@cockswain
I think that the problem you’re having is essentially the same as wrapping your head around the concept of “observing” a black hole. The one observable one that we’ve seen is of course, like any black hole as described in theoretical physics, not observable as anything beyond the event horizon never escapes, not even light. Therefore, information regarding the black hole, since it travels at the speed of light, is trapped beyond the event horizon as well.
We observe the black hole, therefore, by observing the effects on matter and energy surrounding the event horizon.
Time and space, from our perspective, are separated from each other and themselves so to prevent everything from happening at the same time in the same place. So, from our observational perspective, we separate out the photons from each other. From the photon’s perspective, it was already in your retina, and it’s the same one that just left the television, which is the same as the one that left the sun awhile ago.
For the photon, everything DOES happen at the same time and in the same place.