Photograph by Sho Shibata , National Geographic Your Shot
The spring season comes slowly to the mountains of Aomori, Japan, writes photographer Sho Shibata, adding that the beech trees will begin to bud before the snow has even melted. Here, Shibata captures a Mount Hakkoda forest wreathed in morning mist.
This photo was submitted to the 2015 Traveler Photo Contest. Find your best travel photos and join the competition.
Photograph by Paul Nicklen, National Geographic
Orcas show their smarts by working together to whip up a meal. Here, a pod hunts for herring in Norway s Andfjorden. Members of the pod coordinate their moves, herding a mass of herring into a manageable ball. They then whip their tails against the ball, stunning or killing the fish.
Photograph by Michael O'Brien , National Geographic Your Shot
Today in Istanbul, Sultan Ahmet Mosque [also known as the Blue Mosque] and Hagia Sophia are surrounded by busy streets and streams of visitors, writes Traveler Photo Contest entrant Michael O Brien. Yet it is still possible to glimpse a timeless and ancient view. O Brien captured this perspective from an upper window in the Hagia Sophia, now a museum.
This photo was submitted to the 2015 Traveler Photo Contest. Find your best travel photos and join the competition.
Photograph by Claire Thomas , National Geographic Your Shot
After carrying me to the viewpoint, my sleepy camel seemed happy to have a rest, writes Your Shot member Claire Thomas, who captured this photo of her expressive ride while visiting the Pyramids at Giza near Cairo, Egypt.
This photo was submitted to Your Shot, our storytelling community where members can take part in photo assignments, get expert feedback, be published, and more. Join now
Photograph by Thierry Bornier , National Geographic Your Shot
Photographer Thierry Bornier captured this picture of the rice terraces of Yuanyang County in China s Yunnan Province from the top of a mountain in the late afternoon. The scene, says Bornier, looked like a giant puzzle.
This photo was submitted to the 2015 Traveler Photo Contest. Find your best travel photos and join the competition.
Photograph by Mark Duffy , National Geographic Your Shot
Niagara Falls takes on an otherworldly pallor when the windchill temperature plummets to minus 40 below zero in Ontario, Canada. For photographer Mark Duffy, seeing everything frozen was a beautiful sight.
This photo was submitted to the 2015 Traveler Photo Contest. Find your best travel photos and join the competition.
Photograph by Olivier Galibert , National Geographic Your Shot
Musicians perform during the Gitan Pilgrimage in the Camargue town of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer on the southern coast of France. The annual spring festival brings together minority ethnic groups from throughout Europe, including the Romanies of France and Spain.
This photo was submitted to the 2015 Traveler Photo Contest. Find your best travel photos and join the competition.
Photograph by Peter Essick, National Geographic
Lake O Hara nestles in the Canadian Rockies at more than 6,600 feet like an emerald in a bowl of mountains, wrote paleontologist Charles Walcott in 1911. Generations of artists have put brush to canvas at this lookout, called All Souls Prospect, in British Columbia s Yoho National Park.
Photograph by Joel Koczwarski , National Geographic Your Shot
As dusk settles in the ancient city of Bukhara, a lone woman passes by an incredible ancient mosque of epic proportions, writes photographer Joel Koczwarski. Located in present-day Uzbekistan, Bukhara was once an important stop along the Silk Road.
This photo was submitted to the 2015 Traveler Photo Contest. Find your best travel photos and join the competition.
Photograph by Wes Eisenhauer
I was traveling through South Dakota and decided to visit Custer State Park during their annual buffalo roundup, writes Wes Eisenhauer, who submitted this photo to the Traveler Photo Contest, happening now. As I approached the area where the buffalo are kept and counted, most of the herd scattered at my presence. This buffalo stayed and had a few more sips of water while I snapped a few pictures ... We both stood quietly for just a moment before she turned and walked away.
This photo was submitted to the 2015 Traveler Photo Contest. Find your best travel photos and join the competition.
Photograph by Elena Bobrova
Light streams into Indonesia s Grubug Cave, captured by photographer Elena Bobrova after descending nearly 200 feet into neighboring Jomblang Cave and traveling through a natural horizontal corridor. Bobrova writes that the vision was so beautiful that someone called it the light of heaven.'''
This photo was submitted to the 2015 Traveler Photo Contest. Find your best travel photos and join the competition.
Photograph by Luk Ild a , National Geographic Your Shot
Undulating fields tell an agricultural tale in Moravia, a region in the Czech Republic that s known for its folk traditions, architecture, and landscapes. I really fell in love with this region, where you can find these beautiful field views without any distracting elements just fluid, linear silk surfaces writes Luk Ild a, a member of our Your Shot community.
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Photograph by Tsuyoshi Shirahama
A long exposure captures a dynamic sunset over Jersey City, New Jersey. According to photographer Tsuyoshi Shirahama, it was a perfect day to take sunset photos, with strong winds causing the many clouds to move quickly. I selected [a neutral density] filter without hesitation to get this effect, Shirahama writes.
This photo was submitted to the 2015 Traveler Photo Contest. Find your best travel photos and join the competition.
Photograph by Clemens Capek , National Geographic Your Shot
A meerkat family warms up at sunrise in Oudtshoorn, South Africa. Shortly after waking up, a meerkat family also called a gang or mob will warm in the sun to harvest energy for the day, writes Your Shot member Clemens Capek. The animals are normally shy, but one family in the area became accustomed to humans in close proximity, allowing Capek to capture them in their natural surroundings.
Capek s image was recently featured in Your Shot s Daily Dozen .
This photo was submitted to Your Shot, our storytelling community. Check out the new book Getting Your Shot for more photos, plus tips and creative insights from Nat Geo experts.
Photograph by Shibasish Saha , National Geographic Your Shot
Laborers work among the dust and debris at a brick field in Kolkata, India. Men and women work together every day to earn some money for their family, writes Shibasish Saha, a member of our Your Shot community.
This photo was submitted to Your Shot, our storytelling community. Check out the new book Getting Your Shot for more photos, plus tips and creative insights from Nat Geo experts.
Photograph by Alexey Trofimov , National Geographic Your Shot
Ice on Lake Baikal is a very interesting phenomenon, writes Your Shot member Alexey Trofimov. Ice ridges, cracks, tears, hugging. All this creates unique and fantastic stories. Trofimov spends a few months a year photographing landscapes at the lake the world s deepest and oldest in southeastern Siberia. On this trip, he hoped to make an unusual picture of the ice, showing elements not normally visible. When one morning brought a strong frost and wind, which created unusual patterns in the cracks, Trofimov had only to wait for sunrise to make this picture.
This photo was submitted to the 2015 Traveler Photo Contest. Find your best travel photos and join the competition.
This photo was submitted to Your Shot, our storytelling community. Check out the new book Getting Your Shot for more photos, plus tips and creative insights from Nat Geo experts.
Photograph by Pablo Ponti , National Geographic Your Shot
It had been raining all day in Luanda, Angola, where we live, writes Pablo Ponti, a member of our Your Shot community. Just as the last raindrops fell and the sun broke through the clouds ... I took my daughter and her two best friends out for a snack, and when we approached a large puddle, the opportunity to show their silhouette in the water's reflection was formed in my mind. Since they are best friends, I wanted to show them in a different light, through their feet and their reflections. The kids enjoyed it, and I loved the end result.
This photo was submitted to Your Shot, our storytelling community. Check out the new book Getting Your Shot for more photos, plus tips and creative insights from Nat Geo experts.
Photograph by Marsel van Oosten , National Geographic Your Shot
These baobab trees on Madagascar are up to 800 years old, writes Your Shot member Marsel van Oosten. Locally known as mother of the forest, the baobab forms a micro-ecosystem of its own, supporting life for both animals and humans, van Oosten says. Old hollow baobabs are a home to snakes, bats, bush babies, bees, and sometimes even humans. More importantly, the tree is an important source of water it can store up to 4,000 liters of water in its trunk. For Africa, it is literally the tree of life.
This photo was submitted to Your Shot, our storytelling community. Check out the new book Getting Your Shot for more photos, plus tips and creative insights from Nat Geo experts.
Photograph by Stephanie Sinclair, National Geographic
In Nepal s Kathmandu Valley, young Newari girls called kumaris are worshipped as living goddesses. Like other kumaris, Dangol, pictured here, wears special makeup for festivals. But it s more than makeup that changes on these occasions. Former kumaris have described feeling bigger and stronger and said that heat radiates from their foreheads.
Photograph by Brian Hammonds , National Geographic Your Shot
While at the Noryangjin Fish Market in Seoul, South Korea, Your Shot member Brian Hammonds was drawn to the contrast of the blues in the displays and the reds and pinks worn by the women seen here. An elevated walkway at the front of the market allowed Hammond to capture the scene from above.
This photo was submitted to Your Shot, our storytelling community. Check out the new book Getting Your Shot for more photos, plus tips and creative insights from Nat Geo experts.
Photograph by Matthew Saville , National Geographic Your Shot
As technology shrinks the world around us, it becomes more and more difficult to find ourselves truly lost in the outdoors, writes Your Shot member Matthew Saville. This makes those particular moments and scenes that much more special. Saville captured this shot of a tent on Half Dome s Diving Board while camping in Yosemite National Park. Getting to the Diving Board was quite a challenge, as there is no official trail, he writes. For anybody who is prepared, careful, and respectful of nature, the reward is one of the most breathtaking views in all of Yosemite, in my opinion.
This photo was submitted to the 2015 Traveler Photo Contest. Find your best travel photos and join the competition.
Photograph by Danielle Mussman , National Geographic Your Shot
Ethel the Great Dane attempts the impossible on a spring day in northern Kentucky. I am constantly drawn to her eternal optimism in attempting to catch balls thrown her way, only to be defeated by her gangly legs and just-a-beat-off timing, writes Your Shot member Danielle Mussman. Ultimately, the photos of her missing the ball are always more amusing than those of her finally succeeding in catching it. Mussman s husband thought he might improve the odds by slowly tossing two balls in Ethel s direction. The result? writes Mussman. Double the confusion, double the frustration, and double the treats for our sweet girl who never gives up.
This photo was submitted to Your Shot, our storytelling community. Check out the new book Getting Your Shot for more photos, plus tips and creative insights from Nat Geo experts.
Photograph by Martin Oeggerli, National Geographic
A scanning electron microscope (SEM) captures the intricacies of a fruit fly s eye. The compound eye is a tightly packed collection of single lenses that gives the fly a gridlike view of the world. Scientists suspect the bristles may help protect the lenses, which have no eyelids, from dirt and debris. Photographer Martin Oeggerli specializes in shooting very small things using an SEM at the School of Life Sciences in Muttenz, Switzerland. His images appear in the story Bug-Eyed in the June 2015 issue of National Geographic magazine.
Photograph by Avishek Das , National Geographic Your Shot
A believer pierces his face during the Hindu festival of Charak Puja in West Bengal, India. The rituals of Charak Puja, a way to show the miracle of God, are unique and, at times, a little risky, writes Avishek Das, who shared this photo on Your Shot. For Das, getting such a shot had its difficulties. People are in a hurry to complete the exercise soon, and huge mass gatherings are there, he writes.
This photo was submitted to Your Shot, our storytelling community. Check out the new book Getting Your Shot for more photos, plus tips and creative insights from Nat Geo experts.
Photograph by Anand Varma, National Geographic
A new honeybee emerges from a brood cell. In her six-week life span, this worker bee will forage for food, make honey and raise the next generation. Photographer Anand Varma shares the story behind creating a stunning time-lapse of developing bees on Proof .
Image composed of 23 digitally merged photographs.
Photograph by Siddhartha Banerjee , National Geographic Your Shot
Your Shot member Siddhartha Banerjee captured this picture during recess at a secondary school in Kolkata, India. They had their midday meals and went to play, he writes. Suddenly, a student emerged from a classroom and leaned over to look below. It seemed he was invisible to the rest of the students already playing, but it seemed the boy was intently watching them, as if his soul [were] already there with the boys out there.
This photo was submitted to Your Shot, our storytelling community. Check out the new book Getting Your Shot for more photos, plus tips and creative insights from Nat Geo experts.
Photograph by Mike Frosberg
A powerful spring pushes up through the ice of a Platte River backwater in Nebraska. Photographer Mike Frosberg s project, the Platte Basin Timelapse ," attempts to capture a watershed in motion from the mountains to the plains.
Photograph by Ed Graham , National Geographic Your Shot
Although the days are short in Iceland in February, the sun remains low on the horizon while it s up, writes Your Shot member Ed Graham. This allows six to eight hours of shooting in a beautiful golden light if the weather cooperates. Here, the winter sun falls on Iceland s Go afoss, or Waterfall of the Gods, one of the largest in the country. To achieve this shot, Graham made a hazardous climb. The bare surface of the rock was slick from refrozen mist from the falls, he writes. I got as close to the edge as I dared.
This photo was submitted to Your Shot, our storytelling community. Check out the new book Getting Your Shot for more photos, plus tips and creative insights from Nat Geo experts.
Photograph by Abdullrahman Almalki , National Geographic Your Shot
It took three days for Your Shot member Abdullrahman Almalki to capture the moment he wanted from this vantage near the city of Ta if in Saudi Arabia. Almalki used a tripod and a remote shutter release to achieve a meditative image encompassing the lighted highway, clouds, and stars.
This photo was submitted to Your Shot, our storytelling community. Check out the new book Getting Your Shot for more photos, plus tips and creative insights from Nat Geo experts.
Photograph by Sajad Rafeeq , National Geographic Your Shot
A Kashmiri man pulls a sledge meant to ferry tourists across a bridge in the mountain town of Sonamarg, India. Your Shot member Sajad Rafeeq was visiting the popular destination with friends when they encountered roads blocked by heavy snowfall. Rafeeq saw this man and other locals providing transport with the sledges and, climbing down from his car, captured the shot with frozen hands. It was very cold, and the temperature was very low, but these people still worked in these harsh conditions to earn a living, he writes.
This photo was submitted to Your Shot, our storytelling community where members can take part in photo assignments, get expert feedback, be published, and more. Join now
Photograph by Tatiana Touraeva , National Geographic Your Shot
While traveling through Vladimir, Russia, Your Shot member Tatiana Touraeva and her family stopped to stroll around a historic section of town. The weather seemed to be pretty changeable that day, Touraeva writes. Though a freezing wind was blowing, the sun could still be seen through the clouds. We were having fun, riding scooters and playing tag when the snow began to fall. That was quite unexpected, with all that sunshine and green grass almost [coming] out of the ground here and there, she writes. The church s domes seemed lit up by the rays, and the snowflakes so big and light moved slowly in the air ... That was really a rare moment I will remember for the rest of my life.
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Photograph by Sarah Lee
A woman duck dives beneath a wave on a wooden alaia, a modern rendition of an ancient Hawaiian surfboard. The main reason I love ocean and surf photography is the combination of the physical and creative challenge of it, says photographer Sarah Lee, who captured this image off Kona, Hawaii.
Photograph by Steed Yu , National Geographic Your Shot
Constellations in the southern Milky Way compete with an earthly display of light near Tanzania s Lake Natron. These glowing elves were flying up and down among the lush grass on both sides of a ravine stream, like a flowing firefly way as if to contest ... the Milky Way, writes Your Shot member Steed Yu.
This photo was submitted to Your Shot, our storytelling community where members can take part in photo assignments, get expert feedback, be published, and more. Join now
Photograph by Trynidada , National Geographic Your Shot
An abandoned World War II torpedo station appears suspended between a moody sky and a calm bay near Gdynia on the coast of Poland. Setting out from Warsaw, Your Shot member Trynidada drove through the night to catch the first light of sunrise but as the sun came up, the weather turned dark. The sky had this steel-like color, with just a hint of white clouds moving slowly on the horizon, Trynidada writes.
Trynidada s image was recently featured in Your Shot s Daily Dozen .
This photo was submitted to Your Shot, our storytelling community where members can take part in photo assignments, get expert feedback, be published, and more. Join now
Photograph by Mervin Pearce , National Geographic Your Shot
A robber fly saved from a pool rests on the tip of a bottlebrush flower in Boksburg, South Africa. Using post-processing software, Your Shot member Mervin Pearce created a composite image consisting of multiple shots of the fly stacked on top of each other.
This photo was submitted to Your Shot, our storytelling community where members can take part in photo assignments, get expert feedback, be published, and more. Join now
Photograph by Kate Parker , National Geographic Your Shot
We all know that sound it makes when you yell into a fan, writes Kate Parker, who shared this picture with our Your Shot community. Parker had volunteered to take a friend s children outside after an early dinner out. This was shot in July in Georgia, she writes. Lots of restaurants have these huge fans outside in case anyone is looking to sweat while they eat. [As] soon as the girls saw the fan, they were drawn right to it. Parker recalled doing this herself as a child. It is universal. I knew I wanted to capture that moment ... yelling freely, with the wind blowing their hair, and just being kids.
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Photograph by Kampol Jindaprom , National Geographic Your Shot
A ceremony takes place in the courtyard of the Put Jaw Chinese Temple during the annual Vegetarian Festival in Phuket, Thailand. A wonderful moment, writes Your Shot member Kampol Jindaprom, who visited the temple to pay homage during the nine-day event. It stems from ... belief and faith.
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Photograph by Ciemon Frank Caballes , National Geographic Your Shot
The residents of Jellyfish Lake on Eil Malk one of the Rock Islands of Palau surround a snorkeler in their midst. The saltwater lake s golden jellyfish, harmless to humans, spend much of their lives following the sun as it makes its daily progress across the sky. For these jellies, sunlight is essential: It nourishes the algae-like organisms that live symbiotically in their tissues.
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Photograph by Christoph Jorda , National Geographic Your Shot
To get this shot, taken in Austria, Your Shot member Christoph Jorda set up two Profoto B1 flash systems: one on top of the ice cave and one inside. We had to dig out the entrance of the cave because it was almost totally closed by the snow you see in the foreground, Jorda writes. The problem? According to Jorda, the ice cave was at an altitude of nearly 9,800 feet, the temperature was at minus 4 F, and the flash didn t work properly. So he [had] to jump a couple of times to get it right, he says.
Jorda s image was recently featured in Your Shot s Daily Dozen .
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Photograph by Muhammad Babar Swaleheen , National Geographic Your Shot
While shooting at the seaside in the United Arab Emirates, Your Shot member Muhammad Babar Swaleheen was about to pack up when he spotted these men discussing daily life around a small fire. Swaleheen asked if he could photograph them, and they gladly agreed.
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Photograph by David Guttenfelder, National Geographic
Dams are rising all along the Mekong River to bring the people of Southeast Asia clean electricity. In Thailand the hunger for electricity is driving dam construction on the lower Mekong in Laos and Cambodia. Bangkok s CentralWorld complex (at right) houses some 500 shops, a hotel, and an ice-skating rink.
Photograph by Steve Bradburn , National Geographic Your Shot
Your Shot member Steve Bradburn used wire wool and a long exposure to create this fiery effect in Salcombe, England. Above, stars wheel in the night sky.
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Photograph by Andrew Louis Kleynhans , National Geographic Your Shot
While taking pictures of Hindu holy men in the Indian city of Mathura birthplace of the Hindu god Krishna Your Shot member Andrew Louis Kleynhans came across a boatman on the Yamuna River who asked to have his picture taken. To get this angle Kleynhans got on his stomach in the boat s stern, his feet dangling in the water. In the end ... the boatman was very happy with his image, he writes.
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Photograph by Yanming Qin , National Geographic Your Shot
Red lanterns create a decorative canopy during the Spring Festival, or Chinese New Year, a significant holiday during which millions of Chinese travel home to be with family. In China the color red traditionally symbolizes good fortune and is said to bring happiness and prosperity.
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Photograph by Raja Subramaniyan , National Geographic Your Shot
A young girl s face is painted for a festival honoring the guardian deity Angalamman, the fiercest form, evoked in participants expressions. The festival is held every year in the village of Kaveripattinam in Tamil Nadu, India.
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Photograph by Abir Choudhury , National Geographic Your Shot
Families celebrate under a corridor of twinkle lights on Christmas Eve in Kolkata s Bow Barracks. This auspicious occasion is celebrated in a very colorful way, writes Abir Choudhury, a member of our Your Shot community. I [tried] to highlight them with black and white.
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Photograph by Federico Cabello , National Geographic Your Shot
A shoal of sardines resembles an eye on the ocean depths as it swirls near the surface at Thousand Steps Reef off the Caribbean island of Bonaire. Your Shot member Federico Cabello photographed and documented Bonaire s more than 90 official dive sites for his book Bonaire Point to Point. Thousand Steps Reef was one of these dive sites, Cabello writes. It s reached via a narrow, meandering stone stairway. A long trek but worth it.
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Photograph by Mitch Adolph , National Geographic Your Shot
A red fox meanders through dunes along the New Jersey shore in this picture by Your Shot member Mitch Adolph. When it got to the top of this dune, I got down on my knees to get a lower point of view and bring the cloudy sky into the background, he writes. As the fox looked back, I got this shot."
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Photograph by Gregor Pirih , National Geographic Your Shot
A street performer and a picture of Ray Charles meet in a window in the small town of Nova Gorica in western Slovenia, home of Your Shot member Gregor Pirih, who came upon this scene while taking a walk. Pirih stopped and listened for a while before taking out his camera and hunting for the serendipitous angle captured here. He then waited to include a passing woman. I wanted to have a good street atmosphere [in] my photo, he writes. I fired off a few frames, and I knew immediately that I just took the photograph I was hoping for.
Pirih s image was published in the Street Photography assignment .
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Photograph by Ernie Vater , National Geographic Your Shot
The setting sun shines through the ice on the shore of a frozen Lake Superior, traversed by Your Shot member Ernie Vater to reach this spot. Part of the beauty of this place is the silence of it, he writes of the ice caves at the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore near Bayfield, Wisconsin. You hear nothing except the occasional creaking of the ice (which can make you jump if it's right under you). There were a few times when I just stopped and enjoyed the quiet. In this spot the only sounds were the water drops splashing.
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