Shadow Figure

Photograph by Cristian Munteanu , National Geographic Your Shot

A man's shadow is cast on a wall in Bucharest, Romania. Your Shot contributor Cristian Munteanu had already had the photo in mind after seeing the graffiti, the shadow of the pole, and the road signs, and was convinced that a looming human shadow on the wall would complete the composition. "It was the golden hour on a February afternoon, when the light was very silky but not as warm as it is in summer," writes Munteanu. "I looked for an angle [then] waited for the right subject After 15 to 20 minutes, my patience was rewarded when the man with the hat came walking on the sidewalk I knew his shadow was the one I was looking for."

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Through a Glass, Colorfully

Photograph by Ivan Lesica , National Geographic Your Shot

"I love walking around my beloved New York City armed with my camera, looking for different and interesting subjects to photograph," says Your Shot member Ivan Lesica . "On this day, I was walking over the Williamsburg Bridge that connects Brooklyn with Manhattan. Halfway over the bridge I noticed a handmade wooden box painted in bright yellow, with openings in the front and back. I looked through it and noticed that the inside walls were covered with pieces of white, orange, and blue glass." Lesica noticed the reflection of the Empire State Building in some of the pieces and took the picture through the opening in the box. "It's my favorite shot of New York City to date."

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Crying Wolves

Photograph by Petra Warner , National Geographic Your Shot

"Wolves are especially hard to photograph in the wild," writes Petra Warner , a member of National Geographic Your Shot. "This picture was taken at Wolf Park in Indiana, a wildlife and research facility primarily focused on wolves but also on foxes, coyotes, and bison. Not only do they do a wonderful job with wildlife conservation, but they also increase awareness via education and photo workshops."

While attending one of the photo workshops, Warner had the opportunity to see the animals up close. "I specifically chose a winter's day so that the timber wolves would stand out against the snow, and one howl from a staff member sent this group of wolves a-howling and thus this picture."

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Cave Inn

Photograph by Ryan Deboodt , National Geographic Your Shot

"After two days of trekking and caving, we reached the first camp inside Hang Son Doong [mountain river cave], the world's largest cave," writes Your Shot contributor Ryan Deboodt . "The entire way, I was in awe of the scene unfolding in front of me. The atmosphere created by the clouds entering the cave from the first doline (opening in the cave ceiling) was surreal. I couldn't get over the fact that we would be camping at this most unique location and wanted to capture the feeling of having this at your doorstep."

The 2.5-mile cave is located in Vietnam's Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, near the border with Laos.

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Flight of the Flicker

Photograph by Paul Nicklen, National Geographic

A northern flicker flies from the nest it has chipped out of a tree at the edge of a small pond near Whitehorse in the Canadian Yukon.

Paul Nicklen speaks on protecting polar regions »

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Study Hall

Photograph by Tian-yu Xiong , National Geographic Your Shot

"As a local born and raised in Beijing, I love to capture the historical moments that arise in the capital city," says Your Shot contributor Tian-yu Xiong . "This photograph was taken in the National Library of China, which resides in the middle of Haidian, also known as the educational district of Beijing. As I was wandering the hallways of the library I noticed the astonishing view and repetitive lines present in the architecture. The massive amount of people reading books and studying quietly with electronic devices by their sides also drew my attention to this stunning moment."

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Salt of the Earth

Photograph by Dany Krom , National Geographic Your Shot

"At 3,650 meters above sea level, in the Bolivian Altiplano, there exists the largest continual salt desert on our planet, with a surface extending 4,085 square miles," writes Dany Krom , a member of our Your Shot community. "In it, men work to extract salt, lithium, and borax while having to adapt to the climate adversities and life conditions."

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The Place of Jade

Photograph by Michael Melford, National Geographic

Beech boughs and a broadleaf sapling overhang Lake Ada on Milford Track, a popular hiking trail in southwestern New Zealand's Te Wahipounamu the place of jade a World Heritage area that includes four national parks within which stand the country's highest mountains, longest glaciers, and tallest forests.

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Storm Watch

Photograph by Saranya Chalermchai , National Geographic Your Shot

Hoping to capture some lightning pictures, Your Shot contributor Saranya Chalermchai sat with camera in hand on the 21st floor of a building as a storm passed over Bangkok. "At one point, I saw a little light coming from the clouds, and at that exact moment I pressed the shutter," she says. "The little [bit of] lightning had already expanded, giving me this amazing shot."

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Whaling Away

Photograph by Douglas Gimesy , National Geographic Your Shot

"At the now abandoned Grytviken whaling station in South Georgia, this lone king penguin stood motionless for several hours, like a solitary sentinel, guarding memories of atrocities past, ensuring that no one forgot what happened here," writes Your Shot contributor Douglas Gimesy . The station processed tens of thousands of slaughtered whales during its nearly 60 years in operation.

"After about two hours of gentle wind, the breeze stopped, it fell silent, and the snow started to fall, making the moment even more poignant."

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Aomori Moon

Photograph by Sho Shibata , National Geographic Your Shot

"There was a beautiful morning crescent moon, and the ice was cracking on the frozen lake," says Your Shot contributor Sho Shibata , who had spent the night in his car waiting for dawn on Lake Towada in Aomori, Japan. The peaceful scene wasn't captured without incident: As he walked out to get the shot, Shibata's leg fell through the ice.

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Fleeting Sheep

Photograph by Arshad Syed , National Geographic Your Shot

"I saw this herd of sheep while driving in the mountains outside the town of Al Bahah during a photography trip to Saudi Arabia," says Arshad Syed , a member of National Geographic Your Shot. "The light was parallel to the slope, and the white sheep were glowing."

Syed had stopped the car and, not wanting to lose time retrieving his tripod from the trunk, rested his camera on the car's hood and zoomed in to fill the frame. "I looked at the camera to see the result, and when I went to take a few more pictures, the herd had disappeared," he says. "It was an irresistible moment to capture it looked like a cave drawing."

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Penned In

Photograph by Brian Skerry, National Geographic

The fast and powerful bluefin tuna is among the most overfished species on Earth. Here, bluefin in an undersea pen in the Mediterranean are fattened for the booming sushi market. These fish were taken from the wild, reducing the potential breeding population.

Skerry talks about the soul of the sea on Proof »

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Cloud Fish

Photograph by Steven Chou , National Geographic Your Shot

"That day was a dual lucky day," says Your Shot contributor Steven Chou , who captured this shot of a "delicacy in the air" while walking around the ancient camp at Ejin Banner, Inner Mongolia, in the hinterland of Badain Jaran Desert. Chou had finished taking sunrise shots of the ruins of the camp and, on seeing the formation, switched to a wide-angle lens to capture the cloud and towers in one shot.

During the shoot, Chou learned that it pays to linger. "Don't leave in such a hurry after you've done your main work," he says. "Take a walk a little bit farther and try a cool new perspective that's when you'll probably get your 'wow' shots."

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The Elegance of the Egret

Photograph by Howard Williams , National Geographic Your Shot

"I was driving through the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in New Jersey on a foggy morning and noticed this egret in the water, hunting," writes Howard Williams , a member of National Geographic Your Shot. "The water was so still it was like a mirror, and there was just enough light to see it."

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Shades of Red

Photograph by Caruso Furyk , National Geographic Your Shot

Umbrellas shade novice monks at a pagoda in Mandalay, Myanmar (Burma). "It was a fine day, with sunny weather," writes Caruso Furyk , who submitted this picture to our Your Shot community.

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Net Work

Photograph by Quang Tran , National Geographic Your Shot

Your Shot contributor Quang Tran was visiting the fishing village of Vinh Hy, Vietnam, when he came across these women sewing a fishing net. "I knew their husbands fished for a living," Tran writes. "It's a typical image that everyone visiting the village would see. It expresses the life of the villagers, [as though they are] drifting in the ocean."

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Yukon Night

Photograph by Paul Nicklen, National Geographic

The aurora borealis dances above Robert Bruce s smokehouse on a cold autumn night on the Porcupine River in Canada's Yukon. When Bruce was seven years old, his parents taught him how to butcher the caribou and smoke the fish that sustain the Vuntut Gwitchin people among the last in North America to meet most of their nutritional needs through hunting and gathering through the long Arctic winters.

Learn what drives Paul Nicklen to protect the polar regions of the world »

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Masai Moment

Photograph by Bjorn Persson, National Geographic Your Shot

Your Shot contributor Bjorn Persson counts this picture of a baby baboon in Kenya's Masai Mara National Reserve as a personal favorite. "It was one of those rare moments where everything just clicked," including light, eye contact, and perspective, Persson says.

"We were out on safari one late evening, and suddenly we were surrounded by what felt like hundreds of baboons. They were all around us, acting very curious, and after a few minutes I discovered this little newborn looking out from its mother's safe bosom. For a long time we made eye contact, and after a while I realized that it wasn't me studying him, it was him studying me."

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Northern Exposure

Photograph by Kani Polat, National Geographic Your Shot

"Every year I visit Gdansk, Poland, as a part of our family trip," says Kani Polat , a member of our Your Shot community. A cold-weather front gave Polat the opportunity to capture this picture on Gdynia beach. "After a few days of searching for some compositional elements, I came across these ice-covered rocks," Polat says. "They were so interesting to me that I decided to separate them from possible distracting elements." Polat used a long exposure, a lower viewpoint, and a zoom lens to achieve the shot. "Such wonderful scenery happens rarely on the Baltic coast. It was a real pleasure to witness despite the freezing cold."

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Fixing Up a Facade

Photograph by Brian Yen, National Geographic Your Shot

"I was on the way to a friend's house, which happens to be adjacent to this [building under] renovation," writes Your Shot contributor Brian Yen . "It was very late at night, and for a second the giant facade, complete with puffy clouds and blue sky, looked quite real."

Yen says his initial pictures didn't include any people. "Since it was late at night, the street was quite empty. Then a biker went by, and he gave the scene some sense of scale. But I didn't have my camera ready for it, so I ended up waiting across the street with the camera ready until someone finally walked past it."

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Blast of Color

Photograph by Sandipa Malakar, National Geographic Your Shot

On the eve of the springtime Holi Festival, a priest at the Radha Krishna Temple in Kolkata throws color to devotees in a blessing believed to protect them against disease throughout the year, says Your Shot contributor Sandipa Malakar , who had long desired a chance to depict the festival in her own way.

"I went to the temple to experience the essence of the festival, which started with prayer followed by the throwing of colored water on the devotees. I took this shot as the priest threw white colored powder after showering devotees with red."

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Ahead of the Herd

Photograph by Alexander Stepanenko, National Geographic Your Shot

"I've been working on a photographic survey, 'The Saami of Russia,' for 22 years (since 1991)," writes Your Shot contributor Alexander Stepanenko . "This picture was taken on black-and-white film in April 1996 near Murmansk." Stepanenko explains that herders were attempting to drive the reindeer into a corral. He captured this shot while riding on a sledge that was leading the reindeer in the foreground. "Fascinated by shooting," he says, "I almost fell off the sledge."

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Top of the World

Photograph by Orsolya Haarberg

Norway's 63,000-mile coastline boasts otherworldly fjords, bays, and islands. Here, the towering peaks of Norway s Lofoten Islands make Kirkefjorden seem a world unto itself.

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A Mutual Benefit

Photograph by David Doubliet, National Geographic

An anemone and its tenant, a pink anemonefish, look out for each other in the waters of Papua New Guinea's Kimbe Bay. The anemone s sting warns predators away, while the fish eats parasites and drives off fish that feed on anemones.

David Doubilet speaks about the world beneath the surface »

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A Winter Walk

Photograph by Marisela Murcia Navarro, National Geographic Your Shot

While walking in the countryside "enjoying the air, sounds, and colors of winter," Your Shot contributor Marisela Murcia Navarro suddenly caught this sight. "I stopped and felt that nature had given me a gift," she says. A native of Spain, Murcia had been visiting her father's region of Manchuela in Castile-La Mancha and, during long walks with camera in hand, found "scenes that seemed out of the pages of a story."

This photo was submitted to Your Shot . Check out the new and improved website, where you can share photos, take part in assignments, lend your voice to stories, and connect with fellow photographers from around the globe.

Browse more picks from Your Shot's Daily Dozen »

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Of Silhouettes and Pirouettes

Photograph by Tanya Kirnishi, National Geographic Your Shot

Your Shot contributor Tanya Kirnishi captured the shadow of a ballerina friend at Montreal's Palais des Congr s, a meeting and convention center known for its multicolored facade. "We had been exploring the neighborhood, and when we saw the colored light falling on the ground, we wanted to experiment a little," Kirnishi says.

"There is something very magical and playful about the colors, so [ballet] poses seemed like a natural fit, equally beautiful and mysterious. I wanted only the hint of my friend's body in the frame of the shot so that the focus could be on her shadow. This way, the shadow and the lights were almost part of another world, playing off of each other."

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Seal of Disapproval

Photograph by Mariusz Potocki, National Geographic Your Shot

"Crabeater seals (Lobodon carcinophagus) are one of the most curious animals [I've been] fortunate to work with," writes Mariusz Potocki , a member of our Your Shot community. "When the gulf waters freeze over during the Antarctic winter, they hunt for the krill that live beneath the ice surface. These curious and happy seals gather around airholes, which they use to take in air after hunting or playing underwater. Scuba diving in a place like that is a wonderful and exciting adventure."

This photo was submitted to Your Shot . Check out the new and improved website, where you can share photos, take part in assignments, lend your voice to stories, and connect with fellow photographers from around the globe.

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