National Geographic Foto of the Day

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Grand Palais, Paris


November 13, 2012

[h=2]Grand Palais, Paris
[/h] Photograph by Lance McMillan
This Month in Photo of the Day: 2012 National Geographic Photo Contest Images
Daniel Buren’s work, "Excentrique(s)," fills the Grand Palais in Paris, an absolutely beautiful work of art in its own right.

 

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Umbrellas, Florence



November 14, 2012

[h=2]Umbrellas, Florence[/h] Photograph by Steve Webb
This Month in Photo of the Day: 2012 National Geographic Photo Contest Images
During a heavy downpour in Florence, Italy, water enhances the aged character of a road, highlighting an array of monochromatic textures. The transient, colorful umbrellas pass through the scene, all uniting and forming a striking image. Two of them unite, suggesting a closer connection, in colorful, romantic Florence.

 

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Lake Winnipeg, Canada


November 15, 2012

[h=2]Lake Winnipeg, Canada
[/h] Photograph by Gerald Vincent
This Month in Photo of the Day: 2012 National Geographic Photo Contest Images
Two swimmers enjoy a preternatural calm on a summer's day on Lake Winnipeg.

 

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Mantis and Flower


November 16, 2012

[h=2]Mantis and Flower
[/h] Photograph by Fabien Bravin
This Month in Photo of the Day: 2012 National Geographic Photo Contest Images
A tiny mantis larva in an American poppy flower

 

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Cyclists, India


November 17, 2012

[h=2]Cyclists, India
[/h] Photograph by Baiju Patil
This Month in Photo of the Day: 2012 National Geographic Photo Contest Images
I was traveling in Mumbai. I noticed that there are lots and lots of photo subjects. There is a place called Pali Hills, where people who migrated from Goa live. Their lifestyle is similar to the Goan people, and the architecture of this area is very unique. Some children were learning to ride a cycle on a busy street turn by turn.

 

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Oryx, Namibia


November 19, 2012

[h=2]Oryx, Namibia
[/h] Photograph by Mikael Stiller
This Month in Photo of the Day: 2012 National Geographic Photo Contest Images
Oryx captured in Namib-Naukluft National Park in Namibia just after sunset. They are heading through the dunes in search of food and water.

 

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Pheasant, Italy


November 20, 2012

[h=2]Pheasant, Italy
[/h] Photograph by Michel Giaccaglia
This Month in Photo of the Day: 2012 National Geographic Photo Contest Images
This pheasant is proudly calling to mark its territory spotted with poppies, and seems to like to wear one of them as a mask—the right face at the right place for the right shot.

 

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Hallstatt, Austria

November 21, 2012

Hallstatt, Austria


Photograph by Weimin Chu
This Month in Photo of the Day: 2012 National Geographic Photo Contest Images
When the dark falls and tourists rest, the town of Hallstatt comes back to peacefulness. As fog winds around the spire of the famous Parish Church, and the blue tint of the rainy night is decorated by warm light, the town really looks like a fairyland.

 

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Bear Cub, Alaska



November 22, 2012

[h=2]Bear Cub, Alaska
[/h] Photograph by Douglas Croft
This Month in Photo of the Day: 2012 National Geographic Photo Contest Images
This yearling cub was "fishing" with his mom at Brooks Falls, Alaska. Mostly, he was getting in her way. Suddenly he became quite agitated and ran from the water and into a tree right next to the viewing platform where we were standing. It provided the best photo op of our trip.

 

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Cappadocia, Turkey


November 23, 2012

[h=2]Cappadocia, Turkey
[/h] Photograph by Sukru Mehmet Omur
This Month in Photo of the Day: 2012 National Geographic Photo Contest Images
During a lovely sunrise in autumn, the view from the sky was wonderful at Urgup, Cappadocia, Turkey. The colors are going from green to red in a spectacular moonlike landscape.

 

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Skier, Afghanistan


November 24, 2012

[h=2]Skier, Afghanistan
[/h] Photograph by James Robertson
This Month in Photo of the Day: 2012 National Geographic Photo Contest Images
A young Afghan skier in the province of Bamyan takes to the slopes on homemade skis. The skis are made from wood and metal and fasten to his feet with string and chain. He has been inspired by seeing Western tourists who are traveling to the area in ever increasing numbers to take to the remote slopes of the Hindu Kush.

 

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Pink Anemonefish


November 25, 2012

[h=2]Pink Anemonefish
[/h] Photograph by Mike Ricciardi
This Month in Photo of the Day: 2012 National Geographic Photo Contest Images
This is a photo of a "family" of pink anemonefish in and around their host anemone. If you look closely you can also see the small anemone shrimp (tiny white eyes) in and around the anemone.

 

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Cheetah and Cubs

November 26, 2012

[h=2]Cheetah and Cubs
[/h] Photograph by Scott Belt
This Month in Photo of the Day: 2012 National Geographic Photo Contest Images
This mother cheetah, with five cubs nearby, made it clear that her limits had been met (or exceeded).

 

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Tour Guide, Vietnam



November 27, 2012
[h=2]Tour Guide, Vietnam
[/h] Photograph by Matthew Nelson
This Month in Photo of the Day: 2012 National Geographic Photo Contest Images
A Vietnamese lady waits for passengers for a journey on the Thu Bon River in Hoi An Ancient Town. Increasing competition from locals for the tourist dollar means many of the local tour guides are left to wait.

 

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Sunrise, Saxony


November 28, 2012

[h=2]Sunrise, Saxony
[/h] Photograph by Jens Elste
This Month in Photo of the Day: 2012 National Geographic Photo Contest Images
Sunrise from the Bastei. It was the first sunny day in our country this year. The Bastei is a rock in our sandstone mountains in Saxony, Germany.

 

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Weedy Sea Dragon

November 29, 2012

[h=2]Weedy Sea Dragon
[/h] Photograph by Richard Wylie
This Month in Photo of the Day: 2012 National Geographic Photo Contest Images
The camouflage that weedy sea dragons use to hide in the temperate marine vegetation they derive their name from is so successful that once they reach adulthood they have no natural predators. Unfortunately they are still at risk due to habitat destruction. The males of the species carry the bright pink, fertilized eggs underneath their tails for about two months before the fully formed young hatch and are left to fend for themselves.

 

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Medici Villas, Italy

November 30, 2012

[h=2]Medici Villas, Italy
[/h] Photograph by Giacomo Baldi
This Month in Photo of the Day: 2012 National Geographic Photo Contest Images
A guard at a Medici villa in Poggio a Caiano, Italy, enjoys a cigarette at the end of the day.

 

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Caucuses, Russia

December 1, 2012

[h=2]Caucuses, Russia
[/h] Photograph by Vittorio Sella
This Month in Photo of the Day: Vintage National Geographic Photographs
Two men look toward mountain peaks in the Caucuses in this photo by Vittorio Sella that dates to around 1896.
Sella was a mountaineer and a pioneering high-altitude photographer who captured images from many of the world’s great mountain ranges.

 

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Deer, Michigan

December 2, 2012

[h=2]Deer, Michigan
[/h] Photograph by George Shiras
This Month in Photo of the Day: Vintage National Geographic Photographs
Two deer are seen at night on Grand Island, Michigan, in this early flash photograph by George Shiras, who pioneered both the first flashlight photos and the first trip-wire photography of animals at night.
A box of photographs that Shiras brought to National Geographic in 1905 yielded the first nighttime wildlife photographs ever published. They appeared in the July 1906 issue of the magazine.

 

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Women With Cherry Blossoms, Japan

December 3, 2012

[h=2]Women With Cherry Blossoms, Japan
[/h] Photograph by Eliza R. Scidmore
This Month in Photo of the Day: Vintage National Geographic Photographs
In a tinted black-and-white photograph dating to around the 1910s, women pose with cherry blossoms in Japan.
Photographer Eliza Scidmore served as the National Geographic Society's first female writer and board member and played a pivotal role in bringing the now beloved cherry trees to Washington, D.C.'s Potomac Park and Tidal Basin.

 

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Great Sphinx, Egypt

December 4, 2012

[h=2]Great Sphinx, Egypt
[/h] Photograph by Donald McLeish
This Month in Photo of the Day: Vintage National Geographic Photographs
In 1928 National Geographic Editor Gilbert H. Grosvenor wanted "outdated" photographs of the Great Sphinx of Giza—images made prior to excavation—removed from the archive. This 1921 photo by Donald McLeish survived and has been in the image collection for over 90 years.

 

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M'Sila, Algeria

December 5, 2012

[h=2]M'Sila, Algeria
[/h] Photograph by Franklin Price Knott
This Month in Photo of the Day: Vintage National Geographic Photographs
A circa 1926 autochrome image by Franklin Price Knott shows a group of men in M’Sila, Algeria.
An autochrome series by Knott composed the first color photographic essay to be published in National Geographic.

 

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Boat Ride, Japan

December 6, 2012

[h=2]Boat Ride, Japan
[/h] Photograph by Kiyoshi Sakamoto
This Month in Photo of the Day: Vintage National Geographic Photographs
In this photo published in the July 1921 issue of National Geographic, kimono-clad passengers enjoy a boat ride down the Hozugawa River in Kyoto, Japan, an activity that remains a popular summer pastime of the region.
Photographer Kiyoshi Sakamoto contributed photos to the magazine for more than a decade in the period between the two World Wars.

 

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Musician, Spain

December 7, 2012

[h=2] Musician, Spain
[/h] Photograph by Jules Gervais Courtellemont, National Geographic
This Month in Photo of the Day: Vintage National Geographic Photographs
A man plays his guitar for a young girl in Grenada, Spain, in this autochrome picture that appeared as part of a photo essay in the March 1929 issue of National Geographic.
An early master of autochrome photography, Jules Gervais Courtellemont was one of the first to embrace the technology when it became commercially available in 1907.

 

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Woodcarvers, India

December 8, 2012

[h=2]Woodcarvers, India
[/h] Photograph by Maynard Owen Williams, National Geographic
This Month in Photo of the Day: Vintage National Geographic Photographs
National Geographic photographer Maynard Owen Williams captured this image of woodcarvers in Amritsar while on assignment for a July 1921 story covering India.
A pioneer of travel photography, Williams joined the staff of National Geographic in 1919.