Grand Torino
Photograph by Prandoni Livio, National Geographic Your Shot

For Prandoni Livio our city lives are, more and more, lived fleetingly. Livio, who shared this picture with our Your Shot community, was on a trip to Turin, Italy, when he captured this shot of a passing tram. “I look around to discover new situations and photographic opportunities,” he writes. Seeing the passing tram, Livio “concentrated on [the] situation, trying to find the right angles and [waiting] for the passage of people to make the photo dynamic.”

Purple Haze
Photograph by Szymon Bielikowski, National Geographic Your Shot

“I cannot describe the feelings that were flowing through my entire self when I finally got to Jökulsárlón,” writes Szymon Bielikowski, a member of our Your Shot community. “It was a spiritual experience.” Bielikowski photographed the glacial lagoon while on a lone journey through Iceland. “I could stay there for weeks, months, who knows how long?” he writes. “It is as beautiful as it is sad. I will get back there as soon as I can.”

Galaxy West
Photograph by Dan Whittaker, National Geographic Your Shot

The Milky Way arcs above an abandoned farm outside the former railroad town of Bartlett, Texas. Earth’s vast home galaxy spans 120,000 light-years from end to end.

Holding Fast
Photograph by Syed Hassan, National Geographic Your Shot

Light and smoke commingle to cast a misty glow over devotees during Rakher Upobash, a Hindu fasting festival, in Bangladesh. This is what lured Your Shot member Syed Hassan to photograph the scene. But he was also drawn to the expressions of the devotees. No matter which religion is practiced, “I love to capture the feeling,” he writes.

Chasing Rainbows
Photograph by Myriam Casper, National Geographic Your Shot

“I was inside my car as the ferry was getting ready to dock, [and] I see people's faces looking in one direction, in awe, toward the sea,” writes Your Shot member Myriam Casper, who was traveling from Nanaimo on Vancouver Island to mainland Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada. “So I grabbed my camera, went to check out what they were looking at, and then saw this perfect double rainbow in front of me.” Casper fought crowds of people on the ferry’s deck to get the shot over Horseshoe Bay. “It’s almost as if we [were] approaching a portal to another planet.”

Corazón del Fuego
Photograph by Andrew Shepard, National Geographic Your Shot

Wanting to get a closer look at Fuego, a highly active volcano in Guatemala, Your Shot member Andrew Shepard hiked the adjacent Acatenango Volcano and camped near the summit. “Under the moonlight I set my tripod up just outside the tent, and at around 1:30 a.m. we awoke to the rumbling of the ground and the sound of a breath-stealing explosion,” Shepard writes. “I scrambled to the camera just in time [to] capture a moonlit and lava-covered Fuego as it put on this beautiful display of activity and power."

Spiritual Niche
Photograph by Yann H., National Geographic Your Shot

Construction vehicles work the ground at the Longmen Grottoes near Luoyang in Henan Province, China. Situated along both banks of the Yi River, the site’s numerous caves and niches house thousands of Buddhist statues carved from the stone cliffs. Longmen’s works—including nearly 3,000 inscriptions—were carved during the late Northern Wei and early Tang dynasties, with the earliest carvings dating to the late fifth century.

Caught on Camera
Photograph by Drew Rush, National Geographic

A camera trap near Yellowstone National Park catches a grizzly bear stealing whitebark pine nuts from a squirrel’s cache. The nuts are an important food for the bears, a threatened species.

Top of the Ladder
Photograph by Adam Schierberg, National Geographic Your Shot

Cincinnati Fire Department recruits participate in a morning drill. The assignment? Climb to the top of a hundred-foot aerial ladder. Your Shot member Adam Schierberg, also a firefighter, positioned himself at the top of a drill tower to get this shot. “My intention was to capture the intensity of the climb by taking a vertical approach that also captured [the] anxiously awaiting candidates,” he writes.

All the Fish in the Sea
Photograph by Jeff Hester, National Geographic Your Shot

Your Shot member Jeff Hester was drawn to make this image because, he says, “I believe this is what our oceans should look like.” But Cabo Pulmo, a marine park off Mexico’s Baja California peninsula, hasn't always been this way. “In 1995, [the] park was established by local citizens to counteract depleted reef fishes and marine life due to overfishing,” he says. “Today, the biomass is booming, and the ecosystem is returning to a healthy state. For this particular image, I wanted to show some scale ... so I had my wife, seen in the foreground, swim ahead of me.”

Barn Storm
Photograph by Mark Duffy, National Geographic Your Shot

Sunlit storm clouds near Saskatchewan, Canada’s Qu’Appelle Valley capped a day of storm chasing for Your Shot member Mark Duffy. “The day for the most part was fairly flat, except for one developing thunderhead, so I started heading toward the back of this cloud formation,” he writes. “I went through the Qu’Appelle Valley from the north at Marquis and ended up at sunset at Tuxford. The sun shone through at the horizon and created a beautiful stormy sunset. I thought the shapes and color of the granary and Quonset were an interesting anchor for the shot.”

Moonlit Mountaineers
Photograph by Pete McBride

At 16,700 feet and a temperature of minus 20ºF, Jake Norton (right) and Dave Morton eat a quick dinner under moonlight as they prepare to climb the unclimbed Chaukhamba IV looming behind them. Along with photographer Pete McBride, the climbers spent 45 days trekking every mile of the Ganges River.

Autumn in Aomori
Photograph by Sho Shibata

The morning sun kindles a view of fall foliage on Lake Towada in Aomori, Japan. Sitting at the base of Mount Hakkoda, the lake and the annual autumn display of its forested banks are a popular tourist draw.

Rains in Africa
Photograph by Keith Willette, National Geographic Your Shot

“The clouds initially caught my eye,” writes Your Shot member Keith Willette. “This rumbling storm was coming in and I was hoping to catch some lightning bolts. Then I noticed the giraffe.”

Willette had been photographing giraffes and elephants in Kenya’s Masai Mara and was about to return to camp because of the storm. “I asked to stay just a little longer because the smell of the storm and the peaceful quietness were something I wanted to enjoy just a bit more,” he writes. “Luckily, clouds broke through and illuminated the giraffe.”

Stars Over Shivling
Photograph by Pete McBride

At 21,467 feet, India’s Mount Shivling rises toward a clear night sky. Here in the Garhwal Himalaya lies the Gangotri glacier—and the headwaters of the Ganges River.

Tottori Sand Dunes
Photograph by Hideyuki Katagiri

The Tottori sand dunes—the largest in Japan—rise toward the horizon in the country’s south. The coastal dunes were formed by sand and wind over 100,000 years. In the distance, lighted squid-fishing boats bob on the Sea of Japan.

Napoleon Invasion
Photograph by Christian Miller

A humphead wrasse, also known as a Napoleon wrasse, builds a living frame as it swims through a school of fish in the waters off Australia. Photographer Christian Miller captured the shot on a windy day right after a cyclone had passed the far northern Great Barrier Reef. “Never before [had I seen] that many glass fish on this particular coral bommie [outcrop],” he writes.

Near and Far
Photograph by Yaron Shmid

Elephants appear to patrol the Serengeti in this picture taken in Tanzania. A recent study found that ivory-seeking poachers have killed 100,000 African elephants in just three years. During 2011 alone, roughly one of every twelve African elephants was killed by a poacher. Demand for ivory, most notably in China and elsewhere in Asia, has helped keep black market prices high.

Morning Java
Photograph by Achmad Sumawijaya

Photographer Achmad Sumawijaya waited three hours to capture this picture of Mount Bromo (in foreground) and Mount Semeru (in background) on a misty morning in East Java, Indonesia. Some Indonesians believe that the volcanoes are portals to a subterranean world.

Success
Photograph by Peter Allinson

An Atlantic puffin returns from a successful fishing expedition in this picture captured in Iceland. A puffin can grip 20 or more fish in its beak. Those with chicks make up to eight food runs a day.

The Blue Universe
Photograph by Hiroki Kondo

About 4.5 million Nemophila menziesii—a California wildflower commonly known as baby blue eyes—carpet the hills at Hitachi Seaside Park in Japan. According to photographer Hiroki Kondo, who calls this landscape “the blue universe,” the flowers peak from the end of April to the first week of May.

Lake Effect
Photograph by Ben Leshchinsky

Canoers paddle the opaque surface of Lake Louise in Alberta, Canada’s Banff National Park. Ben Leshchinsky captured the “disorienting” photo from a cliff overlooking the lake. “Even boulders the size of large cars seemed like pebbles from a high vantage point,” he writes.

Lord of the Seas
Photograph by Marc Henauer

“Off the coast of Guadalupe Island, great white sharks gather to feed on sea lions,” writes Marc Henauer of this scene he captured near the island off Baja California, Mexico. “It’s an ideal place to observe these majestic animals in their natural state.”

Through the Woods
Photograph by Gary Migues

Rain dampens the forest floor along a trail in Montana’s Glacier National Park. Located in the Northern Rocky Mountains, the “crown of the continent” spans more than a million acres of rugged natural terrain. Among the features preserved within its borders are lakes and forests, alpine meadows, and valleys carved from the glaciers that give the park its name.

Leap of Faith
Photograph by Nicole Cambré

A migrating wildebeest leaps into the low waters of the Mara River in Tanzania. Wildebeests begin their annual migration at the edge of the Serengeti Plains. On their enormous loop following seasonal rains, the more than 1.5 million animals encounter deadly crossings like this one at the Mara, infamous home of the giant Nile crocodile.

Rugged Beauty
Photograph by Aya Okawa, National Geographic Your Shot

A small plane sweeps over Iceland in this photo submitted by Your Shot member Aya Okawa. The aerial shot offers an eye-opening view of a landscape scraped by glaciers and shaped by volcanic eruptions.

Back on Track
Photograph by Ronan Donovan

The Mollie’s wolf pack investigates grizzly bear tracks in Yellowstone’s Pelican Valley. Wolves were reintroduced into the park beginning in 1995, and Yellowstone now has the full complement of large animals that existed there before Europeans arrived in North America.

Mountain Sanctuary
Photograph by Giacomo Marchegiani, National Geographic Your Shot

The Temple of Valadier welcomes visitors to a cave in the Frasassi Gorge in Italy’s Marches region. The eponymous structure, designed by Italian architect Giuseppe Valadier in the early 1800s, was to be used as a retreat for Christians seeking forgiveness, earning it the nickname “refuge for sinners.”


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APRIL 13, 2016

Sailor's Delight
Photograph by Michael Hannig, National Geographic Your Shot

Your Shot member Michael Hannig submitted this shot of what he calls a “journey to the moon.” A blood moon, hanging low in the horizon in this photo, occurs when the moon passes behind the Earth and into its shadow—a lunar eclipse. The Earth's shadow casts the moon in a captivating red tint.

Final Preparations
Photograph by Wiesław Ślęczkowski, National Geographic Your Shot

Ngapali, Myanmar, a coastal area along the Bay of Bengal, is dotted with traditional fishing villages. In this photo shared by Wiesław Ślęczkowski, the wives of Ngapali fishermen gather the fishing nets after collecting up the day’s catch. The nets are made ready for the next day's work.

A Natural Rush
Photograph by Victoria Komarevych, National Geographic Your Shot

Your Shot member Victoria Komarevych shared this photo of Chamarel Falls as it cascades more than 300 feet into a lush gorge. The falls are located on Mauritius, in the Indian Ocean. Ecotourism is an expanding industry here, as the volcanic island features extraordinary landscapes and marine life.

Sunrise Ritual
Photograph by Neetesh Kumar, National Geographic Your Shot

A man balances on a stone protruding from Kolavai Lake in India’s Tamil Nadu state, an area known for its temples as well as its natural beauty. “The man [was] just washing his legs,” says Your Shot member and photographer Neetesh Kumar, who shot this photo as the sun rose.

Gatekeeper
Photograph by Danielle Lussier, National Geographic Your Shot

“As I biked about the Aran Islands in Ireland,” writes Danielle Lussier, who submitted this photo, “I came across this horse ambling about in front of these church ruins, just after the daily Irish drizzle. He finally struck a pose for me at the gate.

"A Magical Night"
Photograph by Satu Juvonen, National Geographic Your Shot

In Finland, a scattering of trees draped in heavy snow crosses the landscape, and the northern lights toss ribbons of color across the sky. This image was shared by Your Shot member Satu Javonen, who writes, “[It was] a magical night in Lapland.”

Springing Back to Life
Photograph by Jim Brandenburg

Over 93 days in 2014, National Geographic photographer Jim Brandenburg shot springtime images in his home state of Minnesota. This image of a swallowtail butterfly on a birch tree was captured on day 84 of his project.

Curious Colors
Photograph by Melissa Leak, National Geographic Your Shot

Your Shot member Melissa Leak submitted this photo of Lanzarote’s Green Lagoon, which sports a unique, acidic color due to a proliferation of algae. Green Lagoon is bordered by a beach of pebbly, black volcanic rock. In fact, Lanzarote, one of Spain's Canary Islands, owes its otherworldly landscape to the ancient volcanic activity that shaped it.

Prim Pelican
Photograph by Marco Schaffner, National Geographic Your Shot

This white pelican casts a demure, sidelong glance in the direction of Your Shot member Marco Schaffner’s lens. The ungainly bird is not known for its beauty, but with its average nine-foot wingspan, it is graceful in flight. White pelicans soar and glide, rather than flap their wings, making it easier for them to travel often long distances to catch enough fish to feed their chicks.

Light the Way
Photograph by Stephen Scarlett, National Geographic Your Shot

The Milky Way glitters over a Colorado highway in this long-exposure photo submitted by Your Shot member Stephen Scarlett. “As a veteran who struggles with PTSD,” Scarlett writes, “I find the isolation [in] the darkness peaceful and capturing long-exposure photographs of the night sky therapeutic. This photo was taken just outside Allenspark on Highway 7 at around 1:30 a.m. I was out taking photos of the Milky Way that night when I realized that if I waited for another hour and a half, the Milky Way would rotate and align with the highway.”

Shake the Dust Off
Photograph by Saravut Whanset, National Geographic Your Shot

Dust stirred by heavy elephant footsteps is shot through with light as the sun rises over Surin, Thailand. Communities in Surin traditionally raised, trained, and lived with elephants, which were kept primarily as working animals. Today, however, the elephants, though still an integral part of Surin tradition, are trained primarily to entertain tourists.

The Calm Below
Photograph by Susannah H. Snowden-Smith, National Geographic Your Shot

A southern stingray appears to float gently in the shallows of Stingray City, a popular tourist attraction in the Cayman Islands. Your Shot member Susannah H. Snowden-Smith shot this image during a sunrise visit to the area, which, despite the calm appearance underwater, was experiencing rough surf. “The rough water worked in my favor,” writes Snowden-Smith. “When it splashed onto my dome port, the sunrise turned fiery in the splash. It was dark under the water; I used my strobes to give a pop of light and illuminate the stingray.”