zahir, 6, holds her brother Yaseen, 1, while waiting to receive a ration of rice during a donated food distribution at the Beri Iman, a shrine of famous Sufi Saint Beri Imam, in Islamabad, May 4, 2012. (Muhammed Muheisen/Associated Press) #

An Iranian couple enjoy their time at the Tochal mountainous area, at the northern part of the capital of Tehran, Iran, May 2, 2012.(Vahid Salemi/Associated Press) #

A girl plays in front of the statue of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, the founders of communism, at a park in Shanghai, China, May 4, 2012. (Eugene Hoshiko/Associated Press) #

Flora Banga jumps for joy while playing, following a mass naturalization ceremony at the Cannon Center in downtown Memphis, Tenn., April 30, 2012. Banga's father, Samuel Banga, who is originally from Sudan, took the Oath of Allegiance along with over 200 other immigrants from over 60 countries. (Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal) #

Chinese paramilitary policemen stand guard while tourists watch the customary ceremony of lowering the flag at Tiananmen Square, May 3, 2012 in Beijing, China. (Feng Li/Getty Images) #

Chinese tourists watch the customary ceremony of lowering the flag at Tiananmen Square, May 3, 2012 in Beijing. (Feng Li/Getty Images) #

A Palestinian taxi driver waits patiently to fill up his cab at a gas station in Gaza City, May 3, 2012. (Bernat Armangue/Associated Press) #

A man dressed as comic super hero Spiderman performs with a tourist while they pose for pictures in the Plaza Mayor, in Madrid, April 30, 2012.(Daniel Ochoa de Olza/Associated Press) #

An elderly couple dance while a mariachi group plays their music at the Puera del Sol square, in Madrid, April 30, 2012. (Daniel Ochoa de Olza/Associated Press) #

A North Korean student poses for a picture at a zoo in Pyongyang, North Korea, April 26, 2012. (Vincent Yu/Associated Press) #

A Pakistani girl uses an umbrella for shelter from the rain while she and her father herd their sheep, near the site of the demolished compound of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan, April 29, 2012. (Muhammed Muheisen/Associated Press) #

Classic dancers prepare to perform on the street during the Dance Day, in Pamplona northern Spain, April 29, 2012. (Alvaro Barrientos/Associated Press) #

Indian tourists walk near the India gate war memorial in New Delhi, India, April 26, 2012. (Tsering Topgyal/Associated Press) #

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